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HTTP WWW - Fundamental-Changes PDF

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2K views

HTTP WWW - Fundamental-Changes PDF

Uploaded by

Norbert Fleischer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Brent Mason Country Guitar Licks

Brent Mason Country Guitar Licks


In part two of this six part series Im going to show you a short idea inspired by
the great Brent Mason and Albert Lee.

Its no secret that country players often harbour extremely high levels of
technique, and few demonstrate that better than hot picking legend, Albert Lee. A
mainstay of country guitar since exploding on the scene in the 60s, his blend of
fast alternate picking, banjo rolls, and double stops would inspire many
generations of players.

For this lick, were outlining an A7 chord, so opt for notes of the A Mixolydian
scale (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G) as they fit over the chord perfectly.

We begin up at the 9th fret area using the C shape of the CAGED system to play a

C chord. The lick starts by approaching the 3rd (C#) from a semitone below then
play an ascending triplet. This is the idea thats common in Lees playing, and is
the area of technical focus here. It also features heavily throughout Brent
Masons playing.

In order to execute these ideas, youre going to want to employ some hybrid
picking. Pick the note on the D string with a downstroke, pluck the G string with
the middle finger of the picking hand, then repick the G string with a further
downstroke.

From here the concept moves to double stops, playing the root and 3rd of A (A and
C# respectively), this then moves down chromatically to a G triad as a transition
back to the A chord. The reason this is so much fun to play is that when
transitioning back to the A chord youre using the E shape of CAGED, so this lick
uses simple chord fragments to descend the neck.

Ideas like this are common in the country style, with players using chord shapes
as ways to move fluidly around the neck without losing a sense of context. Youll
hear this sort of thing from everyone from Brent Mason to Glen Campbell to
Johnny Hiland, so pay careful attention to the positions and keep experimenting.

If youre wanting to explore these concepts further, I go into it in considerably


more detail in my book, Country Guitar for Beginners, the best place to take your
country playing to the next level.

Until next time, keep picking!

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