String School Courses
Choose any Course below to view an introduction video and Sample Lesson, see descriptions of existing lessons in each Course, and get to know the Peghead Nation instructors. Then join a course for just $20 per month!
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GUITAR
Beginning Guitar
Adrianne Serna
Learn to play guitar from scratch and sing some of your favorite songs with simple but powerful chords and strum patterns. Includes 24 great songs to play, with chord and lyric sheets.
Roots and Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar
Scott Nygaard
Learn the essential techniques of roots and bluegrass rhythm guitar by playing classic and contemporary songs, with flatpicking technique tips and strums, bass runs, and fills. Includes 24 songs and 32 video lessons.
Intermediate Flatpicking Guitar
Scott Nygaard
Learn to play fiddle tunes and solos to bluegrass and roots songs, with an emphasis on developing good picking- and fretting-hand technique. Designed for guitarists just starting to play melodies as well as intermediate players who want to work on their flatpicking technique. Includes 40+ video lessons and 35 complete tunes and songs to play.
Fingerstyle Guitar
Stevie Coyle
Learn to play fingerstyle from the beginning, from traditional Travis-picking tunes to contemporary song accompaniment and more. Includes 24 complete songs and 14+ hours of instruction in 40 video lessons.
Blues Guitar
Orville Johnson
Become a complete blues player through these lessons in country blues fingerpicking, blues lead guitar, and bottleneck slide, with great technique lessons and 25 blues songs from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, and more.
Advanced Flatpicking Guitar
Scott Nygaard
Learn the essential techniques of bluegrass flatpicking guitar through classic and lesser-known songs and tunes, from bluegrass blues to old-time fiddle tunes to country swing sounds.
Fingerstyle Blues Guitar
Orville Johnson
Learn to play fingerstyle blues, with a bottleneck slide and without, through songs from blues legends Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Tampa Red, Blind Willie Johnson, and more. Includes 32 extensive video lessons and 25 complete fingerstyle blues songs to play.
Roots of Jazz Guitar
Matt Munisteri
Learn to play the 1920s and ’30s chord melody and rhythm guitar styles of Eddie Lang, Nick Lucas, Freddie Green, Carl Kress, and other early jazz greats. With chord melody solos to popular swing melodies, advanced rhythm guitar techniques, and acoustic jazz picking techniques.
Irish Backup Guitar
Flynn Cohen
Learn to accompany jigs and reels and other traditional Irish dance tunes in the style pioneered by Irish guitar greats Paul Brady, Mícheál Ó Dhomhnaill, and Dáithí Sproule and used at Irish seisiúns. With chord voicings, rhythm patterns, and practice tracks.
Clawhammer Guitar
Steve Baughman
Learn how to use the traditional clawhammer style of old-time banjo on the guitar to play traditional dance tunes with a powerful groove or sweet contemplative melodies. With clawhammer technique exercises and great tunes to play.
Celtic Guitar
Tony McManus
Learn to play jigs, reels, airs, and other traditional forms, with tips on how to bring tunes to life with the ornamentation that defines Irish and Scottish music.
Advanced Fingerstyle Workshop
Teja Gerken
Meet 15 of the best players in the international fingerstyle community, as they demonstrate their techniques, playing styles, and signature tunes.
Weekly Guitar Workout
Scott Nygaard
This series of exercises will help guitarists learn the fingerboard and expand their knowledge of chord and scale theory, with handy tips on picking and fretting techniques. Includes 100 workouts.
Guitar Chord Theory
Mark Goldenberg
Learn guitar chord theory in-depth with Mark Goldenberg, one of the most respected touring and session guitarists around and a student of the legendary Ted Greene. You'll explore basic major and minor chord inversions all over the neck and on all string sets, as well as wide-triad voicings; harmonized major scales; major, minor, and dominant seventh-chord voicings; and more.
DOBRO
Beginning Dobro
Mike Witcher
Learn the basics of the lap-style resophonic slide guitar, with essential tips on right- and left-hand technique as well as arrangements of classic tunes and songs. Includes 15 complete songs, 24 lessons, and 48 videos.
Dobro Workshop
Mike Witcher
Explore a variety of dobro styles, from bluegrass and fiddle tunes to blues and contemporary sounds, and get insights on technique that will help you clean up your playing, while learning the techniques of Jerry Douglas, Josh Graves, and other dobro greats. Includes 32 songs and tunes to play and 12 hours of instruction in 50 video lessons.
UKULELE
Ukulele
Marcy Marxer
Start playing easy versions of your favorite songs on the ukulele today. You’ll learn the basics, like strumming, first-position chords, and keeping solid time, all while playing a variety of songs. Then move on to more intermediate-level techniques with more fun songs to play. Includes 42 video lessons and 30 songs to play.
BASS
Bass - NEW COURSE!
Zoe Guigueno
Learn to play upright bass from scratch with advice on right- and left-hand technique and in-depth lessons on playing bass patterns, scales, and melodies in most common keys. With bass lines from great roots music songs so you can play along.
MANDOLIN
Beginning Mandolin
Sharon Gilchrist
Get started off right on the mandolin, with basic techniques, scales and chords, and simple and popular bluegrass and old-time tunes to play. Includes 14 complete tunes, downloadable Play-Along audio practice tracks for rhythm and melody on all tunes, advice on embellishing melodies and playing tremolo, and more than 9 hours of video instruction in 80+ videos.
Theory for Mandolin and Fiddle
Chad Manning
Learn the basics of music theory as it relates to four-string instruments tuned in fifths. Chad’s practical approach will deepen your knowledge of chords, scales, and arpeggios, and help you integrate them into your playing.
Bluegrass Mandolin Fingerboard Method – NEW COURSE!
Sharon Gilchrist
Learn to play solos to any bluegrass song in any key with Sharon's method for learning the fingerboard, based on arpeggios, chop-chord shapes, and double stops.
Bluegrass Mandolin Jam Favorites
Joe K. Walsh
Learn the essential instrumental tunes you’ll encounter at bluegrass jam sessions everywhere. Designed for intermediate level mandolinists, with tunes, techniques, and solos from mandolin greats.
Intermediate Bluegrass Mandolin
Sharon Gilchrist
Learn to play solos on classic bluegrass songs and instrumentals using bluegrass mandolin techniques like tremolo, double stops, two-string melodies, and more.
Monroe-Style Mandolin
Mike Compton
Learn traditional bluegrass-style mandolin as exemplified by the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, with original solos and tips on reproducing Monroe’s sound, rhythm, and feel.
Melodic Mandolin Tunes
John Reischman
Learn great traditional and original tunes in a variety of styles—old-time, bluegrass, Latin, jazz, and more—from a modern mandolin master.
The Advancing Mandolinist
Joe K. Walsh
Explore all the modern mandolin techniques, from tremolo, chords and double stops, and soloing and improvisation tips, with plenty of bluegrass, old-time, and swing tunes to keep you moving forward.
Irish Mandolin
Marla Fibish
Learn traditional Irish mandolin, with an emphasis on playing the dance music of Ireland with an authentic Irish feel and rhythm.
Chord Melody Mandolin
Aaron Weinstein
Learn how to combine chords and melody to play jazz standards in the style pioneered by jazz mandolinist Jethro Burns and guitarists like Joe Pass and Bucky Pizzarelli.
BANJO
Beginning Banjo
Bill Evans
The driving sound of the banjo is at the heart of many styles of roots music. Get started with basic chords, strums, and fingerings, along with simple bluegrass rolls, clawhammer style, and more. Includes 28 complete songs and tunes to play and 13 hours of instruction in 40+ video lessons.
Bluegrass Banjo
Bill Evans
Learn to make your banjo drive the band or play sweet melodies, with solos to well-known songs and tunes, backup techniques, classic licks from the masters, and more.
Clawhammer Banjo
Evie Ladin
Learn old-time clawhammer banjo from the beginning, with basic clawhammer technique exercises and lots of great old-time and traditional songs to play.
The Banjo According to Danny Barnes
Danny Barnes
Roots music iconoclast Danny Barnes reveals his systematic approach to the banjo, with one-of-a-kind insights on improvisation, reading music, getting a good sound out of the banjo, rhythm and timing, and more.
Wade Ward–Style Banjo
Bruce Molsky
Learn the tunes and techniques of one of the legends of old-time clawhammer banjo, Wade Ward, taught by one of the icons of contemporary old-time music. Includes 11 complete tunes as played by Wade Ward.
Contemporary Bluegrass Banjo - NEW COURSE!
Wes Corbett
Learn the style of contemporary three-finger banjo used by Béla Fleck, Noam Pikelny, Ron Block, and others. With lessons on single-string and melodic style, fingerboard theory, improvisation, and more. For intermediate to advanced players.
FIDDLE
Beginning/Intermediate Fiddle
Chad Manning
Learn basic fiddle techniques by learning popular tunes, with lots of technique tips and advice on how to get that fiddley sound.
Old-Time Fiddle
Bruce Molsky
Get deep into the roots of Southern Appalachian old-time fiddling. Bruce breaks down the melody, bowing patterns, rhythms, and embellishments of each tune so you can really learn to play like Bruce and the old masters he learned from.
Bluegrass Fiddle
Chad Manning
Learn fiddle in the style of Kenny Baker, Stuart Duncan, and other bluegrass greats by learning classic tunes, with improvisation exercises and advanced techniques.
Irish Fiddle
Dale Russ
Learn traditional Irish fiddle, with an emphasis on playing the dance music of Ireland, including jigs, reels, polkas, slip jigs, hornpipes, and more, with an Irish feel and ornamentation.
Fiddle Styles Workshop
Brittany Haas
Meet some of the best fiddlers on the planet and learn their favorite tunes in these intimate workshops that get to the root of a host of individual fiddle styles. Includes 24 complete tunes and transcriptions.
Theory for Mandolin and Fiddle
Chad Manning
Learn the basics of music theory as it relates to four-string instruments tuned in fifths. Chad’s practical approach will deepen your knowledge of chords, scales, and arpeggios, and help you integrate them into your playing.
Start Learning Today
One Course — $20/month or $200/year
Two Courses — $30/month or $300/year
Access to All Courses — $100/month
Peghead Nation’s String School is your source for roots music instruction, bringing you full courses in guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, fiddle, and Dobro, featuring talented instructors, high-quality video instruction, accurate notation and tab, and fun songs to play right from the beginning. Enroll and become a Peghead today!
Oct 13, 2020
The Martin Guitar CEO talks about the development of the dovetail neck joint, the switch from fan-bracing to X-bracing, and more.