Colleen Malone, Part 1

from: Advanced Flatpicking Guitar with Scott Nygaard

This lesson is part of the course Advanced Flatpicking Guitar with Scott Nygaard.

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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.

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Home Sweet Home

In Part 2 of the lesson on crosspicking, you'll learn the first part of Scott's arrangement of "Home Sweet Home," which mostly uses the traditional 3-3-2 roll. Since crosspicking is usually used to play song melodies, it's a good idea to learn the melody of a song before tackling a crosspicking arrangement, so Scott starts by making sure you know the melody to "Home Sweet Home" and then takes the arrangement apart phrase by phrase (or roll by roll).

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Colleen Malone

Colleen Malone, Part 1

Colleen Malone, Part 2

“Colleen Malone” Play-Along Track

Colleen Malone, Part 1

The great contemporary bluegrass song “Colleen Malone,” written by Pete Goble and Leroy Drumm, was popularized by Hot Rize and won the IBMA award for Bluegrass Song of the Year in 1991. In this lesson you’ll learn a solo inspired by Hot Rize mandolinist Tim O’Brien’s crosspicking and guitarist Charles Sawtelle’s bluesy Clarence White-inspired playing. Scott starts by playing through the solo and then walks you through the basic melody of “Colleen Malone.” After you’ve got the melody under your fingers, Scott shows you how he’s used a four-note crosspicking pattern that echoes Tim O’Brien’s mandolin to play the melody, and walks you through the crosspicking phrase by phrase, including how he’s fit in a couple of melody notes that are not in the underlying chords. You’ll also learn the ending lick, which moves up the neck through the IV and V chords.

"Colleen Malone" (Available to subscribers)