In this lesson, you’ll learn triad inversion shapes for C, F, and G chords on the GBE string set and use them to play the traditional song “Roll On Buddy” in the key of C.
Stash talks about his approach to the guitar neck and what you’ll be learning in Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery,
In the first series of lessons in Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery, Stash shows you how to find inversions of diatonic chords on two string sets, the DGB string set and GBE string set. You’ll learn triad inversion shapes for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set and use them to play the traditional song “Lonesome Valley” in the key of G. You’ll also learn triad inversion shapes for C, F, and G chords on the GBE string set and use them to play the traditional song “Roll On Buddy” in the key of C.
In the first lesson on triads and inversions Stash begins by showing you the chromatic scale on the low A string, beginning with the open E string and moving up fret-by-fret to the 12th fret. Then he shows you the three different diatonic triad shapes for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set and how to use them to play the traditional song “Lonesome Valley.” He also explains that these shapes are different inversions of a major triad, and how to find the three inversions up the neck for G, C, and D chords on the DGB string set.
In this lesson, you’ll learn triad inversion shapes for C, F, and G chords on the GBE string set and use them to play the traditional song “Roll On Buddy” in the key of C.
Stash shows you a great way to practice the triads and inversions you’ve learned in the previous lessons: crosspicking the triads. He starts by defining and demonstrating crosspicking and then shows you a 3–3–2 crosspicking pattern you can play on the DGB string-set triad shapes, which you can use to play “Lonesome Valley.” He also shows you two other crosspicking patterns: 3–2–3 and 2–3–3.
The major scale is the most used scale in bluegrass, old-time, and related music, so it’s good to really understand how it’s constructed. The major scale is made up of a sequence of whole steps (two frets) and half steps (1 fret) in this order: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (wwhwwwh). Stash starts by showing you the G major scale all on the G string and then he gives you exercises to help you visualize the major scale, including exercises in octave displacement. He also shows you how to play the melody to the traditional hymn “Farther Along” in the key of C on one string.