Chrisbuckheit
Verified buyer
02/25/26
It glitches and freezes and I have to restart the video. Sometimes I have to back all the way out to restart, try and find where it froze and it won’t start. Frustrating.
Ten Gallon Guitar: Shed to Stage
Learn How To Improvise Memorable Country Guitar Solos
Get this course and 1,000+ more with All Access
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
About this course
Improvising memorable country guitar solos requires three key skills: Knowing the melody of the song and how to play it anywhere on the fretboard; Visualizing the scales and patterns that you're planning to use, and most importantly; Shifting your mindset from "focused-woodshed-mode" to a more spontaneous and creative stage mode.
The first two skills are relatively easy to acquire. It’s the third skill that Johnny Hiland focuses on and demonstrates very clearly in this Shed to Stage edition of Ten Gallon Guitar.
”Most guitar players spend thousands of hours practicing and cramming tons of knowledge, chords, theory, techniques and all the other stuff we need to learn and understand to become better players.
But when we’re on the gig or even just jamming with friends, it's so hard to free our mind of all that knowledge and just play from the heart and have fun on the stage. You're supposed to have fun playing guitar when you're on the stage. And trust me folks, your audience knows it as well.
I created this course to pass on a really easy approach for shifting your mindset from the shed to the stage. Melody is the key! This approach is especially effective for country guitarists because we all improvise our solos based around the melody of the song that we’re playing.“
Johnny organized the course into three sections. In the first section, Johnny shares a primer on melody and why it's so important for soloing. He’ll share some of his own key learnings and explain how his “Shed to Stage” system works. In the second section, you’ll dig deeper with Johnny as he shares his own “woodshed findings” and shows you the practice routines he uses to prepare for his own performances.
You learn a variety of options for embellishing the melody, crafting a solo from the melody, connecting and moving major scales around the fretboard, using pentatonic, blues scales and chromatic runs and licks to build your solo around the melody.
In the third and final section, you’ll put the Shed to Stage system to work across a series of soloing studies using real band tracks from some of Johnny’s tunes.
”We’ll start by learning the melody and exploring a few options we have for licks and embellishments, and we’ll play a solo using this approach, over the band track. I’ll point out lots of other related Shed to Stage tips for country soloing along the way.
We’ll solo and improvise over lots of different keys and country feels like western swing, rockabilly, train-beats, rockin’ country blues, sweet country shuffles and honky tonk throw-downs.”
Johnny will explain and demonstrate all of the key Shed to Stage concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are also included to work with on your own.
Grab your guitar, and let’s go from the “Shed to the Stage” with Johnny Hiland!
The first two skills are relatively easy to acquire. It’s the third skill that Johnny Hiland focuses on and demonstrates very clearly in this Shed to Stage edition of Ten Gallon Guitar.
”Most guitar players spend thousands of hours practicing and cramming tons of knowledge, chords, theory, techniques and all the other stuff we need to learn and understand to become better players.
But when we’re on the gig or even just jamming with friends, it's so hard to free our mind of all that knowledge and just play from the heart and have fun on the stage. You're supposed to have fun playing guitar when you're on the stage. And trust me folks, your audience knows it as well.
I created this course to pass on a really easy approach for shifting your mindset from the shed to the stage. Melody is the key! This approach is especially effective for country guitarists because we all improvise our solos based around the melody of the song that we’re playing.“
Johnny organized the course into three sections. In the first section, Johnny shares a primer on melody and why it's so important for soloing. He’ll share some of his own key learnings and explain how his “Shed to Stage” system works. In the second section, you’ll dig deeper with Johnny as he shares his own “woodshed findings” and shows you the practice routines he uses to prepare for his own performances.
You learn a variety of options for embellishing the melody, crafting a solo from the melody, connecting and moving major scales around the fretboard, using pentatonic, blues scales and chromatic runs and licks to build your solo around the melody.
In the third and final section, you’ll put the Shed to Stage system to work across a series of soloing studies using real band tracks from some of Johnny’s tunes.
”We’ll start by learning the melody and exploring a few options we have for licks and embellishments, and we’ll play a solo using this approach, over the band track. I’ll point out lots of other related Shed to Stage tips for country soloing along the way.
We’ll solo and improvise over lots of different keys and country feels like western swing, rockabilly, train-beats, rockin’ country blues, sweet country shuffles and honky tonk throw-downs.”
Johnny will explain and demonstrate all of the key Shed to Stage concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are also included to work with on your own.
Grab your guitar, and let’s go from the “Shed to the Stage” with Johnny Hiland!
What you'll learn
- Execute chicken-picking licks with open string drones
- Use open string scales to create fuller solo textures
- Navigate between I, IV, and vi chords using scale degrees
- Apply the 'slide with pull' technique for country flavor
- Add country-style embellishments to simple melodies
Release date: 12/19/2021 • 3h 06m runtime
Sample lessons
Lessons from a Familiar Melody
Course Primer: 1
Chromatic Runs & Licks
Woodshed Findings: 3
Carolina Train Groove in D
Full Solo Performance
Honky Tonk Bounce in G
Melody Demonstration
What's included
43 lessons • 25 charts • 9 Jam Tracks
Ten Gallon Guitar: Shed to Stage
Howdy folks, I'm Johnny Hiland, and welcome to this Shed to Stage edition of Ten Gallon Guitar!
Being able to create and improvise great country solos is all about melody, embellishments, and melody!
Many guitar players, myself included, struggle with getting out of the woodshed mentality and always bringing it back to the melody, I created this course to help with that!
I've organized the course into three sections.
In the first section, we'll discuss melody primer and why it's important, key learnings from my own story with a very familiar melody, and finally demonstrate and explain how the “Shed to Stage” system works.
In the second section, we'll dig deeper into what I like to call my “woodshed findings” -- which are the shed routines I often work through before my own performances to help me prepare for the stage.
We'll build on your ability to connect & move major scales, major and minor pentatonics, blues scales, and learn how to come up with licks and phrases using chromatic runs.
And finally, we'll work through a series of eight shed to stage soloing studies using real band tracks from some of my tunes.
We'll start by learning the melody and exploring a few options we have for licks and embellishments, and finally I'll play a solo using this approach over the band track and point out lots of tips for country soloing along the way.
We’ll solo over lots of different country feels and keys like western swing, rockabilly, trainbeats, rockin country blues, sweet country shuffles and honky tonk throwdowns…
So if you're ready, grab your guitar and let’s take your soloing out of the woodshed and on to the stage!
Being able to create and improvise great country solos is all about melody, embellishments, and melody!
Many guitar players, myself included, struggle with getting out of the woodshed mentality and always bringing it back to the melody, I created this course to help with that!
I've organized the course into three sections.
In the first section, we'll discuss melody primer and why it's important, key learnings from my own story with a very familiar melody, and finally demonstrate and explain how the “Shed to Stage” system works.
In the second section, we'll dig deeper into what I like to call my “woodshed findings” -- which are the shed routines I often work through before my own performances to help me prepare for the stage.
We'll build on your ability to connect & move major scales, major and minor pentatonics, blues scales, and learn how to come up with licks and phrases using chromatic runs.
And finally, we'll work through a series of eight shed to stage soloing studies using real band tracks from some of my tunes.
We'll start by learning the melody and exploring a few options we have for licks and embellishments, and finally I'll play a solo using this approach over the band track and point out lots of tips for country soloing along the way.
We’ll solo over lots of different country feels and keys like western swing, rockabilly, trainbeats, rockin country blues, sweet country shuffles and honky tonk throwdowns…
So if you're ready, grab your guitar and let’s take your soloing out of the woodshed and on to the stage!
The Essential Melody Primer
In this first section, we'll dive in to the importance of a good melody. I'll offer some good advice to get you on stage and feeling confident that you can create a great sounding solo every time.
Lessons from a Familiar Melody
In this video I'll talk about my early days of trading my Martin for a Telecaster, and learning to play the melody to "You Are My Sunshine." Enjoy!
Options for Embellishing the Melody
Now we'll finish my story and I'll demonstrate how we can embellish the melody to "You Are My Sunshine." I'll actually play it a couple times, where I'll move the melody around the neck and show you how we can add some cool licks to fill the holes in the melody. Here we go!
From a Melody to a Solo
Alright folks, here's my final solo performance for "You Are My Sunshine." Be on the lookout for all of the techniques we talked about up to this point. Have some fun with it!
Johnny's Woodshed Findings
In section 2, I want to walk you through the things I do to prepare myself for a show - taking all of the scales and exercises I've worked on in the woodshed, and connecting them to create a seamless guitar solo on the stage.
Connecting & Moving Major Scales
Well folks, here we are in our woodshed. Let's go over our major scales, except now I'll give you some great tips on the way I like to connect them. First, let's make sure you know all of your A's on the fretboard. Good luck!
+ 36 more lessons
Reviews
12 results
morningfield
Verified buyer
11/23/25
Thanks
petebeck
Verified buyer
01/12/25
Ten Gallon Guitar Shed to Stage A+++
Johnny Hiland is a delightful character and a mighty fine picker !! One of the best I’ve seen. Great lessons stacked in logical sequence. Buy this lesson!!
impaktojoven
Verified buyer
12/19/24
Its Johnny Hiland teaching you how to play. Buy it.
Nichodemus
Verified buyer
12/14/24
Johnny Hiland is a country Tele legend!
I like how, for each of his solo studies, Johnny gives the basic melody as well as an elaboration on the melody. I also like his display of moving the major scale up through all neck positions in a continuous phrase.
Stop searching. Start improving with All Access.
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
