evgenzaiz
Verified buyer
07/16/26
Great course and musician
Wide Open Flatpicking
Interactive Video Masterclass for Flatpicking Guitarists
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About this course
Flatpickers love the ‘wide open’ expressive freedom they enjoy when jamming on bluegrass songs and fiddle tunes. The characteristic fast-paced rhythms, intricate melodies, and numerous opportunities for improvisation make an ideal landscape for creative expression.
Bryan Sutton cherry-picked ten classic songs to serve as the framework for his interactive “Wide Open Flatpicking” course.
East Tennessee Blues, Squirrel Hunters, Bill Cheatham, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Midnight On The Water, Blackberry Blossom, Forked Deer, Salt Creek, The Storms Are On The Ocean and Big Sciota.
”I chose these ten songs because they are distinctive, allowing me to show you a more comprehensive range of creative techniques for improvising when playing rhythm and taking solos.
To authentically demonstrate the techniques, I improvised all of my performances in the course. This is me, not overthinking, not redoing, taking risks, and going for it.
When you’ve got a grip on the techniques and creative approaches, put it all in play with my Wide Open Flatpicking edition of In The Jam.”
You’ll have TrueFire’s interactive learning tools at your fingertips to customize your workspace and learn at your own pace.
The demonstrations and performances are tabbed, notated, and synced to the video lessons with controls for looping, slow motion, fretboard animation, and other tools designed to accelerate your progress.
Grab your guitar, and let's pick with Bryan Sutton!
Bryan Sutton cherry-picked ten classic songs to serve as the framework for his interactive “Wide Open Flatpicking” course.
East Tennessee Blues, Squirrel Hunters, Bill Cheatham, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Midnight On The Water, Blackberry Blossom, Forked Deer, Salt Creek, The Storms Are On The Ocean and Big Sciota.
”I chose these ten songs because they are distinctive, allowing me to show you a more comprehensive range of creative techniques for improvising when playing rhythm and taking solos.
To authentically demonstrate the techniques, I improvised all of my performances in the course. This is me, not overthinking, not redoing, taking risks, and going for it.
When you’ve got a grip on the techniques and creative approaches, put it all in play with my Wide Open Flatpicking edition of In The Jam.”
You’ll have TrueFire’s interactive learning tools at your fingertips to customize your workspace and learn at your own pace.
The demonstrations and performances are tabbed, notated, and synced to the video lessons with controls for looping, slow motion, fretboard animation, and other tools designed to accelerate your progress.
Grab your guitar, and let's pick with Bryan Sutton!
What you'll learn
- Master extended bass runs that cross over downbeats
- Understand how to support bluegrass banjo with appropriate rhythm guitar
- Understand how to explore melodic variations within a fiddle tune
- Develop ability to respond dynamically to energy changes in a jam session
- Develop listening skills for playing with other musicians
Release date: 08/22/2024 • 4h 57m runtime
Sample lessons
Squirrel Hunters
Overview
Squirrel Hunters
Performance
Squirrel Hunters | Rhythm
Breakdown
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Performance
What's included
52 lessons • 18 charts • 10 Jam Tracks
Wide Open Flatpicking
Hey, it's Bryan Sutton. Flat pickers love the wide-open expressive freedom they enjoy when jamming on bluegrass songs and fiddle tunes. Using ten classic songs as the framework for this course, I'm going to show you creative techniques for improvising when you're playing rhythm and taking solos.
To demonstrate these techniques authentically, I have improvised all my performances in this course. So this is me, not overthinking, not redoing. I'm being vulnerable, taking risks, and really going for it. Tab and notation are synced to the videos with slow motion and looping controls to help you work towards your own version of free and expressive flat picking.
When you've built some experience using these techniques and creative approaches, put it all in play with my wide-open flat picking edition of In The Jam. So grab your guitar and let's pick.
To demonstrate these techniques authentically, I have improvised all my performances in this course. So this is me, not overthinking, not redoing. I'm being vulnerable, taking risks, and really going for it. Tab and notation are synced to the videos with slow motion and looping controls to help you work towards your own version of free and expressive flat picking.
When you've built some experience using these techniques and creative approaches, put it all in play with my wide-open flat picking edition of In The Jam. So grab your guitar and let's pick.
Fundamentals of Flatpicking | Right Hand
In this lesson series, I'm excited to share what I believe are the key elements of quality flat picking. We'll dive into the essence of this guitar style, focusing on tone and rhythmic quality. By stripping down to single notes and examining alternate picking, you'll understand the importance of motion and how it affects your sound. We'll explore how to achieve a connected, resonant tone, using proper technique and dynamics to make your playing expressive. Whether you're jamming solo or with others, these fundamentals will enhance your flat picking, making every note count.
East Tennessee Blues
In this lesson series, I'm excited to share what I believe are the key elements of quality flat picking. We'll dive into the essence of this guitar style, focusing on tone and rhythmic quality. By stripping down to single notes and examining alternate picking, you'll understand the importance of motion and how it affects your sound. We'll explore how to achieve a connected, resonant tone, using proper technique and dynamics to make your playing expressive. Whether you're jamming solo or with others, these fundamentals will enhance your flat picking, making every note count.
East Tennessee Blues
In this lesson series, I'm excited to share what I believe are the key elements of quality flat picking. We'll dive into the essence of this guitar style, focusing on tone and rhythmic quality. By stripping down to single notes and examining alternate picking, you'll understand the importance of motion and how it affects your sound. We'll explore how to achieve a connected, resonant tone, using proper technique and dynamics to make your playing expressive. Whether you're jamming solo or with others, these fundamentals will enhance your flat picking, making every note count.
East Tennessee Blues | Rhythm
In this lesson series, I'm excited to share what I believe are the key elements of quality flat picking. We'll dive into the essence of this guitar style, focusing on tone and rhythmic quality. By stripping down to single notes and examining alternate picking, you'll understand the importance of motion and how it affects your sound. We'll explore how to achieve a connected, resonant tone, using proper technique and dynamics to make your playing expressive. Whether you're jamming solo or with others, these fundamentals will enhance your flat picking, making every note count.
East Tennessee Blues | Solo
In this lesson series, I'm excited to share what I believe are the key elements of quality flat picking. We'll dive into the essence of this guitar style, focusing on tone and rhythmic quality. By stripping down to single notes and examining alternate picking, you'll understand the importance of motion and how it affects your sound. We'll explore how to achieve a connected, resonant tone, using proper technique and dynamics to make your playing expressive. Whether you're jamming solo or with others, these fundamentals will enhance your flat picking, making every note count.
Fundamentals of Flatpicking | Fret Hand
In this lesson series, we're diving into the essential elements of quality flat picking from the fret hand perspective. We'll explore how to maximize tone and resonance by focusing on fret placement and pressure. I'll guide you through techniques to ensure every note you play is clear, sustained, and connected. We'll look at the importance of not over-squeezing the fretboard and how to achieve a balanced, rhythmic groove. Whether you're working on single notes or more complex phrases, these fundamental principles will enhance your flat picking and overall guitar playing.
+ 45 more lessons
Reviews
15 results
BluesJammer
Verified buyer
03/25/26
Great addition for the Bryan’s “In The Jam”
I got this course as an addition for the Bryan’s “In The Jam”. This is just a great masterclass from the bluegrass Master! Thank you, Bryan, for an excellent and understandable analysis of all the subtleties of flatpicking, as well as for the opportunity to play with the best bluegrass musicians! By the way, another great musician, Justin Moses, played banjo, Dobro, and fiddle parts for this course. Each part of this course is a masterclass of itself. And again, it’s a great addition to the “In The Jam” course, with more details and in-depth view of each song. I was a student of Bryan’s course at ArtistWorks (now a part of TrueFire studios) for some time, and it was a great experience, but now I got some new songs in a new format with all the “bells and whistles” like Soundslice etc. Both formats are great, and I’m planning to subscribe to Bryan’s AW course later this year. p. s. I play guitar, dobro and mandolin, so it would be nice to have the tabs for the rest of instruments, not only for guitar. I highly recommend it to all fans of flatpicking. We look forward to new Bryan’s courses! Yours sincerely, Vladimir
RichD919
Verified buyer
02/12/26
Not at all what I expected
I have seen several Bryan Sutton lessons and he is an incredible teacher. This was a bit disappointing. Although it was interesting to listen to him, thats all you're doing for most of it is listening, then you'll come to a song and he flies through the song with no lesson around it at all. Save your money and find another course. This one just isn't as good as others I've seen.
Claue
Verified buyer
01/16/26
Fabuleux, quel dommage qu’il n’y ait pas la possibilité de traduire en français.
bernard13t
Verified buyer
11/30/25
Let's go on stage, the concert is about to begin
I already work with Bryan's intermediate and advanced bluegrass songbooks. This course is the perfect complement for anyone who wants to master the genre. It includes the melodies already covered in the songbooks, plus it focuses on accompaniment and, ultimately, improvisation. What makes this course unique is that it's truly set in the context of a jam session or a concert. That's what really excites us. We sit next to Bryan and watch what he does.
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