Practice Sessions: Honky Tonk Techniques

Holding down the lead guitar role in a country-western band calls for having a solid grip on a wide range of soloing and lead guitar techniques. In this Honky Tonk Techniques edition of Practice Sessions from Matthew Lee, you will dig deep into 8 of the most important country soloing techniques to learn, practice and play.

Matt guides you through detailed demonstration and interactive practice sessions giving you a solid grip on how to play Single Note Lines, Double Stops, Country Bends, Chicken Picking, Repetitive Licks, Open String Lines, Pedal Steel Licks, and Chordal Licks.

”I’ll kick off each study with a breakdown of the specific right and left-hand mechanics involved. I’ll also perform a lick using the technique over a backing track to give you a feel for how it sounds in a musical context.

We’ll start off studying single note lines over a train beat groove in A. Then, we’ll hone your double stop technique to get that country western snap. There’s a country bending lick study in the key of E. We’ll dial in your chicken picking technique. We’ll work on repetitive pedal tone licks…

There’s a study focused on open string lines. We’ll mix it up with licks that emulate the sound of a pedal steel on guitar. And finally, we’ll cap it off with a practice session focused on chordal licks.

We’ll cap off each honky tonk study together with a hands-on practice session. I’ll roll the track and we’ll trade back and forth as I guide you through the core examples followed by several variations and embellishments.”
What makes this format really special is how you’ll get these approaches firmly under your fingers -- you’ll practice each of the concepts together with Josh, in a series of interactive practice sessions.

Matt will kick off each study with a breakdown of the key concept, technique, or underlying approach and then he’ll perform the approach over a backing track to give you a feel for how it sits in the rhythm section.

You’ll cap off each soloing study together with a hands-on practice session. Matt will roll the track and you’ll trade back and forth as he guides you through the core examples followed by several variations and embellishments.

Working regularly with these “practice sessions” is the key to having command of all 8 country soloing and improvisational approaches.

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 included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Matthew Lee!