https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/bag-o-licks-key-of-g-1-guitar
This is the tab from my most popular YouTube video to date…and, it doesn’t surprise me. From a student’s point of view, this is one of the most exciting ways to learn. “Give me some licks…slow 'em down…and show me how they work.” Heads up partner, and open your bag…cause it’s trick-or-treat time in the Land of Licks. I’ve made this one free since the video is so old and I’m also a nice person. Enjoy!
These Bag O’ Licks lessons are excellent and well worth learning.
My apologies if this post gets rather long but I wanted to emphasize exactly how good they are to intermediate and advanced players.
It my be useful to explain my own bluegrass flatpicking background to illustrate what I mean and why you should learn and appreciate these lessons fully.
I am from the UK, so Bluegrass is not really in the culture over here. You are unlikely to grow up listening to Bill Monroe, Flats and Scruggs, Doc Watson, Tony Rice etc. You are very unlikely to know any other musicians who know the bluegrass standards off by heart. For many international bluegrass amateur players, there is no one else to ask for advice when you get stuck.
My entry into the technical challenges of learning to flatpick on guitar comes almost entirely from the excellent work of Steve Kaufman. He has taught me so many Bluegrass standards and introduced me to many of the Bluegrass legends who greatly influenced Steve’s playing like Norman Blake and Doc Watson. Steve is a brilliant guitarist who I believe is much underrated and overlooked in my humble opinion. His playing and technique is flawless and his vast knowledge and catalogue of tunes is well worth exploring. He has done a great service in the popularizing of Bluegrass music internationally well before the days of easy access to the internet and online resources. His transcriptions or versions of songs are also always tasteful and intelligently constructed.
I have followed Steve’s instruction methodically. His emphasis on a strict approach to pick management and down up strokes tied mechanically to the beat have been the foundation for my progress, when learning new tunes or songs. My adherence to his approach to playing has ensured that I do not trip over my own notes or fingers when playing at speed. Steve is a fantastic foundation for any player who aspires to play in the style of Doc Watson - so much so that Doc himself trusted Steve to work with him on his instructional DVD work at HomeSpun Tapes.
Whilst Steve is a brilliant guide to Bluegrass flatpicking, there are stylist influences from players such as Clarence White, Tony Rice or Brian Sutton which cannot easily be learned with Steve’s lessons. I’ve discovered from Ben’s lessons that I have been missing out some vital stylist/technical elements to my playing of licks or runs.
What I outline here is merely my opinion of small but significant areas in my own playing that I’ve overlooked, but am now able to explore with the benefit of Ben’s tuition. Because this is my opinion of what I’m learning, I may be wrong in my description so please forgive me if I make sweeping generalizations.
With all of Ben’s tabs - I’ve noticed that I am not fully exploring my slldes, hammer ons and pull offs combinations fully. There is a whole world of expression that I’ve deliberately ignored so as not to get out of time with the strict down up pick management method I’ve learnt from Steve Kaufman. A simple example of a shortcoming of my own playing that I’ve noticed is that quite a few of Ben’s licks will have a pull off on an upstroke that is often quickly followed by a hammer on a downstroke . This description may sound irrelevant to some, but it’s been like an epiphany to me. Much of the missing “secret” ingredient to sounds I’ve heard in my head and the fluidity to many of the licks I’ve been trying to incorporate into my own improvising can be explained with this one technique. I can also be confident that I won’t trip over my own playing as all of Ben’s licks are logical and well thought out. I’ve managed to get the sounds that I wanted in the past, but sometimes discovered that I’d had to move uncomfortably off Steve’s safe down up path - so I always felt a little bit concerned when I tried to improvise as I’d crash out of my timing and lose the melody or song.
There are lots of small details that I’m discovering in Ben’s lessons that are opening up new avenues for me to explore. Which I won’attempt to explain, as they are my own personal stylistic shortcomings. They’d also be very boring to read. I am still a long way off being able to fluidly improvise or to incorporate all of the ideas I’m picking up, but am confident that these lessons are putting me on the right path to opening up new possibilities in my playing to achieve the sounds I’ve failed to seamlessly incorporate with Steve’s Kaufman’s approach alone.
I would highly recommend these lessons to anyone - even if you don’t understand or fully appreciate how good they are - your playing will benefit enormously from following these concise elegant licks and exercises.
Thank you for you patience if you read this all the way through good luck with these lessons!