https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/liberty-guitar-intermediate
This is just straight ahead flatpickin’ and a fun arrangement that helps with our pick hand accuracy!
Discuss the Guitar lesson: Liberty
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Yay! Nice song. I did a pick grip overhaul and this type of song will be tough for me.
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yes, beautiful! Love this, as I’ve been practicing this on mando for a while! Thanks for this one, Ben!
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Got on it today. Nice one!
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Nice companion to the mando version. I’ve been adding a few grace notes to spice it up.
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I really like tunes like this it is always on the upbeat no dismal sounds . I played this one years ago and had forgotten about it thank you Ben for posting another great lesson…
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This is a great exercise to improve left and right hand coordination, speed and accuracy. That is, if you can keep the pick from flying out of your hand. Get yourself some of that Gorilla Snot from the Banjo Ben Store. I guarantee that will help
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@hermann.beissler - my fellow Mando-Student,
Nice to see you posting! I really like Liberty - there is just something about it… the chiming notes… the patriotic sound/feel (as I think it is connected to the Revolutionary times) and the fiddle line elements.
So cool to know others enjoy.
How cool would it be to have @BanjoBen do a really snazzy arrangement in Advanced - well, someday.
For now, I have all I can handle in the Intermediate version with the 16th pull-offs.
Interesting… For me… There is just such a difference when I don’t nail the pull-offs… But when I do (maybe 25% - 50% of the song), it transforms the whole phrase/song and punches out… A glorious sound!
I can’t wait until the day when I can move that needle to 75% - 100% cleanly.
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from the 2nd string to the 4th reminds me of One I did many years ago “Center Field” J. Fogerty the interval takes a little getting use to but well worth the time.Still love folk and bluegrass but am going back to surf music for a while . I am not giving up on Bluegrass just taking a bit of a sabbatical.
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I think I missed this recent lesson for so long… Nice, simple and fun tune to play! Keeps ringing in my ears.
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There is just something about this song! AWESOME
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Hey, Will!
I actually did some research on this song, and one source stated that a fiddler wrote this tune as a gift to Jesse James and his bride. Jesse James was supposedly married in Liberty, Missouri, and that’s how the song got its name.
Robert
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Thank you for sharing that @robertfun1.
There is something about the "chiming” quality that made me think of it as a revolutionary fiddle tune honoring the pursuit of Liberty… but perhaps that isn’t historically possible.
Regardless, I really like the tune and the back-story (to have insights on its’ origin) is awesome and much appreciated! 
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I really enjoy the tune as well! I learned my version from Steve Kaufman’s Parking Lot Pickers Series for Guitar. But I also like Banjo Ben’s version also.
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I love this tune. And this is a great version. But I have a question for @BanjoBen, @jakestogdillguitar, and you other readers:
I first learned this song by ear (and memory), and did it in G (open, no capo). Pretty much note for note the same as this version, albeit shifted down a bit (what, a 4th?). I like this key because there are lots of open strings and simple arpeggiated chords in the melody. And very little movement of your fretting hand.
I’m about to teach it to my brother who has played guitar a long time but is new to bluegrass. Would I be doing him a disservice by teaching him my simple version? I’m sure he’d pick it up quickly but if no one else plays it in G (except me), then it’s be that much harder for him in a jam situation.
I will say it’s such a simple (but fun!) tune, that learning both keys might help introduce the NNS, but my first objective is to get him comfortable with the song so that he and I can play it together.
Thanks in advance everybody.
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do it, I think that’s a great approach, and later on the D version will help him see the relationship b/t the keys.
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This was just what my picking hand needed. I didn’t understand how rusty it had gotten. It’s one think to pull off the occasional lick but much better to play a whole solo. Thank you, @BanjoBen!
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The last measure has a 4 fingered C chord. I don’t remember seeing that in a lesson before. Is there a lesson where the 4-fingered C chord is introduced?
I don’t know if I have it highlighted in a lesson, but I know I’ve discussed it from time to time. I’m just covering the low E string on the 3rd fret. It’s the note you commonly jump to when alternating bass notes when playing C rhythm.