Here are some useful guitar licks and playing tips by Homespun owner/instructor Happy Traum and others. Homespun Performances are excerpts from lessons by some of our great artists that are worth listening to just for pleasure. Keep checking back as we'll be adding to them frequently. And take a look at Happy's Blog. He has had a fascinating journey through more than six decades of playing, writing, and studying about American folk music, and he has quite a few stories to tell.
Here's an easy but dynamic lick that you can learn and play in the key of C. It works as an ending, an intro, or a fill-in when playing a bluesy song or instrumental. I use it quite a lot in my playing and I'm sure you will too when you get it into your playing.
Here's a fancy bluegrass lick that follows the standard I - IV - V progression in G. It will give you some nice practice with your flatpick and will come in handy when jamming on any number of bluegrass tunes. Check out all of Adam's lessons.
The late Tony Rice graced us at Homespun with the only instructional materials on his playing style that he ever did. We feel so fortunate to have been his friend and the recipient of these amazing lessons. Here's one of our favorites, from his first Homespun video, "An Intimate Lesson with Tony Rice."
Singer/songwriter/expert guitarist Adam Traum offers a great lick in the key of C for blues, ragtime, and other acoustic roots styles. In addition to his music career, Adam is a video producer and editor for Homespun and is an integral part of our team. For more lessons by him, click here.
This classic folk/blues song is the subject of my recent 2-part video, "Exploring the House of the Rising Sun." This is a nice little teaser for that lesson.