New Jazz Lines lesson available from Kenny Smith

With the technology we have today, students of bluegrass music have an embarrassing wealth of resources at their disposal as compared to those of us who tried to dissect the style a generation or two back. These days, many of the top instrumentalists are even getting into the act, offering private lessons from their homes by online video chat, or preparing books of transcriptions from their recordings.

Master guitarist Kenny Smith is one such. He is a favorite at flatpicking clinics and workshops all over the world, and guitar enthusiasts pore over his every solo for nuggets of wisdom. Kenny’s inspiration has been to create short, straightforward instructional videos that cover a specific topic in a short space of time. They are offered for sale from his web site, and consist of a downloadable video file and a PDF sheet of accompanying music.

The most recent is called Jazz Lines, and it finds Smith demonstrating four guitar lines that allow you to add some jazzy sounds into your bluegrass or fiddle tune picking. Three come directly from Kenny’s playing, with the other being one he copped from Texas guitarist Clint Strong.

Each of the four is broken down and explained, showing exactly how Kenny fingers each note.

The new video lesson can be purchased for only $20 directly from Kenny’s web site, along with other lessons on Basic Rhythm, Tone, and other favorite guitar lines.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.