One of the first ways to add some pickin' into your playing is to learn to walk into chords while strumming. This technique will allow you to develop the stronger rhythm and lead techniques that are the signature sound of country music. You'll find the left hand movement fairly simple. It lines up with everything we've learned so far. Pay close attention to the right hand. It becomes a little more involved in the process in this lesson and the lessons to come. In the tab below, you'll find the basic motion of walking into the C major chord in the top line. The second ...

In this lesson we'll use the "walking" technique from the previous lesson with all of the primary chords in the key of G major. We'll look at each chord individually at first so we're not overwhelmed with the chord progression that we'll do at the end of the lesson. Make sure and master each chord individually before attempting the progression. Also remember to watch that picking hand closely. In the example tabbed below, you'll find the G,C, and D chords tabbed individually in the top line and the chord progression tabbed in the second line.

In this lesson, we'll learn the same technique from the previous two lessons using the primary chords in the Key of A major. Make a special note that walking into the D chord in the key of A major is played differently than in the key of G major. This is because the notes in A major scale are different than those in the key of G major. Don't let it shake you, though. It's great two know many different ways to walk into chords and it will beef up your picking chops in the long run. In the tab below you'll find the individually tabbed chords A, D, and E respective...

In this lesson, we'll add picking into our chord progression using the primary chords in the key of E major. As we've done in all of our lessons, the individual chords of E, A and B7 are tabbed respectively in the top line. Master them before attempting the chord progression tabbed in the bottom line.

Here is a similar progression using the chords in the Key of D Major. In this lesson we'll learn one new walking chord pattern which walks a bass note line from a G Major chord down to a D major chord. It is important to remember that the way you walk into any chord depends on what key you're in, what the chord progression in and how you want your chord progression to sound. Using a walking bass line is a personal choice as well as an issue of taste. Having command of all these walking lines is the same as having many tools in your tool box. When you know how to use y...

In this lesson, we'll use the Key of C to continue learning walking chord patterns. The only new chord pattern we'll learn is walking bass lines using an F chord. The F chord pattern is tabbed in the top line below, while the chord progression in the key of C is tabbed in the second line.

In this lesson, we'll try a few minor open chords and use walking bass lines to walk into common chord changes. The first progression we'll learn uses an E minor and G Major chord. The second progression we'll learn uses an A minor and C Major chord. The third progression we'll learn uses a D minor and A minor chord. These aren't the only minor chord progressions that you'll run into when playing, but they are very common and this will help you be ready to spice up your rhythm playing.

In this lesson, we're going to apply many of the walking techniques learned in the previous lesson into a common chord progression in the Key of G Major. Our progression looks like this: One measure of G (I chord), one meas. E minor (VI-), one. meas. C (IV), one meas. of D (V). There are no new walking patterns in this chord progression. You should be analyzing what you are practicing and noticing what walking pattern we are using based on chord progression. Make sure and practice slowly and work your way up to blinding tempos. These patterns sound cool bo...

This progression should remind you of the sound of the progression from the previous lesson. Both are very common progressions used in country music. Our progression is: One measure of C (I chord), one meas. of A minor (VI-), one meas. of F (IV), and one meas. of G (V). The same rules apply here, too. Try and focus on which patterns are from which key groups we learned in previous lesson to get the sound in you ears and the feel in your fingers. Begin slowly and work your way up to speed.

Demonstrates how to play the classic country "lead-in" line to walk into another chord.