30 Acoustic Roots Licks You Must Know

Genre and Style Guitar Course from David Isaacs

Looking to dig deeper into various acoustic styles such as acoustic blues, bluegrass, and country-blues fingerpicking? In this expansive course, David Isaacs presents us with 30 licks that will enhance our musical repertoire to help us become more well-rounded players!

31 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

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Tabs & Info

Download tabs, helpers, JamTracks and docs included with lessons.

Included

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Full Course Breakdown

David takes us through the variety of styles he will be demonstrating and breaks down what they all have in common to make it easier to hone our skills to master these licks. As we work through each fun lick, Dave will push us to practice our improvising skills so we can use these licks in a variety of musical settings!

1

Introduction

David Isaacs introduces us to "30 Acoustic Roots Licks You Must Know"!

7:16 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Boogie in E

Let's kick off this lick series with a simple fingering pattern in the key of E!

4:49 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

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3

Flatt Runn

In this lesson, David takes us through this fun bluegrass lick in G where we essentially walk up the pentatonic scale.

8:31 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

4

Swampy Double Stops

For this swampy lick, we will be working off of the E minor pentatonic scale.

7:00 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

5

Bass String Melody

Now let's cover a great lick that utilizes a moveable bass in the melody!

5:21 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

6

Jumpin'

Let's kick up the energy with this rockin' lick in the key of A.

5:21 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

7

Kick it Off

For this next lick we combine a few different elements; double stops, minor 3rds, major 3rds, hammer-ons, and pull-offs!

5:27 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

8

Stomp in A

For this lick, we work off the A five power chord.

5:18 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

9

Sweet Blues in E

For this bluesy lick, we'll hone in on our fingerpicking skills.

7:49 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

10

Mixed Mode E Run

In this bluegrass-vibed lick, we will combine our modes to get a well-versed full sound!

7:43 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

11

Boom Chick Bass Run

Switching gears, Dave takes us through a Boom Chick lick in the key of G.

4:14 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

12

Upbeat Pentatonic Shuffle

Let's kick up the tempo a bit with this pentatonic shuffle lick!

8:02 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

13

Swampy G

Here's another Swampy lick to add to our musical toolbox, where Dave walks us through a hybrid picking technique!

8:37 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

14

Honky Tonk Turnaround in C

Switching it up to some country tones, Dave walks us through a lick that could be used for an intro to a song or a turnaround.

6:57 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Sweet Blues Lick in A

Working in the A bar for this lick, Dave gives us some tips on how to incorporate some extensions.

8:04 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

16

Stomp in E

We move on to another stomp lick, where we focus on getting that stomp sound from the bass strings.

6:14 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

17

Swampy D

For this swampy lick, we work in D minor pentatonic.

7:20 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

18

Sweet Drop D

For this lick, Dave walks us through Drop D tuning.

7:51 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

19

Sweet Shuffle Turnaround

In this fun shuffle lick, we find all sorts of hammer-ons and slides!

7:27 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

20

Swingin' Dixie

In this lick, Dave gives us some tips and tricks regarding rhythmic playing.

6:50 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

21

Slow Train

In this next "train" lick we will be in the key of A.

7:19 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Bass Pickin' in A

Let's pick up with pass with this boom chick-paced bass lick!

7:02 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Deeper in the Swamp

This next swampy lick we practice our fingerpicking skills.

5:10 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

24

Turnaround in F

Dave gets us comfortable with the key of F in this next lick.

7:04 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Bluesy Chug in D

In this next lick, we touch on fingerings that we have yet to come across in this series!

7:05 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Stride in Am

We tackle another boom chick pace within this stride lick.

9:04 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

27

Droning

Switching it up a bit we get into some droning elements. In this lick, Dave breaks down the definition of drone notes and how to incorporate them within this lick.

7:36 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

28

Boom Chicka in C

Let's add another boom-chicka lick to our musical toolbox!

7:07 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

29

Honky Tonk Plan

For this lick we get back to some country vibes in the E major pentatonic.

6:27 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

30

County Road

Let's add an upbeat swampy lick to our toolbox, where we will be working on the G form.

6:45 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

31

Beam Me Up Scotty

For our last lick of the series, we tackle a train feel lick!

7:51 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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Dave Isaacs Group

  • Nashville, Tennessee
  • Playing since 1980
  • 478 lessons at JamPlay
Nashville-based Dave Isaacs has made a name for himself as one of Music City's top guitar instructors, working with both professional and aspiring songwriters and artists at his Music Row teaching studio. He is also an instructor in the music department at Tennessee State University and is the coordinator and artistic director of the annual TSU Guitar Summit.

A seasoned performer as well, Dave has released eight independent CDs and gigs steadily as a solo artist, bandleader, and sideman. He continues to write, record, and perform as well as arranging and producing projects for other artists.

Reviews & Feedback 100/100 with 29 ratings
Hurt

Not only he's a good guitarist, he's a great teacher!

Jfcavey

Not too long - just right. And well taught.