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Bag O' Licks- The 1-5-1 Turnaround

banjo intermediate

In this lesson

Almost EVERY bluegrass song has the 1-5-1 turnaround progression, but why does our playing get stuck in ruts? Let me give you 10 great ways to approach these chords–some classic, and some not.

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  1. Hollis Barnett

    ♥ 4

    Got about 80% of this one down but the third measure keeps tripping me. Anybody else find that part awkward at speed?

  2. picknGrin

    ♥ 11

    Same here at first. What fixed it for me was practicing that measure by itself for a week, no B part at all.

  3. MandoMary

    ♥ 6

    The pinky thing goes away, I promise. Took me about three months.

  4. Junior Pace

    ♥ 1

    Try it without the pick for a few passes. Sounds silly but it told me my right hand was doing too much.

  5. MandoMary

    ♥ 7

    There's a slower jam track under the resources tab on this lesson, worth grabbing.

  6. Ben Clark Instructor

    ♥ 6

    Glad it clicked! That timing is the whole point of this lesson, so if that landed you got what you came for.

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