In this instructional video Aaron Jaxon teaches a flatpicking guitar arrangement of the classic fiddle tune “June Apple,” modeled directly after Doc Watson’s version from the Foundations collection (originally on the Good Deal album). He explains why the tune is valuable for bluegrass lead guitar—its simple melody serves as a vehicle for developing technique, timing, vocabulary, and repertoire. Aaron walks through the A and B sections, detailing chord shapes (G/F, A/G, F/C), picking patterns (straight alternate picking), and ornamentations such as hammer‑ons at the start of phrases and pull‑offs used to increase speed. He demonstrates how to practice the tune slowly using tools like the Strum Machine, then brings it up to an approximate tempo of 130 BPM. Throughout, he offers variations, encourages personal adaptation, and highlights the tune’s role in building lead‑line vocabulary that transfers to other bluegrass standards. The video concludes with a full performance, a reminder to check Doc Watson’s original recording, and a recommendation to watch a companion lesson on Bill Monroe’s “Wheel Hoss.”
Chapters
Hey there, it's Aaron Jaxon coming to you today, and what I want to show you today is a classic fiddle tune that's great for flatpicking guitar called June Apple. The version of this that I'm playing is pretty much note for note from Doc Watson, and the version that I originally learned this from, from Doc playing it, was originally called Foundations, the Doc Watson Instrumental Guitar Collection. It was kind of like a greatest hits thing on CD that I got a long time ago. I think the original album is called Good Deal, like Doc Watson in Nashville, but I'll link down to it in the bottom of the video. And this is just one of those tunes that just kind of has it all. The melody is fairly simple, but it's great for developing your technique, your timing, your vocabulary, and your repertoire, which is what you always want to be— where all four of those elements are really important when you're doing bluegrass lead guitar. And this tune kind of has all of those. So Like I said, the melody is fairly simple here that he plays, but of course Doc just absolutely shreds it. It's just fast and clean and it's awesome. So wherever you're at, you can practice this as slow as you need to. Use a tool like the Strum Machine, which is great. You can practice it as slow as you need to. And you can also use this tune to really build some chops and build some speed. So you heard me play it at the beginning of the video. Let me kind of jump into the main part of the A section of Juneapple here, and it's gonna go like this. We'll do Okay, so it's a fairly simple melody, and you can hear the chords on this, uh, just kind of going in between your G and F shapes. The chords are technically A and G. So again, at the very beginning of this A part, let's come in with a little hammer-on, and then And for the rest of this part.
And that's just down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.
Okay. Just straight alternate kicking on that. Do a hammer on at the beginning or Doc does a hammer on at the beginning. So we'll do a little hammer-on at the beginning, but then the rest of those will be picked.
You know, okay, so that's kind of how that little part—
and then this next part here. Now what I do on here, on this part, to make it just a little bit easier, or at least for me, is I think Doc picks all of that. I throw a little pull-off in there. So like, okay, so instead of picking all of that, I'll do down, up, pull-off, up, pull-off, and then down, up, down, up, down, up, down, down. So that I do a pull-off right there.
That's just a little easier for me me to play.
I can get a little bit more speed doing that way, or doing it that way. It's just a little easier for me instead of— but you can try, um, you know, whichever way works for you. But for me, I'm just able to get that, um, just a little bit faster with that pull-off in there. Okay, um, and then we go back to, um, that exact same phrase, and then we'll end it with, um, so that last phrase. And folks, that's the A part. We just repeat that.
Okay.
For that last little phrase, you can— or you can throw in— it doesn't really matter. I mean, that's a very subtle variation on that. All right, so let me go all the way through the A part here, and then we'll play it again. And that is the A part there. Okay, so, um, let's go into the B part. And the B part, um, let me just jump into it here. All right, so the first little phrase on our B part— so I think I only throw one hammer-on in there, right here. Okay, and then we'll come over to Okay, and then that little phrase, because the chords on that part, it goes from— again, I'm speaking in shapes, not in actual chords here—
goes from F to C.
So, okay, so one more time, that second phrase.
And then, and then we'll do—
okay, so that is kind of the first half of the B part. We'll go back in and play that, um, pretty much the same way. The only thing that will change is like the very end, and we'll do So just at the very end, instead of going down that little kind of G arpeggio, if you will, we'll—
and just leave it like that.
So one more time, let me go all the way through the B part. Here will do.
Again.
And there we have it, a very Doc Watson style version of the classic fiddle tune June Apple. So just one more time, I played it at the beginning of the video, but let me go ahead and play it again here, whole thing. A part twice, B part twice, up to tempo. I think this is at about 130 beats a minute along with the strum machine. This is a great tune for developing your repertoire in this style because, you know, there's hundreds of these little fiddle tunes. There's a bunch of, you know, there's a very extensive standard repertoire of tunes in bluegrass that are great to know, and this is one of them. And it's also good for developing your vocabulary because because a lot of these passages are lead lines that you can use in other places in bluegrass. You know, very usable stuff. And you know, there's variations on this. You know, there's, there's a bunch of variations on this stuff. So a lot of these passages are great for, again, developing that vocabulary. It's great for developing your technique, and it's great for developing your timing. I really recommend using something like the Strum Machine app while you're working on this tune. Anyway, check out the Doc Watson version of this down below. He just, he just lights it up. He shreds this. It's so cool. Listen to that, and then just use this tune to develop your technique, to develop your timing, to build your speed, to build your chops, and to just, you know, add this to your repertoire of these fiddle tunes. And if you'd like to watch another video that goes great along with this one, check this one out where I teach you how to play Bill Monroe's Wheel Hoss for flatpicking guitar. And it's another one of those great tunes that's really good for developing technique. So as always, thank you for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.
