In this introductory video of a 20‑part series, Aaron Jaxon explains why fiddle tunes are essential for flatpicking guitar, outlining how they develop technique, timing, and repertoire. He presents two versions of the lesser‑known tune “Patty on the Turnpike.” First, he demonstrates a straightforward A‑ and B‑part melody, emphasizing its entry on beat 1 and showing the rhythmic phrasing. He then discusses his method for sourcing authentic melodies from historic fiddle recordings (e.g., Kenny Baker, Bill Monroe). Next, he introduces an advanced arrangement that incorporates octave shifts, major‑pentatonic licks, and strategic embellishments while staying true to the original tune. Throughout, he points viewers to tabs, recordings, and a backing track, and he frames the lesson as a template for learning future fiddle tunes in the series.
Chapters
I'm going to be showing you two different ways of playing the classic fiddle tune Patty on the Turnpike. Hey there, it is Aaron Jaxon coming to you today, and I want to welcome you to part 1 of a 20-part series. You heard that right, this is going to be a 20-part series that I'm going to be doing around fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. I wanted to do this for a couple of different reasons. Number 1, fiddle tunes kind of contain everything that you need for flatpicking guitar. You get to work on your technique, your timing, and you also get to build your repertoire and vocabulary all in one tune. But I also got to looking at my channel, and as of this recording, I've got well over 100 long-form lesson videos, but I had surprisingly few lessons on fiddle tunes. So I'm going to do a 20-part series around essential fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. I'm going to give you a kind of basic melody and a more advanced version for each tune. So I wanted to kick this series off with a tune that's a little less obvious than, say, Salt Creek or Red Haired Boy or Gold Rush. Those are obviously flatpicking favorites. You can find a million lessons of those on YouTube, and I will be doing those as a part of this series. But I wanted to kick this off with a great tune that's a little bit lesser known than some of the ones that I just mentioned. You can get the tabs down in the video description and in the top pinned comment, and I'm also going to link to a couple of my favorite recordings down in the video description. Okay, so let's go ahead and go into just kind of the basic melody of Patty on the Turnpike here. But before I teach it to you, let me play it for you. All right, so real quick, let me just give you the A part to the basic melody version of Patty on the Turnpike, and that's going to go like this. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and And that's it. We just play that twice, okay? And that comes right in on beat 1. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and. A lot of times when we're playing bluegrass solos, it'll the solo will come in usually on like the and of beat 4. 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a 1. You know, but with this one, with this tune, we'll come right in on beat 1. And so we'll play that twice. So now let's do the B part to the basic melody of Patty on the Turnpike. That'll go like this: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And again, we just play that twice. So, so an almost kind of like wheelhouse sounding melody there. That's a whole lot easier to play on a fiddle or a mandolin than it is on a guitar. Okay, but that's what we'll do there. Okay, so there we go. There's the basic A and B part to the basic melody here of Patty on the Turnpike. And whenever I'm trying to, you know, really get a basic melody to a fiddle tune, sometimes it's hard to track that down because it's not like these tunes are like— there's like a master score, you know, that was written by the composer that's been preserved through the centuries here. Um, you know, these tunes are folk music, they're handed down, so sometimes it's a little hard to find. Here's what I like to do a lot of times with these tunes. If I'm unsure of what like the original fiddle melody is, I just try to find an old fiddler who has recorded this. I will typically, um, like with this one, um, you know, I, I think I looked up, uh, Kenny Baker, Patty on the Turnpike, and what came up was a recording that I've got linked for you down below. It's just Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. I think it's Kenny Baker on fiddle. It might be Bobby Hicks. It might be neither one. I'm not really sure. But that's what I like to do with a lot of these tunes. If I'm unsure of what the original melody is, I just, I try to find an old fiddler that's recorded it, like Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, Vassar Clements. And then I just try to go back to that and use that as my source for the original melody. So you can check that recording out down below. Uh, one more time, let me play the basic melody for you up to tempo. So now let's do a little bit more of an advanced version here, and before I teach it to you, let me play it for you. All right, so I'm taking a little bit of liberty with the melody in certain places, but I'm really staying true to the tune. I'm just moving it up an octave in certain areas and throwing in a couple of licks in certain places. So real quick, let me go through and play the A part of this version here for you. And 2, and 3, and 4, and Okay, again, still staying true to the melody, but there's just a couple of places where I'm playing around with it just a little bit. So at the beginning here, I'm making that phrase a little more busy, and then down here, pretty much staying the same. But then right here, I'm going to come up and do this little— okay, and that's just kind of like a major pentatonic. And then throwing in this little— love that lick. Okay, after that, I'm coming up, and then instead of doing the melody down here, I'm doing it up here. And then right here, we're gonna— okay, so again, staying true to the melody but playing around with it in a couple of key places there. So now let me do the, uh, let me do the B part for this version of it here, and we're gonna go Okay, so same deal there, staying true to the melody very much so. But throwing in a couple of licks and taking the melody up an octave in key places. All right, so, um, at the very beginning of this B part section here, same as we did on the first part, but then right here taking it up an octave, and then right here we're really taking the melody up an octave. A little liberty with it at the end there. Okay, and then melody up an octave, and then ending with the same phrase. And then at the end there ending with a strategically placed lick. Okay, so there we go. So one more time, let me play the second version, um, up to tempo and with the backing track for you. Okay, so there's just two different ways of approaching Patty on the Turnpike there. Again, I'll link down to some of my favorite recordings below, and you can check those out and pull from those what you need to. To. But again, this is a part 1 of a 20-part series that I'm going to be doing around these fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. I'm super excited to get this stuff out here to you. And again, learning these fiddle tunes just kind of gives you everything you need for learning this style of guitar. You can work on your timing, your technique, and you can develop your vocabulary and your repertoire all at the same time. So I want to thank you for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.
