Practice Studio

Phil Keaggy - Follow Me Up - Guitar Lesson

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

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Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.

About Follow Me Up


Phil Keaggy has long been regarded as one of the most technically gifted fingerstyle and pick players in Phil Keaggy's corner of Instrumental Rock, and "Follow Me Up" is a solid example of why his material rewards careful study. Playing in E Standard at 100 BPM, the tempo sits at a comfortable mid-pace that can still catch you off guard when melodic runs and chord transitions stack up quickly. The real challenge here is keeping your fretting hand clean through any sustained melodic lines while maintaining rhythmic consistency in the picking hand. Keaggy's approach often blends flowing single-note lines with chord punctuation, so you need to switch modes smoothly rather than treating them as separate skills. If a particular phrase keeps slipping, set up a loop around that section in the Practice Toolbar and bring the speed down until every note speaks cleanly before pushing the tempo back up.

  • Played in E Standard tuning at 100 BPM, the mid-tempo feel leaves little room to hide sloppy transitions between melodic runs and chord punctuation.
  • Keaggy's style blends fingerstyle sensitivity with pick technique, so be prepared to adapt your right-hand approach depending on the passage.
  • Looping the densest melodic phrases slowed down in the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to build the clean articulation this style demands.

How to Play Follow Me Up

Tuning: E Standard · Tempo: 100 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 100 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Keaggy's primary electric choice, the Les Paul Standard delivers the warm, vocal midrange and thick sustain he needs for fingerstyle leads and orchestral layering. Its PAF-style humbuckers drive his tube amps into smooth overdrive while keeping looped layers clean.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Keaggy uses this premium Les Paul variant for its enhanced tonal depth and craftsmanship, offering the same warm humbucker character as the Standard but with greater refinement for his most expressive, sustained passages.

Fender Twin Reverb
Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

This clean-headroom workhorse gives Keaggy the sparkly platform he needs to push into saturation via pedals rather than amp distortion, preserving the fingerstyle dynamics crucial to his layered, looping arrangements.

Vox AC30
Amp

Vox AC30

The AC30's chiming midrange and natural breakup complement Keaggy's edge-of-breakup approach, adding harmonic complexity to his loop-based soundscapes while maintaining the articulation required for intricate fingerpicking.

Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9
Pedal

Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

This smooth overdrive pedal shapes Keaggy's lead tones without losing clarity, driving his tube amps into saturation while preserving note definition in his fast, fingerstyle lines and sustaining solos.

Boss CE-2 Chorus
Pedal

Boss CE-2 Chorus

Keaggy employs this classic analog-style chorus to add shimmer and width to his layered orchestral textures, thickening his fingerstyle passages without muddying the midrange definition that defines his signature sound.

Play with Backing Track

Play with Backing Track

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)