I've recommended these books because they were written by flatpickers, for flatpickers, and I know Dan and Tim personally and I know they have a good handle on what the style requires.
First, they start with rhythm. Very few methods do this, but for flatpicking, it's a requirement. 90% of what you'll be required to do as a serious flatpicker is rhythm. A flatpicker who can't play solid rhythm might as well just stay home. No one wants to play with that guy.
Second is Carter Style, which is basically pulling melody out of chord shapes while maintaining a rhythm. This is essential because of the two cardinal rules of flatpicking: 1) Never lose the melody, and 2) Always know what chord you're playing over. Learning Carter Style cements the relationship between chords and melody, which is more essential in flatpicking than in other styles.
Third is Fiddle Tunes, which is where you really begin to learn how to pick lead lines on the guitar. This should not be attempted, IMO, until the player has a good handle on rhythm and Carter Style. The kiss of death for any flatpicker is to start relying too much on scales and licks. It's melody, melody, melody, even when improvising, and a strong foundation in Carter Style wires your brain to think melody first.
One area they don't really cover is Bluegrass guitar. Carter Style and fiddle tunes are not Bluegrass. They do, however, give you the tools you need to go out and discover Bluegrass on your own, if that's your interest.
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Originally Posted by posternutbag
Book 3: OK, I have to be honest. When all is said and done, this is pretty much a tune book. If there is a flaw in the methodology, it is here. The transition from tab player to ear player is a very big leap, and I think "Flatpicking Essentials" makes it seem easier than it is. I think I have mostly made the leap, but I am not sure how much of that is "Flatpicking Essentials" and how much of it is concentrated focus on ear training with a music teacher. "Flatpicking Essentials" is certainly a tool in the toolbox, but I don't think it replaces hardcore ear training with a teacher or in a music school context.
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The best way I've found to train your ear is full immersion. Ban tab (or notation, if you read) from your house for the next two years. If you can't learn it by ear, you don't learn it. Period. Do that, and eventually you'll begin to hear music as a language. You'll understand what people are saying, and know how to respond, without even thinking about it. There are a million techniques you can use to train your ear, but until you completely give up your reliance on tab you'll never unlock its potential. IMO. Just to back that up, this is a video of my son in a jam from a couple years ago. At the time, he'd never heard or played this tune before, and he had to pick up the melody
from a banjo, all on the fly. This was stone cold improvisation, Flatpicking style of course. At this point in his life, he'd been tab free for about three years. Tab frustrates him now - it's way too slow. Like listening to someone read aloud instead of reading yourself.
https://youtu.be/2wimQvl5AoE
Here's another example. Jamming with three Winfield champs, and not about to be left in the dust, on a tune that was honestly beyond his ability at the time. Adrenaline. He was hanging on by his fingernails but got through it. His comment at the end - "What's that called?"
https://youtu.be/OtXFd49d-2E