“Brown’s Ferry Blues” was originally written in the early 1900s by The Delmore Brothers. Over the course of their careers, the Delmores wrote more than one thousand songs, including “Brown’s Ferry Blues”, “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar”, and “Fifteen Miles from Birmingham”. The Delmore Brothers grew up in a musical home as their mother, Mollie Delmore, wrote and sang gospel songs for their church. The Brothers blended gospel-style harmonies with the faster paced guitar parts of traditional folk music and blues to help create the still-emerging country genre.
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn a guitar arrangement in the style of “Brown’s Ferry Blues” by The Delmore Brothers. This particular arrangement is also inspired by Doc Watson and Billy Strings. We’ll cover an intermediate guitar break, an easier guitar break for the beginner country & bluegrass pickers, and the rhythm guitar progression. After you master the guitar arrangements, practice your picking over the backing track in the key of G.
Video 1 – Intermediate Break Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Intermediate Break Full Breakdown
Video 1 – Easy Break Playthrough with Tablature
Video 2 – Easy Break Full Breakdown
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Chord Progression Overview |
| 00:56 min | Instrumental Break Chord Progression |
| 02:27 min | Chord Progression to Backup Vocals |
| 05:09 min | Chords and Lyrics Example |
| 12:23 min | Strumming Pattern 1 |
| 14:57 min | Strumming Pattern 2 |
| 17:44 min | Chord Transition Bass Line Walk 1 |
| 21:09 min | Chord Transition Bass Line Walk 2 |
| 23:36 min | Chord Transition Bass Line Walk 3 |
| 26:23 min | “Brown’s Ferry Blues” Song Structure |
New lesson! I’ll have the backing track and rhythm breakdown videos posted early next week, but here’s the bulk of the lesson in the meantime. Hope y’all like this one. I’ve been really into Billy Strings lately and this lesson is kind of inspired by a YouTube video I watched of him playing Brown’s Ferry Blues.
Have a great weekend –
This is excellent Devin. Thank you for your continued time and efforts to share your technique.
Thanks!
Always good…thanks Devin! Snowtime is coming soon here and it’s time to play country guitar as much as I can.
I really like your Doc Watson’s arrangements Devin it helps me to improve my guitar skills…again thanks lot!
Thanks Devin, this arrangement is simply stunning. What a great sound. Question: If you had to choose between a mid range active pick up (say an M1 Baggs) and a good clip on guitar mic (prodipe GL21), which one would you use to get the best acoustic sound without effects at a small indoor venue?
Thanks! That’s a great question…I’ve played on a guitar that had an LR Baggs pickup similar to the M1 and it sounded pretty nice. What I’d really recommend, though, is the K&K Pure Mini pickup. It’s what I have on my Collings and it is great…you get a nice natural wood tone. I always forget that I even have a pickup in that guitar because it has such a low profile once you get it installed, and I don’t think it takes away from the natural acoustic sound when you’re playing straight acoustic with no amp. I’m not a complete… Read more »
Hey Devin, I just saw your reply 3 weeks on! Not sure how I missed it. Anyway I will definitely try the K&K Pure mini as you’re the third person to recommend it over other pick ups for natural sound output. I will keep you posted. I have just bought myself a Roland AC33. It’s a great little amp and am very pleased with it. The GL21 guitar mic does not come through ‘clean’ enough I find, even with guitar channel volume ramped up. It’s sort of muffled. Vocals are crisp and clear. Also the GL21 isn’t active and requires… Read more »
Nice! I haven’t played through a Roland AC33 but it looks like it has good reviews on Google. I’ll see if my local shop has one to try out. The K&K Pure Mini is passive too but I think it sounds really good without a preamp. I’ve read online that K&K sells a K&K Pure Preamp. Might work pretty well with the K&K Pure Mini to give it a slight boost in tone. Always one more thing to plug in but it could be worth it. Yeah, let me know what you think of the K&K compared to the GL21… Read more »
FYI I just got the rhythm breakdown video posted for “Brown’s Ferry Blues”. There’s a lot of great stuff in this video. When you’re watching it, remember that you can skip to different sections of the video by clicking the links in the Video Start Time table above the video (you’ll need to be logged in to do this and this feature is available on desktop, laptop, and tablets). Thanks!
Great song, love Doc Watson.
It would be really awesome to have the solo played through at a good speed so we can hear how it should sound and then be able to play alongside of it?
Yeah, such a good song. Sounds good, I’m recording the backing track for this tomorrow and I’ll work in a demo at the beginning of it.
That’s awesome thanks Devin playing though this quite well now, although getting the words out quickly is proving very hard.
I really don’t know how these guys play so fast and manage to get sing at the same time.
More practice I guess lol.
Hey Justin – Just got the Brown’s Ferry Blues backing track posted. Hope you like the new format.
Yeah for sure, Doc Watson can play and sing this one so fast. So impressive. Billy Strings is up there too. I’ve been loving Billy Strings’ bluesy bluegrass sound lately…I like his other song “Dust In a Baggie”.
Have a good weekend!
That guitar of yours keeps sustaining forever! Just listen the the harmonics at the end. Bellissimo!
New member here. Man you have, by far, the best guitar lesson site online that I have seen! Really excellent instruction. Excellent.