Bluegrass Standards Archives

Bury Me Beneath the Willow

April 13, 2025August 1, 2017 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0132

“Bury Me Beneath the Willow” is an old traditional folk song that was first archived in 1906 by an English professor at the University of Missouri. The song was made popular by The Carter Family and it has been recorded by several different artists over the years. In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you a nice instrumental arrangement for acoustic guitar that walks the melody line along with some Carter style rhythm.

Basic Instrumental

Intermediate Instrumental

Rhythm Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Overview
00:36 min	Chord Progression
01:44 min	Chord Shapes
04:13 min	Alternating Bass Line and Strumming Tips
07:30 min	Singing with the Chord Progression

Member Content

Listen

Listen to a few different variations of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” using the embedded player from Spotify. We’d highly recommend using Spotify for online radio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click here to sign up free with your Facebook account or with an e-mail address.

Standard Tuning

Capo 3rd Fret

Standard Tuning

Basic Tablature Intermediate Tablature Chords & Lyrics Woodtone Strings

Old Grimes in the Style of Chris Eldridge

April 13, 2025July 12, 2017 by Devin

old grimes bluegrass guitar lesson tablature

Lesson ID: A0130

“Old Grimes” has become popular at bluegrass jams largely due to Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage. I reached out to Chris and he said it’s a traditional tune that he learned from Jesse Cobb, his old bandmate in the Infamous Stringdusters, who may have learned it from Matt Combs in Nashville. In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you the main guitar melody for “Old Grimes”. Download the tablature below the lesson video.

Lesson Overview

Flatpicking Break

Chord Progression

Member Content

Listen to Old Grimes

Eric Moore & Friends

This is a nice version of “Old Grimes” performed by Eric Moore and his friends Mark and Bryan. Big fan of Eric’s YouTube channel — he regularly posts traditional bluegrass tunes on guitar that y’all would enjoy. Subscribe to Eric’s YouTube channel to watch more of his videos.

Audio – Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage

Practice “Old Grimes” with Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage using the embedded player from Spotify. We’d highly recommend using Spotify for online radio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click here to sign up free with your Facebook account or with an e-mail address.

Video – Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage

Practice along with Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage in this video from Fretboard Journal. You can also download some great music from Chris Eldridge and Julian Lage here and check out their 2017 Grammy award winning album Mount Royal that features “Old Grimes”.

Backing Track

Old Grimes Guitar Tablature Woodtone Strings

Wabash Cannonball

April 13, 2025June 30, 2017 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0125

“Wabash Cannonball” is a traditional American folk song that was originally published to sheet music in 1882 under the title “The Great Rock Island Route” written by J. A. Roff. The song was later rewritten under the title “Wabash Cannonball” in 1904 by William Kindt. In this guitar lesson, we’ll show you the chords and lyrics to “Wabash Cannonball” along with two full-length guitar solos. The first guitar solo incorporates a lot of the song’s melody line notes and the second solo is loaded with bluegrass flatpicking licks.

Lesson Overview

Melodic Solo

Bluegrass Flatpicking Solo

Rhythm Breakdown

Member Content

Backing Track

Member Content

Chords & Lyrics Melodic Solo TAB Bluegrass Solo TAB Melodic Intro TAB Woodtone Strings

John Hardy was a Desperate Little Man

April 13, 2025June 14, 2017 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0128

In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach y’all how to play two guitar solo breaks for the classic country & bluegrass song “John Hardy”. The first break has a nice blend of Carter style “boom chick” rhythm and Tony Rice influenced licks and the second guitar solo is loaded with some awesome country & bluegrass flatpicking licks that travel the neck. Download the tablature PDF files below the video along with the Guitar Pro files. If you like this lesson, check out our Bluegrass Lick Library.