Song Lessons – Page 12 – Country Guitar Online

Worried Blues

April 13, 2025January 22, 2019 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0164

“Worried Blues” is an old song from the early 1900s written by a country blues musician named Frank Hutchinson. Hutchinson was best known for playing slide guitar with the guitar held in his lap. His song “Worried Blues” has been recorded by several artists over the years, including a popular fingerstyle arrangement by Doc Watson.

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a country and bluegrass flatpicking arrangement of “Worried Blues”. This arrangement is in the key of G and we’ll play it with a nice mix of “Carter Style” boom chick strumming and country blues flatpicking licks. First I’ll teach you two complete instrumental breaks that have a nice bluesy country sound. Then we’ll work through the “Worried Blues” chords and lyrics. After you learn the guitar breaks, practice your flatpicking with the “Worried Blues” backing track in G.

Overview

Instrumental Break 1

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Tablature Line 1 Breakdown
04:51 min	Tablature Line 2 Breakdown
10:18 min	Tablature Line 3 Breakdown
14:49 min	Practice Along with Me

Instrumental Break 2

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Tablature Line 1 Breakdown
05:21 min	Tablature Line 2 Breakdown
08:51 min	Tablature Line 3 Breakdown
11:56 min	Practice Along with Me

Chords & Lyrics

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Rhythm Overview
00:56 min	Worried Blues Chord Progression
02:16 min	Chords and Lyrics
04:33 min	Bass Line Walk Example
06:29 min	Chords and Lyrics Continued
09:44 min	Song Ending
10:44 min	Strumming Patterns and Rhythm Tips

Backing Track

Member Content

Instrumental Breaks Chords & Lyrics Song Lyrics Woodtone Strings

Build-a-Break Flatpicking Guitar Licks for Cripple Creek

April 13, 2025January 13, 2019 by Devin

build a break cripple creek bluegrass flatpicking guitar licks

Lesson 9 – Bluegrass Guitar Solo Improvising Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0163

This is part two of a mini lesson series on playing lead guitar in a country and bluegrass style. In part one, you learned how to play two guitar breaks for “Cripple Creek” using the song’s traditional melody. In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn eight extremely useful flatpicking guitar licks and I’ll show you three easy ways to use these flatpicking licks to spice up your country and bluegrass guitar solos. The concepts in this lead guitar lesson will help you improvise a hard-driving bluegrass guitar break over “Cripple Creek” and these concepts can also be applied to a ton of other country and bluegrass songs.

Overview

Using the Licks

Flatpicking Licks

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Bluegrass Lick 1
03:08 min	Practice Lick 1 with “Cripple Creek”
06:19 min	Bluegrass Lick 2
09:11 min	Practice Lick 2 with “Cripple Creek”
10:53 min	Bluegrass Lick 3
13:12 min	Practice Lick 3 with “Cripple Creek”
14:35 min	Bluegrass Lick 4
16:57 min	Practice Lick 4 with “Cripple Creek”
17:48 min	Bluegrass Lick 5
20:11 min	Practice Lick 5 with “Cripple Creek”
20:53 min	Bluegrass Lick 6
24:23 min	Bluegrass Lick 7
28:37 min	Bluegrass Lick 8
30:57 min	Extra Tips for Using Bluegrass Licks

Backing Track

Member Content

Lesson Tablature Lick Library Woodtone Strings

Cripple Creek Traditional Guitar Breaks

April 13, 2025December 16, 2018 by Devin

cripple-creek-guitar-lesson-traditional-break

Lesson 8 – Bluegrass Guitar Solo Improvising Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0162

This is Part One of a two-part lesson series where we’ll work on lead guitar improvising in a country & bluegrass style. In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play two guitar breaks for “Cripple Creek” using the song’s traditional melody.

Then, in the Part Two of this “Cripple Creek” lesson series (coming soon), I’ll show you several different ways that you can use bluegrass guitar licks and crosspicking to modify the traditional melody to make your guitar solo breaks sound more interesting. Both of the guitar lessons in this two-part series will help you add that hard-driving bluegrass sound to your bluegrass guitar breaks.

Overview

Melody 1

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Breakdown – Measures 1 through 5
05:35 min	Breakdown – Measures 6 through 9
07:31 min	Recap – A Part
08:12 min	Breakdown – Measures 10 through 13
11:09 min	Breakdown – Measures 14 through 17
12:05 min	Practice the Entire Break with Me
13:46 min	Your Homework

Melody 2

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

08:02 minBreakdown – Measures 10 through 13

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the Entire Break
00:50 min	Breakdown – Measures 1 through 5
05:30 min	Breakdown – Measures 6 through 9
10:44 min	Breakdown – Measures 14 through 17
12:44 min	Practice the Entire Break with Me
14:53 min	Backing Track Practice Tip

Backing Track

Member Content

Guitar Melody Tablature Guitar Lick Library Woodtone Strings

Brown’s Ferry Blues

April 13, 2025November 9, 2018 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0161

“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.

Overview

Intermediate Break

Video 1 – Intermediate Break Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Intermediate Break Full Breakdown

Easy Break

Video 1 – Easy Break Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Easy Break Full Breakdown

Rhythm 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

Backing Track

Intermediate Break TAB Easy Break TAB Rhythm Progression & Tips Bass Line Walks TAB Woodtone Strings