Rhythm Guitar Archives

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

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

Tennessee Stud Riffs and Strumming

April 13, 2025August 31, 2018 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0158

In this guitar lesson, we’re going to work on country & bluegrass flatpicking in the style of Doc Watson. First, I’ll teach you how to play some catchy guitar riffs similar to what you’ll hear in Doc’s arrangement of “Tennessee Stud”. Next, I’ll break down a few Doc Watson style strumming patterns and we’ll take a look at some chord progressions that you can use for practice. After you learn the guitar riffs and strumming patterns, practice your Doc Watson style flatpicking over “Tennessee Stud”. Doc plays this song at a pretty fast pace so I’d recommend you begin practicing at a comfortable pace and then slowly increase your speed in increments. Overall, this is a great guitar lesson for developing accurate pick control.

Overview

Playthrough with Tablature

Riffs & Strumming

Practice Progressions

Member Content

Listen

Practice with Doc Watson

Practice this lesson’s strumming patterns and riffs over Doc Watson’s arrangement of “Tennessee Stud” 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.

Guitar Tablature Progressions & Tips Woodtone Strings

Jimmie Rodgers Style Rhythm and Fills

April 13, 2025June 28, 2018 by Devin

waiting-for-a-train-guitar-lesson-jimmie-rodgers

Lesson 12 – Country & Bluegrass Rhythm Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0156

In this guitar lesson, we’re going to work on some Jimmie Rodgers style rhythm guitar techniques. First, we’ll go over a nice classic country strumming pattern that has a hint of Texas swing. After we break down the strumming pattern, we’ll practice our “boom chuck” country strumming over a Jimmie Rodgers style chord progression. You’ll also learn a few Jimmie Rodgers style country guitar riffs. The first riff sounds great as a song intro, the second riff mimics Jimmie Rodgers’ signature yodeling, and the third is a nice guitar riff that you can play as a song ending. At the end of this lesson, you should be able to practice your country strumming and fills along with the iconic song “Waiting for a Train” by Jimmie Rodgers.

Lesson Overview

Strumming

Progression

Member Content

Guitar Riffs

Video 1 – Intro Riff

Member Content

Video 2 – “Yodal” Riff

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Video 3 – Ending Riff

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Song Example

Member Content

Practice

Practice Strumming with Jimmie Rodgers

Capo 1st fret to make your guitar sound close to the tuning Jimmie Rodgers used in this video.

Guitar Riffs Rhythm Progression Woodtone Strings