In this guitar lesson, we’ll work on some flatpicking in the style of Molly Tuttle using a common “I-IV-V” chord progression that we’ll borrow from the song “White Freightliner Blues” by Townes Van Zandt. Molly Tuttle adds her own twist to this song and we’ll take a look at how she uses chord embellishments, crosspicking, and fill riffs to spice up her bluegrass rhythm guitar playing.
In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the traditional country & bluegrass song called “Jimmy Brown the Newsboy”. This song was originally written by William Shakespeare Hays in the late 1800s and it has been recorded by several country & bluegrass artists over the years including Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Roger Miller, Norman Blake, Bill Monroe, A.P. Carter, and several others.
It’s common to see this song played out of the C position with a capo on the 7th fret (Key of G), but in this guitar lesson, we’re going to play it out of the C position with a capo on the 2nd fret (Key of D). The lower pitched melody with a capo on the 2nd fret seems to be a bit easier for singing. We’ll cover two different variations of the instrumental, and then we’ll go over the rhythm guitar part for those of y’all wanting to sing and play this one. Overall, this is a great guitar lesson for all levels of pickers.
“Railroad Bill” is an old traditional song based on a legend about a man in south Alabama during the post-Civil War era known as Railroad Bill. Sources suggest that Railroad Bill was a “Robin Hood” type of character that would steal from food trains and sell items to poor families at below market prices. As legend has it, Railroad Bill’s ghost is still roaming the L&N Railroad tracks to this day.
This song has a great melody that we’ll play using Chet Atkins and Merle Travis style picking. This is a challenging tune, but if you relax your right hand and take it slow, everything will fall into place with a bit of practice. We’ll focus on hybrid picking in this lesson, but feel free to play these arrangements with a thumb pick or finger plucking if you find that more comfortable. Download the tablature below the lesson video. Hope y’all enjoy learning this one!
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Arrangement 1 Preview |
| 00:42 min | Line 1 Breakdown |
| 04:10 min | Extra Hybrid Picking Detail |
| 07:36 min | Line 2 Breakdown |
| 13:05 min | Line 3 Breakdown |
| 15:53 min | Practice with Me |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Arrangement 2 Preview |
| 00:54 min | Line 1 Breakdown |
| 05:28 min | Line 2 Breakdown |
| 10:21 min | Line 3 Breakdown |
| 13:33 min | Practice with Me |
After you’re done here