D Archives

St. Anne’s Reel

April 13, 2025February 20, 2019 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0165

“St. Anne’s Reel” is a traditional French-Canadian tune in the public domain that was made popular by Joseph Allard in the 1930s. This song was originally played on the fiddle but it has become a favorite flatpicking tune of guitarists at bluegrass jams.

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a traditional melody for “St. Anne’s Reel” on guitar. We’ll work through two different flatpicking guitar arrangements with tablature. The first arrangement will be played at a higher octave and it will work up the guitar neck on the B and E strings. The second arrangement has a nice low-pitched sound that will turn some heads at your next bluegrass jam. After you learn the guitar breaks, practice your bluegrass flatpicking over our “St. Anne’s Reel” backing track in D.

Overview

Arrangement 1

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Breakdown – Measures 1 through 5
05:34 min	Breakdown – Measures 6 through 9
08:36 min	Breakdown – Measures 10 through 17
10:38 min	Practice the A Part
11:49 min	Breakdown – Measures 18 through 21
17:11 min	Breakdown – Measures 22 through 25
19:03 min	Breakdown – Measures 26 through 33
20:41 min	Practice the B Part

Arrangement 2

Member Content

Backing Track

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Arrangement 1 Tablature Arrangement 2 Tablature Woodtone Strings

Jimmy Brown the Newsboy

April 13, 2025June 9, 2018 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0154

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.

Lesson Overview

Instrumental 1

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Instrumental 2

Video 1 – Playthrough with Tablature

Member Content

Video 2 – Full Breakdown

Member Content

Chord Progression

Member Content

Backing Track

Member Content

Instrumental Tablature Chords & Lyrics Woodtone Strings

Drop D Country Guitar Riffs

April 13, 2025March 29, 2018 by Devin

Lesson 17 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course

Course Outline Previous Lesson Next Lesson

Lesson ID: A0149

In this country guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play six intermediate country guitar riffs in drop D. We’ll also have three easier drop D riffs for the newer country pickers. I’ll play the drop D licks with tablature and give you a full breakdown along with some helpful music theory tips. After you learn the licks, practice along with our jam track and also test them out over “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” by Travis Tritt.

Lesson Overview

Six Intermediate Riffs

Intermediate Riff 1

Intermediate Riff 2

Intermediate Riff 3

Intermediate Riff 4

Intermediate Riff 5

Intermediate Riff 6

Three Easy Riffs

Easy Riff 1

Easy Riff 2

Easy Riff 3

Using the Riffs

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Jam Track

Member Content

Travis Tritt

Practice with Travis Tritt

Once you get these drop D country guitar riffs up to speed, try to play them over the song “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” by Travis Tritt using the embedded player from Spotify. The chord progression is similar to our jam track progression, but just a bit quicker. 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. Also, check out Travis Tritt on iTunes. He’s got a ton of other great songs to choose from.

Intermediate Riffs TAB Easy Riffs TAB Woodtone Strings

Angeline the Baker

April 13, 2025January 18, 2018 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0145

“Angeline the Baker“, also known as “Angelina Baker”, is an old traditional song that was written by Stephen Foster and published in 1850. Foster was one of the first commercial pop composers and he wrote “Angelina Baker” for a group called Christy Minstrels. Since 1850, this song has been recorded by several artists and it’s become a standard for country and bluegrass jams. In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn two flatpicking breaks for “Angeline the Baker” along with tips for playing the rhythm guitar part.