“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 |
Great lesson, thanks Devin.
I like that riff. This is a really good one to learn!
I have nobody to play along with, so I love all of your instrumental pieces. This has a nice and relaxed feel to it. Amazing lesson as always!
Thanks,
Carl
I added this to my favorites! It will take me some practice to clean this one up but it sounds awesome. Thank you so much for all your lessons Devin. I still say you have the best and easiest to follow lessons I’ve found on the internet. Cheers! Geoff
Fanstic site mate! On the way to sign up now my man
Thanks
Aytan Leibowitz 
Tim 
Geoff 
Carl Glad y’all like this one! Thanks a lot for the comments. – Devin
This legendary post civil war folk tune as you explain will help me learn to train my voice (i can’t really sing) but this came so fast cause it is very much same as Elizabeth Coton’s “FREIGHT TRAIN” not that it matters all much to which came first but interesting to find out. another fun lesson!
Yeah that’s exactly what I was thinking too…so similar to “Freight Train”. I was going back and forth between teaching Freight Train or Railroad Bill and decided on this one. I like the vocal melody and the nice bluesy folk feel it has. Might add a Freight Train lesson at some point. I remember you’re really into the finger style stuff…do you use the thumb pick or just straight fingers? Wondering if some fingerstyle/thumbpick lessons might be cool to add sometime…
Devin, I posted a minute ago but forgot to scroll down on this tiny lap top,, yes. I really like finger style and feel at home with growing my nails to proper length,, I tried thumb picks and just can’t take the time to use them.. I can do this hybrid or finger style same.. I can post this on youtube eventually .. this morning I really got the 12 bar without mouth movement this time much smoother and lighter with the picking.. I still did’t change my 12s elixirs on the D35 YET.. i TOOK YOU ADVICE AND HAVE… Read more »
I think this is so cool ..I love this style alternating Chet Atkins and with the capo I’m going to practice with singing too..just have to memorize the lyrics and few more hours I’ll let it ride ride ride too Devin thanks man!
Will have to get my thumb reset for this are there any more chet styles on this site?
Yeah, this style’s really fun…I’ve been mostly into flatpicking lessons lately but we’ll get back to more Chet style lessons soon. I’ll probably even throw in some lessons where we use an actual thumb pick. Let me know if you have any song requests. You can find some more like this at CGO if you head to the main lesson grid https://countryguitaronline.com/lessons/ and click the filter button right above the grid called “Finger Style”
Love it! More more more!
Devin is this Merle Travis’s style of picking or is this country hybrid picking?
It’s a little cross between both…using the repeating alternating bass line and mixing in melody line notes. When someone says Travis Picking, I usually think of using an actual thumb pick to play the bass notes like Merle Travis did. Then, I’d probably consider hybrid picking more of using a traditional flatpick combined with using your other fingers. I guess it’s all just terminology, and when it comes down to it, whether you use a thumb pick or a flatpick, you can still play a pretty similar version of the same song. Thumb picks are pretty fun though…you can really… Read more »
Very interesting thanks for taking the time with me.
Do you usually play this type of song with a pick or do you sometimes just use your fingers? Can you switch between the two techniques?
There’s no absolute rule on how to play these finger style arrangements. I’ll basically show you the notes to play and you can choose how you want to play it with your picking hand. I usually prefer hybrid picking since I’m used to it, but nothing wrong with using your thumb to catch the bass note…and then you also have access to your pointer finger that way — whatever you like the best. Lately I’ve had a lot of fun messing around with a thumb pick…it’s just a cheap Dunlop thumb pick but it really picks those bass note strings… Read more »
Right on. I’m more comfortable using only my fingers but I’m trying the hybrid picking as a challenge and a new technique. After that, probably thumb picks!
This is a great lesson series. I’d love to hear some more advanced stuff where you’re hybrid picking the bass notes while playing a nice melody. Thanks!
Thanks Devin, nice lesson. Looking forward to more hybrid picking lessons. greetings, Dennis
This is what guitar playing is about to me. Well nearly. I am not a great fan of using a plectrum but have persevered with it and it’s coming along. However the course material is excellent. Instead of using a plectrum I use a thumb pick. Now you can do one of two things here. You can hold it just like a plectrum with your index finger and thumb holding the thumb pick. This works exactly the same as a plectrum. However I prefer to use it as a thumb pick which gives you the extra finger and actually makes… Read more »
Good one. First recording of this that I have is Riley Puckett (one of my favorite pickers) done in 1924.
What a song!
I can’t wait for more lessons in this series!
As always great.Thank you very much Devin!
Is the pickup measure always part of the first chord in a song?
added to my favourities Devin! Special one!