Lesson ID: A0073
“Wildwood Flower” was first published in 1860 and was later recorded by the Carter Family in 1928 on the Victor label. Maybelle Carter leads a rendition of the song on the 1972 album Will the Circle be Unbroken, and frequently performed the song in concert with Johnny Cash. In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you a traditional version of Wildwood Flower and then an intermediate version with a ton of crosspicking.
Overview
Traditional Version
Intermediate Version
very nice : )
I really like that intermediate version you put together! Great job
such a simple nice sounding song
Wow this song is kind of tricky! Great lesson once again.
Man I will say this is a tough song but I almost got it! Thanks for the lesson! All your videos are really helping my playing a ton. Great job on everything. – Trevor
Devin this is one great lesson – absolutely love it – good job.
Thanks Terry! Glad you like it! This is one of my favorite songs to play right here…such a great melody and right hand picking exercise. Appreciate the comment. – Devin
Devin – between wayfaring stranger and wildwood flower you have helped my picking and strumming exponentially – these days I have a hard time putting the guitar back in the corner – thank you so much.
Terry
Awesome, glad to hear it! Plenty more song lessons like those two on the way soon so hopefully your guitar won’t be put back in the corner for a while! Have a great rest of your weekend. – Devin
The intermediate version is really cool but I guess I’m old fashion because I almost like the traditional version better. Both versions would be with wothwhile to perfect.
Thanks Jim
Hey Jim, Yeah I agree…it’s really hard to beat the traditional version of this song. Both versions are a good picking workout for sure
wow been awhile since I last was here but looking at that be advanced right hand picking intermediate ,certainly glad to be here! going to do the traditional first and than try intermediate,, ,, ohh last night did enjoy practicing all the licks in G,, great lick exercises and will commit more time here @ CGO! Thanks Devin, Merry Xmas and best wishes hope health going into a Happy New year!
something wrong with the website? said error must reload page.. guess I’ll log off and back on!
Just checked and everything’s ok on this end. About 0.05% of the time, the video player could give an HTML5 error but that’ll correct itself pretty quickly with a few page reloads. Just let us know if it keeps giving you any issues. Glad you’re still enjoying the lessons!
okay , thanks,, yes this is sure fun….i’ll break for now
I added wildflower to favs.. just have to take it slow.. i’ll watch and listen to your tips too as always,, loop features good thing too
Thanks so much Devin. Wonderful lessons and a lot of fun. I’m enjoying playing straight from Red River Valley to Bury me Beneath the Willow to this traditional version of Wildwood Flower (not ready for intermediate yet). A real fun traditional medley.
Nice! You’re working through a few of my favorites…especially Wildwood Flower. If you like those three, I bet you’d like these guitar lessons also if you haven’t watched them already: Shady Grove, Wayfaring Stranger, the basic break for Nine Pound Hammer, Honey You Don’t Know My Mind, Deep Elem Blues..there are some more but just naming a few good ones…they all have that nice Carter style strumming mixed with the melody. Thanks for the comment!
Really nice lesson Devin!
This is a fantastic lesson… thanks
Learning this song is going to be so much fun, Thanks for all of your hard work putting this lesson together Devin!!
This song surely is good exercise for right hand technique. I’m somehow finding it easier to learn it with a capo at the second or third fret, probably because I have relatively short fingers. Thanks Devin.
Thank you for your lessons, they are pleasant simple and motivate learning.
Grew up in Nashville but never drawn to learning country or bluegrass. Always more interested in electric blues based stuff. Broke my little finger a few months ago and could not play for a while. Upon recovery I started playing acoustic again to restrengthen my left hand. In the process I discovered your lessons. This has opened me up to a world I have missed completely. Thanks
Great lesson, great tabs. Thanks Devin.
how do you print tab to practice cnt do it used i time and didnt get copy dam thats what i want to use
You can click on the tablature buttons below the lesson video. That will take you to the tablature page where there will be a button at the top to download the tablature. Let us know if you have any other questions – Devin
I got the traditional one down and now working on the intermediate version. Classic song!
So I finally have this song down after attempting it off and on (mostly off) for a year and a half! I’m wondering if you can comment with the chords/lyrics/strumming pattern for the singing part or maybe even create a part 2 lesson one day. If not, no worries. I really enjoyed learning this one as is. Thanks, Devin! 🙂
Thanks for the idea! Yeah, that would be a good add-on for this lesson. I’ll add it to the lesson queue. Thanks!
This is one of my all time favourites and you have done a great job with it too Devin. I like the way it is done here
beautiful
great lesson and yes on this site no youtube ad-thanks devin
When the chord progression is C-2,3,4. does this mean C,D,E,F.
The very first piece I learned on C.G.O. one year ago almost to the day and I just recently learned the intermediate cross picking version too. One year ago, I thought it was way too difficult and here I am playing both versions thanks to Devin and practice.