Richmond Blues

from: Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes with Scott Nygaard

This lesson is part of the course Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes with Scott Nygaard.

Get immediate access to this lesson and all of the lessons in this course when you subscribe.

Start Course
Browse Courses

About This Course

Explore playing traditional American fiddle tunes on the guitar from the perspective of an old-time square dance fiddler, with an emphasis on phrasing, rhythm, and melodic improvisation that is constant but never extreme. You’ll learn 14 tunes in four keys and get examples and ideas for melodic variations for each tune.

Try a Sample Lesson

Burl Hammons’s “Big Scioty”

West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons is the source for the fiddle tune “Big Sciota” that has become a jam session favorite in bluegrass circles. His version of “Big Scioty”, however, is much more syncopated and illustrates the constant improvising that most old-time fiddlers engage in. Each A part is different from every other A part and the same is true of his B parts.

Try a sample lesson

The Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes Subscription Includes:

14 great old-time tunes to play in the keys of A, D, G, and C
Instruction on articulations and fingering designed to create powerful phrasing and rhythm
Variations on the melody for each tune and advice on creating short melodic variations that maintain the integrity of the melody
Notation and tab in downloadable PDF form provided for all tunes

$20/Month For One Course

Additional courses only $10/month each! • Save 20% with an annual subscription

Start Course

Get started now!
Use promo code ScottLand at checkout

and get your first month free or $20 off an annual subscription.

Richmond Blues

“Richmond Blues” is a well-known old-time song, and Kentucky fiddler Leonard Rutherford recorded it twice in the 1920s with two different singers and two different titles, though his fiddle break is virtually identical on each recording.

Richmond Blues

Foster and Rutherford

All Night Long Blues

Burnett and Rutherford

“Richmond Blues” Notation/Tab PDF Download (Available to subscribers)

Previous Lesson

← Rocky Pallet

Next Lesson

Tommy Jarrell’s “Soldier’s Joy” →

Previous Lesson

← Rocky Pallet

Next Lesson

Tommy Jarrell’s “Soldier’s Joy” →

Previous Lesson

← Rocky Pallet

Next Lesson

Tommy Jarrell’s “Soldier’s Joy” →

Guitar Articles

Lowden Alex de Grassi Signature Model

The fingerstyle guitar legend demonstrates his primary six-string.

Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh: “Sports”

Watch a video of an original song from “Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth,” with mandolin from Peghead Nation instructor Joe K. Walsh, and illustration by our banjo instructor Danny Barnes.

Richmond Blues

About This Course

Guitar Articles

Guitar Videos