How to Play Deep River Blues by Doc Watson

Purchase the Deep River Blues Tab:

I love this song! It's a traditional tune famously worked into a fingerpicking masterpiece by the great Doc Watson. In this lesson we'll focus on the intro in detail.

To tackle this one, you'll want to make sure you've got a solid thumbpicking technique and go slowly!

Doc plays this at warp speed, but it sounds great at slower tempos too so take your time and work up to the performance tempo.

BECOME A PREMIUM MEMBER:

Good luck and...

Play On!

John

#tuesdayblues #acousticblues #playbetterblues

===============================================

POSTING SCHEDULE
New Acoustic Blues guitar lesson posted every single Tuesday.

SUBSCRIBE to learn how to play Great Acoustic Blues!

CHECK OUT ALL THE TUESDAY BLUES LESSONS:

[piousjeemsst]

I am 69 years old. I learned to play chords on a silvertone guitar when I was 16 and bought a Takamine in 1974 when I was 20. I never got much beyond strumming chords and finger picking two or three songs. I have tried to learn Deep River Blues now for 49 years. I would practice the first two or three bars until I got frustrated and put the guitar down. Never got past those first three bars. After not playing my guitar for many, many years, I got it out of the case a few months after my wife died. I had forgotten about everything I ever knew. I put the first full new set of strings on it in at least 20 years. Probably 30. But I have been practicing just about every day for four months, now. I'm picking back up the little I knew and, thanks to your video, I can play the first eight bars of Deep River Blues. My speed is terrible, I dull some notes, and I don't have the rhythm right, but I've made more progress in four months than in the last 40 years. Thank you so much for your video. Glad to hear and see you are a Southern boy. God bless you.

[musiclifelove]

I saw Doc playing this on Youtube 10 years ago and literally NEVER thought I'd be able to learn it. After a 3 or 4 days with this video I almost have it down. I am truly grateful. You are a fantastic teacher.

[lucasdunnington-cz]

crazy doc created this 70 years ago without no youtube or iphones

[peterohara]

I have been a guitarist for 45 years and always wanted to be able to play this style but I never had the patience to learn it from ear. This lesson is a God send for me, what a great introduction into this style!

[LaprasForLunch]

You really are a good teacher. As previous comments have said. I've heard this a hundred times and thought it was either magic or a lifetime of hard work... But after an hour or so, I'm making a lot of progress. Just playing the first two measures makes me feel so accomplished and authentic. Thanks a lot man.

[chrisdevine]

When I look at Guitar videos the moment someone starts taking I usually stop but I’m glad I didn’t this time. You have a gift for teaching and there’s no extraneous stuff. Thanks

[mikefinley]

A timeless tune that should put a smile on anyone's face.

[Shatterthewaves]

The pinky bends are brutal ! Thanks for this amazing lesson, you saved me a lot of replaying his live videos over and over to figure this out (though that wouldn't have been bad !). Cheers from France

[karlwetzel]

I've been playing boring songs on my acoustic guitar since I was like 8 years old. I decided it was time to take things up a notch and challenge myself. I have never really tried fingerstyle, with playing a separate bass and melody line simultaneously, and it felt totally alien to me a month ago, like I imagine learning a new, more complex language would. I've been pulling up this video every day, and taking it a measure at a time. Sometimes practicing moving between two or three notes hundreds of times until the timing sounded and felt right. I can play this intro now completely by muscle memory with my brain just about shut down. Still needs some cleaning up, but I'm having a blast! Thanks so much! I think your videos will keep me busy for a while.

[captaingrub]

I'm stoked to play this. Thanks Bill Paxton.

[grizzbuck]

Thank you!!! After a few days of following the tutorial, I can play this! Gradually working on the speed, but I've got it now!

[haraldnies]

Great lesson. Really worth putting time and effort into learning it because it is such an amazing piece of music! Thank you for breaking it down.

[darrenmclaren]

Been trying to learn this for ages now and thanks to this video I'm finnaly seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

[anjrooo]

You’re the man! Came from finger playing on bass and never messed with guitar till I started researching finger picking. To say the least your videos have helped me progress tremendously, especially with the strumming rhythm. Thx!

[mikefinley]

One of the, most diverse guitar musicians on the planet. Great timeless tune and nice sounding guitar be it the guitar or the recording process. Check out all his vids on blues of every style.

[minenu]

I have tried a few different goes at this. Finally this has done it. I could already get the basic fingerpicking but this has cemented the chords in my mind. AT

[jackscott]

Best tutorial of this song out there. Thanks very much.

[mrlinsalata]

Thank you for this satisfying and rewarding lesson, much appreciated! It’s thorough and patient, in a way that helps me understand the song in pieces and then put it together as a whole. I’m sure I’m not the only one you’ve helped take their finger pickin’ to another level 😁

[michaelmcdonald]

I have been playing this tune in A in a kind of cheating barre chord style for years not believing I could learn the correct technique, yours is the only video that has shown me the correct way. I am very greatful and love the way you play it! Thank you from an old hacker!

[davidoffer]

Thanks for this amazing tutorial. I love the way you explain everything. Very thorough. This piece took my fingerpicking skills to the next level
!