Lonesome Road Blues banjo tabs
Back-
Tablatures
Scruggs Style
-
Difficulty
-
Key
G -
Tempo
125 bpm -
Tuning
gDGBD
A classic Scruggs arrangement of Lonesome Road Blues heard on "Foggy Mountain Banjo," which is the bible of Scruggs-style banjo.
Learn -
Difficulty
-
Melodic Style
-
Difficulty
-
Key
G -
Tempo
125 bpm -
Tuning
gDGBD
This arrangement of Lonesome Road Blues starts high and ends up low. It features a lot of a great melodic licks stolen from Bela Fleck and others.
Learn -
Difficulty
More about Lonesome Road Blues
The Lonesome Road is a song with Nathaniel Shilkret's music and Gene Austin's lyrics, done in 1927. The song is also called "Lonesome Road", "Lonesome Road Blues" among some other catchy titles. It was written in the style of an African-American folk song. Both the lyricist and the composer were extremely popular recording artists. Gene Austin estimated that he sold 80 million records, and Nathaniel Shilkret's son was very popular recording artists. Joel Whitburn mentions performances in Numbers 10, 12, 3, and 10 by Austin, Bing Crosby, Ted Lewis, and Shilkret (see the collection of recordings below). No credible sales figures can be used to confirm or refute any of the above projections. Austin, supported by Shilkret directing the Victor Orchestra, initially recorded it on September 16, 1927. There were more than two hundred "Lonesome Road" recordings, including versions by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby (recorded on December 12, 1938), Ted Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Ace Cannon, Chris Connor, and Dick Dale. In the final of the 1929 part-talkie film version of Edna Ferber's novel Show Boat, the structure was used especially as a replacement for Ol' Man River. Stepin Fetchit's done it onscreen as the Joe deckhand. Bass-baritone Jules Bledsoe, who had played Joe in the musical's original stage version, provided the singing voice of Fetchit. The autobiography of Shilkret contains a brief account of the motivation in the film to use the song.
Here are 3 killer arrangements of Lonesome Road Blues for you to share with friends at your next jam. The Scruggs style arrangement will get you started learning slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. Once you’re ...feeling confident with that try your luck with the Melodic style solo, which will teach you how to play the melody for Lonesome Road Blues using up the neck scales. Finally, the Backup arrangement will show you how to play this song with others and sound like a pro doing it. There are many Scruggs, melodic and bluesy licks in these three banjo Lonesome Road Blues tablatures, which can be used to personalize each arrangement into your liking. To change measure into different arrangement, just click on the "Original Measure" text above the measure and select a different lick. You can also click the "Shuffle licks" button at the bottom of the page to randomly change all of the licks in the tablature and create a wholly unique arrangement of this song. Be sure to check out all of the great learning tools that Tunefox has to offer such as "Hide Notes", "Memory Train", and "Speed Up". These tools can be found in the "Tools" menu at the bottom right of your screen. Want to learn some of Lonesome Road Blues by ear? Use "Hide Notes" to hide some or all of the notes in the tablature. Once you’re finished learning with the tab use the "Memory Train" tool to commit the song to memory. Then practice with "Speed Up" to improve your technique and speed in no time. Using backing tracks for practice should be an essential part of every musician’s routine. With Tunefox, you can practice Lonesome Road Blues as fast or as slow as you want and mix the volume of the tracks with the instrument to your liking. There’s also a metronome so you can always feel the pulse of the song with or without the band track playing along. Once you’ve settled on an arrangement of Lonesome Road Blues using the Lick Switcher, export your arrangement to a PDF file so you can print it out and take it with you. This is a member-only feature.
Lonesome Road Blues lyrics
I'm going down this road feeling bad
I'm going down this road feeling bad
I'm going down this road feeling bad, lord, lord
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
Down in the jailhouse on my knees
Down in the jailhouse on my knees
Down in the jailhouse...me on corn bread and beens
They feed me on corn bread and beens
They feed me on corn bread and beens, O lord
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
* Refrain
I ain't got no shoes on my feet
I ain't got no shoes on my feet
I ain't got no shoes on my feet, Lord God
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
* Refrain
It takes a ten dollar shoe to fit my foot
It takes a ten dollar shoe to fit my foot
It takes a ten dollar shoe to fit my foot, Great God
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
* Refrain
I'm going where the climate suits my clothes
I'm going where the climate suits my clothes
I'm going where the climate suits my clothes, O lord
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
* Refrain
I'm goin' if I never get back
I'm goin' if I never get back
I'm goin' if I never get back, LOrd God
And I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way
* Refrain