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Banks of the Ohio guitar tabs

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  • Tablatures

    Beginner

    Traditional

    • Difficulty
    • Key
      G
    • Tempo
      70 bpm
    • Tuning
      EADGBE

    Banks of the Ohio is a good old murder ballad. Make sure you check out Tony Rice’s rendition of this off of his record, “Guitar.”

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  • Intermediate

    Traditional

    • Difficulty
    • Key
      G
    • Tempo
      90 bpm
    • Tuning
      EADGBE

    This intermediate rendition of Banks of the Ohio is still fairly sparse in the beginning and as it develops, brings in more scalar ideas. It’s a good one to practice accenting the melody.

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  • Advanced

    Traditional

    • Difficulty
    • Key
      G
    • Tempo
      100 bpm
    • Tuning
      EADGBE

    This version of Banks of the Ohio starts out with a crosspicking arrangement and seamlessly moves into some longer melody phrasing. Practice tip: Loop individual measures and then piece them together.

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More about Banks of the Ohio

"Banks of the Ohio" is a 19th-century murder ballad about a murder at a riverbank committed by a young man named "Willie." The first recording of this song was in 1927 by Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers. The Monroe Brothers recorded this song in 1936 and it's been covered by countless others such as Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Joan Baez, Olivia Newton-John, and more. It's become a bluegrass standard and has set the tone for many other murder ballads in the genre.