Chords for Jimmy Brown the Newsboy - Beginner Guitar Lesson

_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
Hey guys, thanks for joining [D] me today.
Brandon Johnson here.
[E] Today we're looking at Jimmy Brown, The Newsboy.
Jimmy Brown, The Newsboy is an awesome tune.
[G] It's a very simple and accessible tune for beginners and intermediates and advanced players.
I love [D] playing this song.
There's a couple good versions online.
There's one of Flad Scruggs doing it from way [G] back in the day, probably the 50s.
And Earl Scruggs is playing guitar, he's playing the guitar part on this [D] song.
And there's another cool version of Norman Blake doing the song.
_ [G] And that's kind of what I based this lesson on, is the Norman Blake style of interpretation
of Jimmy [D] Brown, The Newsboy.
The song is in the key of G, but we're playing it out of the C position.
[G] So that means that we've got to capo all the way up to 7, which is pretty unusual.
You don't usually see capo [D] 7.
_ You know, capo 2, capo 3 maybe, [E] sometimes capo 4, but capo [G] 7 not very often because
it's pretty high and it's hard to sing that high.
So [D] we're going to be looking at Jimmy Brown, The Newsboy.
[F#] Let's check it out.
Alright, let's check out Jimmy Brown, The Newsboy.
This song is in the key of G.
We're playing it in the C position, so we're playing it capo 7, all the way up here. _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ That's pretty high to sing, but that's the way it's played originally, so that's how
we're going to learn it.
[N] Now if you're looking at the tab sheet, I have C, the chord's C, G, C, G.
That just refers to the chord's shape.
[G] So even though the [F#] song's actually in a key of G, [G] this is a G chord.
Because [N] you're capoed up to 7, you're playing it as if it's a C chord with a C shape.
So that's why I put _ the C instead of a G.
Now if you wanted to play capo 3 or capo 4 or capo 2 or no capo at all, the shape stays
the same, but you're just changing keys.
Let's go over measure number 1.
_ First [G] note is a G. _ _
Hammer on, [B] _ 2.
_ [G] Another hammer [E] on, _ open.
[D] _ Now measure number 2, we're doing another hammer on, [B] _ _ _ another hammer [C] on. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ [D] _ [G] Let's go over measures 1 and 2. _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [E] _ _
[D] _ _ There's number [B] 2. _ _ _
[C] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[D] So measures [C] 1 and 2 a little faster.
[G] _ _ _
[F#] _ [D] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[B] _ _ _ [A] _ Now [D] measure number 3, when we go to the G shape, _ _ _ we're doing a pull-off [F#] on the second fret.
_ _ _ [C] Right there.
So measure number 3 [F#] starts like this.
[E] _ _ [F#] _ And then we go down to the G.
[D] _ _ _ _ Back up to the A string, [F#] second fret.
Open [A] D.
_ _ [D] Second fret, [B] _ _ [C] _ hammer on. _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[F#] Okay, so that's a lot.
Let's look at measure number 3 one more time.
Okay, _ _ _ so it starts off with a hammer on on the 2.
[E] _ _ _
[D] To the G.
[F#] 2 again.
_ _ [E] _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ [F#] _ Hammer on on 3. _
_ [B] _ _ _ [D] Open D. _ _
_ [F#] Second fret, [F#m] _ open D.
Okay, so let's play a little bit [F#] faster.
Measure number 3.
_ _ _ [D] _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ [B] _ [C] G, _
[B] _ _ [A] _ [F#] open.
_ [A] _ _
_ Okay, a little [F#m] bit faster, measure number 3.
_ [F#] _ [D] _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [N] Now we'll play measure number 4.
_ Measure number 4 starts with a slide.
That's what that S is, it's a slide up.
This is probably one of the tougher moves in this whole lick.
_ Because it's really hard to get the timing right here when you're sliding up to the 5.
So, looking at measure number 4, we're starting on the second fret, D string.
And then we're sliding up to the fifth fret, D string.
So we're doing [Bm] this.
_ Okay.
_ [G] Now that's a 4 fret.
If you're capo 2, that's a 4 fret.
Or sorry, if you're capo 7, that's a [Bm] 4 fret slide. _
_ Now a cool [G] thing that happens here is the next note you'll [D] see is an open G.
_ Okay, which is the same note as the 5 on the D string.
_ _ _ _ [D#] Those are the same notes.
So what you're [Bm] essentially doing is you're playing, you're sliding up to the 5. _
And then you're kind of letting it ring out.
You're letting the D string ring out [D] while hitting the open G string.
_ [Bm] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ And [F#m] if you watch the _ [N] Flattened Scruggs version on YouTube,
you'll see Earl Scruggs do a lot of different embellishments.
He does this slide up like 4 times in a row at [D] one point.
He's going_
E-L-L-E-A-L-L-E-A-L
Okay, so you can mess around with that.
But just for the sake of learning [Em] it, we'll just do it one time.
[D] _
Like that.
Just once.
_ _ [N] Okay, so measure number 4 starts like this.
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[F#] Okay, that's the whole measure.
One more time.
_ [Bm] _ _ _
Back down to the 2, pull off, [A] _ and then back down to [G] the C.
_ _ Alright?
[N] So let's go over measures 3 and 4 together.
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [F#] _ [E] _
_ [B] _ _ [C] _ [B] Go around, back down to the [A] 2.
_ [F#] _ _ [E] Measure number 4, [Bm] slide, _ _ _ _ [A] pull [G] off,