Level: 2/3
Tuning: Open D

"Hesitation Blues" is a popular song adapted from a traditional tune. One version was published by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham. Another was published in 1915 by W.C. Handy as "Hesitating Blues." Because the tune is traditional, many artists have taken credit as writer, frequently adapting the lyrics of one of the two published versions. Adaptations of the lyrics vary widely, though typically the refrain is recognizably consistent. The song is a jug band standard and is also played as a blues and sometimes as Western swing. I first hear versions by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, Jesse Fuller, Sam Collins and Rev. Gary Davis.

In this lesson I teach an arrangement I developed in the Open D tuning. In my mind and fingers I wanted the guitar to imitate a jug band. The Open D tuning allows this, as it is easy to play a high string melody note and duplicate it two octaves lower. When the low note is slid it sounds like a jug. You'll need to use your imagination! There are a couple of licks that I really like and I think you'll enjoy playing this arrangement.