We open with Stefan telling us that in this three part series of country blues guitar we will do two things. Number one is watch footage of great country blues players and learn some of their techniques and discuss aspects we need to use ourselves. Hand position, fingers used, strings used and more.
We start of with footage of Mississippi John Hurt and a real nice ode to death basically. "Walk that Lonesome Valley" is about passing on.
It has lyrics sung and its that old saw about being born alone and dying alone.
Anyway its not delta blues or even blues but it is country spiritual which was a big deal. Still is! Its played with bare fingers and is a nice song.
Candy Man featuring the Rev Gary Davis is next and he uses a thumb pick and a finger pick on his forefinger. This is an instrumental version. Stefan discusses and recommends we start finger picking with bare fingers. Furry Lewis footage is next performing " Casey Jones" in open G. Stefan draws our attention to Jesses right hand. It never moves and is welded right there thumb and fingers working like pistons while the left hand is on the two highest strings only. This has vocals but they are hard to make out.
Next up is a way cool vintage 12 string electric guitar (looks like a Gretch?) in the hands of Jesse Fuller who performs "High Sheriff from Baltimore" Jesse also plays kazoo and harmonica using a neck rack and sings. Marvelous.
Elizabeth Cotton is next and a left handed acoustic guitar player. She is dressed like your spinster aunt might dress but sure can fingerpick that Martin. She sings her composition called "Freight Train". Its almost religious.
OK its 15 minutes or so into the lesson and here Steven tells us to pick up our guitars and that we are about to begin learning hands on! We tune up together and he teaches us the 3 chords we will need C, F, G. He then merrily start playing the song with the camera on his left hand. He then exhorts us to study the TAB in the .PDF pamphlet find the split screen and try to play along. Good Luck with that any time this week. He says that the split screen combined with the TAB music will hopefully enable you to play the song well. In theory it sound good in practice its up to each one of us to work at it. If you are comfortable with fingerpicking then you can stuff yourselves at the Dim Sung of the many guitarists styes servered up within the lesson. If you aren't comfortable then you need to go to two places the fingerpicking basics and the steady thumb basics.
There is unque footage here of a wide variety of artists that make this 3 lesson set a good Guitar library addition for any serious acoustic country and blues guitar player.
Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him. –Booker T. Washington