Country Blues Musicianship (2 DVD)

Publisher : Stefan Grossman Guitar Workshop
Running Time: 226 minutes 
Difficulty Level 2/3
Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

In this 2-DVD lesson, master musician and teacher John Miller provides you with a thorough background in the musical language of the Blues, providing you with the tools that, with work and practice, will enable you to be a more complete musician - one who is able to:

• Recognize the form and know the progression after playing through it once or twice;
• Join in at jam sessions;
• Provide chordal accompaniment and "play time", and
• Know where to play fills without clashing with the vocal

On DVD 1, John starts out explaining the I, IV and V chords and shows how they provide the chordal basis for the blues. Then he goes on to explain and demonstrate the various blues forms most commonly encountered in the Country Blues, 12-bar blues, 8-bar blues, 16-bar blues, and 18-bar ragtime blues. As he works through these different forms, John demonstrates how the phrasing in each of these blues types is directed by the vocal, and how the accompanying instrument responds to it.  DVD 1 finishes up with performance footage of Blues greats Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee, John Jackson, Pink Anderson, Dave Van Ronk and Libba Cotten playing songs in the various blues forms.

On DVD 2, John addresses other issues involved in being a more confident and complete musician: Rhythm and timing, playing rhythm guitar, using a capo to create musical space when playing with other guitarists, turn-arounds and how they work, how to move ideas from one key to another on the guitar, and how to create an arrangement of your own.

The PDF files which can be found on each of the discs include tips that will help you understand and master the concepts that are being discussed in the lesson.