GGW048 - The Ragtime and Blues Guitar of Big Bill Broonzy

Code : GGW048

Isi : 2 DVD

The Guitar of Big Bill Broonzy download. This is a very deep DVD. It is not for the faint of heart. Woody Mann is not only a gifted performer, but a natural teacher meaning that he possesses the gift of teaching; the ability to share information, anticipate students’ trouble areas, and to inspire.
These songs are terrific and although the student may be able to get through them, learning them at tempo is another issue. Mann gives the most perfect replications of BBB’s material and breaks down the songs to the point of understanding for Intermediate, and even some “advanced Beginners”.
This DVD will provide you with MONTHS of “private” lessons. The songs are fun to play, and fun to hear.
Camera angles are terrific and the song selection is the best of BBB. Some nice additions: video clips of Big Bill performing in the 50’s.
Mann never disappoints; here and in his other instructional DVDs. He is a treasure to all guitar students.
Great instruction and insight on Big Bill’s classic heavy handed finger picking blues. Definitely a must-have if you’re a fan of country and pre-war blues as well as trying to build your repertoire of phrasing, licks and finger/travis technique that Big Bill Broonzy practically wrote the book on.
An excellent DVD, fine Broonzy selections and Mann instructs in his usual way of making the learner work just a little.He’s not about too much discourse on technique and fingering. He knows that his own precise playing, the split screen and original Broonzy audio and visuals of him playing, make it all well within grasp. A very fine Broonzy lesson by a fine musician.
Big Bill Broonzy’s recording career spanned from 1927 until his death in 1958. His repertoire was well recorded, from solo to duets to ensemble playing. He was rediscovered just as the “folk-revival” began in the early 1950s. Big Bill was a master of ragtime and country blues guitar. His playing was highlighted by a strong pulsating bass and melodic lead lines.
Woody Mann carefully explains Big Bill’s techniques and style in this video lesson. Also presented is rare footage of Big Bill from the 1950s as well as BONUS audio tracks of his 1930-1934 recordings that are taught in this lesson (indicated with a *).

Songs include:

• Brownskin Shuffle
• Hey, Hey
• How You Want It Done
• Long Tall Mama
• Mississippi River Blues
• Moppers Blues
• Pig Meat Strut
• Saturday Night Rub
• Worried Man Blues
• Worrying You Off My Mind

Language: English
Year: 1998
Country: USA
Running time: 90 min
Quality: DVD5
Video: MPEG2 5279 kbit/s, 720×480, NTSC, 4:3, 29,970 fps
Audio: AC-3, 192 kbps, 2 ch, 48 KHz
Booklet: Yes (PDF)

Baca Selengkapnya »

GGW002 - Blues Guitar of Rev. Gary Davis

Code : GGW002

Isi : 2 DVD

Description

In this double DVD lesson, Ernie Hawkins teaches in detail nine of Rev. Gary Davis’s best known blues arrangements. These songs have become well known through the playing of Bob Dylan (Baby, Let Me Lay It On You), Jackson Browne (Cocaine Blues), Hot Tuna (Hesitation Blues) John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Hot Tuna and a host of other musicians (Candyman).


Rev. Davis approached playing the blues in several different styles. Each had unique characteristics and ranged from what he called “old fashion picking” to complex playing that explored and extended the blues tradition on the fingerboard.


Each arrangement is broken down phrase by phrase and then played slowly on a split screen. You can easily follow the playing with the tab/music included as a PDF file on each DVD. As a bonus we have included various audio performances of Rev. Davis playing each song.


Disc One: Spoonful, Cocaine Blues, Delia, Baby Let Me Lay It On You and Candyman


Disc Two: Hesitation Blues, Penitentiary Blues, Florida Blues and Can’t Be Satisfied


176 minutes • Level 3 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD


Review: Although Rev Davis died in 1972, his influence is still a powerful force in the world of acoustic blues and gospel guitar. Known in his early days as Blind Gary Davis, he taught himself to play harmonica, banjo, and guitar, performing for parties and picnics In his hometown area before moving to Durham, North Carolina, where he played blues on street comers. In the early 1930s he turned to religious music and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1933.


Ernest Leroy Hawkins was born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1947. He plays guitar, mandolin and banjo. Ernie was already playing blues as a teenager when, according to his bio, he heard a fellow passing through town playing Gary Davis's “Let Us Get Together”. He was hooked then and forever on country blues and ragtime guitar ... and players like Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Willie Johnson, Skip James, John Hurt and Leadbelly. Hawkins went to New York and received instruction from Rev Davis himself. Stories abound that Rev Davis gave lessons for $5, which could sometimes last all day and include dinner.


Rev. Davis was said by some of his students to have been a pretty hard taskmaster to them; insisting that there was only one correct way of playing a given tune and with a musical knowledge seemingly beyond many of his contemporaries. Guitarist Roly Brown says of one of his lessons from Davis, " ... when I had trouble following him on the downward chord sequence in 'Slow Drag', he finally, exasperated, said *C, Bb6, F with an A in the bass, and Ab!"


He approached playing the blues in several different styles. Each had unique characteristics and ranged from what he called old fashion picking to a complex style that explored and extended the blues tradition on the fingerboard. Amazingly Davis did his (right-hand) thing using only thumb and forefinger with picks; the thumbpick high on the digit over the knuckle. The two digit approach may explain why despite his phenomenal skills he was in the majority of his recordings never such a “clean” picker as, for example, Blind Blake.


In these instruction DVDs, Ernie Hawkins teaches in detail nine of Rev. Davis's best-known blues arrangements. These songs have become well known through the playing of Bob Dylan (“Baby, Let Me Lay It On You”), Jackson Browne (“Cocaine Blues”), Hot Tuna (“Hesitation Blues”), and John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and a host of other musicians (“Candyman”).


On each DVD, the arrangements are broken down, phrase by phrase, and then played slowly on a split screen. Ernie Hawkins is a fine player and a good teacher. With the split screen technique one can easily follow the playing and play along yourself too. The sound on the DVD is excellent and the camera placement is ideal. The DVDs come with complete tab/music booklets. Both DVDs have, as a bonus, various audio performances of Rev. Davis playing each song.


If you are already a reasonably competent player, and want to study the Davis style this is strongly recommended. Not for beginners though, you do need to know a few chords and some common techniques like, bending strings, hammering-on and pulling-off and so on. – B&R Magazine/Ian McKenzie

Baca Selengkapnya »