Book Review
THE GUITAR OF ROBERT JOHNSON
taught by Woody Mann
(Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop/Mel Bay Publications) $24.95
by Tony Glover
March 2005
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award"
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by The Blues Foundation
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This is a reissue of a 1970 3 cassette audio tape guitar lesson-now released as a book with 3 one hour CDs and 20 pages of tablature/standard notation. On first issuing, this was a ground-breaking publication, there just wasn't a lot of detailed blues guitar teaching around. Mann does a good job of working with 6 of Johnson's numbers, as well as pointing out how many of the riffs end up being recycled into other Johnson tunes as well.
A basic level of guitar knowledge is assumed, this ain't for rank beginners.
The 1st lesson leads off with two songs in standard tuning; "Kindhearted Woman Blues" and "Me And The Devil". First you hear Johnson performing the tune, then Mann takes them step by step, going over the intro note by note, then the first verse and significant variations. Having the lesson on CD makes it a lot easier to go back and repeat certain sections as required. At the end of Disc one Mann includes tunes by Skip James plus Johnson's 32-20 Blues and Dead Shrimp Blues-both build on riffs and patterns just learned.
The 2nd CD involves a couple of tunes in open D tuning; "Hellhound On My Trail" and "Rambling On My Mind", both involving some slide playing. Again Johnson's performance is followed by a detailed breakdown of the riffs and techniques involved. Mann is a good teacher, slow and steady. The only problem here is that its not mentioned that while the 2nd tune on the lesson is also in open D, it's actual pitch is open E-either retuning or a capo is required. Again the CD close with 2 more numbers using many of the same features; "When You Got A Good Friend" and "Sweet Home Chicago".
The final CD features "Cross Road Blues" and "Terraplane Blues" in open G tuning (this time the capo is mentioned). It closes with Johnson's performance of "Milkcows Calf Blues" and a "Walking Blues" suite with full performances by Son House, Johnson and Muddy Waters. It's a little evolution of the blues by aural example. If you wanna know how to get the Johnson sound, check this out.
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