Members Carle Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 For all you out there trying to learn MJH style of playing I finally got the Stefan Grossman book titled Masters of Country Blues Guitar The Music of Mississippi John Hurt and it is very good. Grossman spent much time with John learning his music and transcribing it to standard notation and tab. Stefan said John was a very good teacher and spent many hours working with him on the tunes. I would think it is as close as we can get and there are 26 tunes with words in the book. There are 2 CD's with the book with MJH playing and singing the tunes. Man, I am so glad to have this I can't get the grin off my face. Marcie and I are going to be quite busy for a long time:D . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members S~R~O Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Carle that is a good book Me I'm messing around with Stefan Grossman's Complete Country Blues Guitar Book...But no CD's I got a Cassette Tape.... But I have no Cassette player anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LittleBrother Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Trust me. We are all going to be busy the rest of our lives. Once that is understood it's just a matter of getting knee deep in it ;) Now if my thumb will just get with the program ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cortfan Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Every time I start thinking I am a guitar player, I pull out my Chet Atkins tape, as taught by Chet Atkins himself. Then I quietly think about putting all my gear on ebay, after watching him about 2 minutes. Maybe Mississippi John is a little more possible. I can play better than Dr. Atkins, the low carb guy. though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LittleBrother Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Originally posted by Cortfan Every time I start thinking I am a guitar player, I pull out my Chet Atkins tape, as taught by Chet Atkins himself. Then I quietly think about putting all my gear on ebay, after watching him about 2 minutes. Maybe Mississippi John is a little more possible. I can play better than Dr. Atkins, the low carb guy. though. LOL what you say is true for alot of people. If you want to learn the styles it helps to go as far into the roots as possible to hear the origins of a style. MJH has a plain and simple driving thumb and sweet simple melodies that I find easier to hear and play at my skill level. At the same time he also has some music that is far above my skill level. That's what I love about blues. It is not very hard to begin but takes a lifetime to truly master. Maybe this is why so many young players have migrated and stuck with blues over the last 50 years. It has something for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orsino Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 The alternating thumb bass needed for this type of picking can be very daunting. I'm still struggling with it but I find myself getting smoother over time. I've found that when I'm playing more melody based fingerstyle, it's better for me to foucs on the melody. With MJH it seems to work better for me to concentrate more on the bass line. I don't mean to focus on my thumb moving, that has to become second nature. I mean what I "hear" in my head while I'm playing. Not sure if that makes sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members S~R~O Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Originally posted by orsino I mean what I "hear" in my head while I'm playing. Not sure if that makes sense? *Tubas*!!!/??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orsino Posted January 11, 2004 Members Share Posted January 11, 2004 Originally posted by SteveO *Tubas*!!!/??? Yep SteveO, you guessed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carle Posted January 12, 2004 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2004 If you want to learn MJH tunes this book is the way to go. If you can read music and tab you will have a leg up on learning the tunes. If you can just read tab then learn to play the notes, then listen to the tune and put the timing values in as needed to match the CD. If you really want to do it you can. You have to want to and work for it. MJH is not impossible to learn. Anything worth having is worth working for. Learn two or three measures at a time. DO NOT try to learn the whole tune at one time. As Tommy E says, play the tune untill you are tired of playing it and then play it some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cams Posted January 12, 2004 Members Share Posted January 12, 2004 The music of MJH is something I will keep listening to and hopefully learn to play one day. Has anyone any experience of the DVDs available from Stefan Grossman's Workshop? For those who want some good practice with the alternating thumb thing, I can't recommend the Train Stop Blues exercise from AG magazine highly enough. Can't remember the exact issue and am at work just now so can't check, but it's the one with the big review of OM guitars a few months ago. I leared it in summer so probably June issue or something like that. This was my first attempt at playing in that style, and what it does is break it down into small exercises of one or two measures that you can really work on before moving onto the next one. And finally at the end you're rewarded with a great tune that I never tire of playing and *still* needs some work! Since then, I've been working on LB's Candyman lesson too and found that I was able to pick it up relatively quickly after all the work I did on the Train Stop Blues. I've recorded this on two different guitars on my site if anyone's interested in hearing how it sounds. Cams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members S~R~O Posted January 12, 2004 Members Share Posted January 12, 2004 Cams sounds great on your Guild Oh that was the July,2003 issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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