Legendary singer and guitarist Geoff Muldaur has chosen six gospel and blues arrangements that are filled with ideas, techniques and wonderful songs to add to your repertoire. They include two traditional gospel songs: "Just a Little While to Stay Here," based on a New Orleans funeral march in dropped D tuning; the soulful "Trouble Soon Be Over" in open G; and "I Believe I’ll Go Back Home," Geoff’s own version of the biblical story of the Prodigal Son.
Geoff teaches his blues arrangement to "Wild Ox Moan," the amazing rendition of Vera Hall’s Texas Blues that was one of the highlights of his hit CD "The Secret Handshake." His original blues/ballad "Got to Find Blind Lemon" tells the compelling story of Geoff’s search for the blues master’s resting place so he can "see that his grave is kept clean," and includes some vintage Blind Lemon licks in the arrangement. Finally, Delta blues riffs and rich chord shapes in open C tuning (EGCGCE) make a powerful setting for Blind Willie Johnson’s "Tears Come Rolling Down."
Geoff’s vision of the guitar as an arranging tool gives this video lesson a uniquely important place among instructional materials. He uses standard ingredients of fingerstyle playing -- alternating bass, arpeggio rolls, moving lines, harmonized scales and syncopations, combined with rich chord voicings that add a jazz sensibility to traditional music. With his rare musical intelligence, he sheds light on how to "find the little things that make a difference" and how, by making small changes, you can make turnarounds and blues licks sound fresh and new.
