Customer Reviews

The Guitar of Jorma Kaukonen: Detailed Analysis of 8 Classic Songs and Instrumentals (Listen & Learn)

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For those of you who aren't familiar with the vast body of work of Jorma Kaukonen and his contributions to Rock, Blues and Folk styles, this book can act both as an instructional aid and an introduction to his work. Published by homespun tapes, as with all of their instructional materials this is first rate from and instructional standpoint. Jorma's ability to teach guitarists of varied levels of accomplishemnt shines through. Don't miss adding this one to your collection.

Ever take a guitar lesson over the telephone? I bought this to help me work out "Mann's Fate", the first few measures of the tab are nothing like what Jorma is describing in the companion CD. Jorma rattles off finger positions so quickly on the CD that one needs to play it over and over to grasp what he is saying, as in: "First finger fourth fret third string second finger fifth fret fourth string pinky finger second string fifth fret" Got that? I learned my first chords in 1965 from a fellow who was learning from Jorma at the time so I am not a novice to Jorma's style.
To learn Jorma's fingerpicking I would suggest a DVD or video where you can actually see what he is doing. This book is not for beginners.

This book and CD set give you the chance to learn Jorma's classic "Embryonic Journey" and his beautiful instrumental work "Water Song". The CD is well produced and the accompanying TAB booklet is accurate and easy to follow. The songs in this book are not for the beginning guitarist, but intermediate and advanced players will find plenty of material to keep busy. Jorma uses several tunings, including open G (Water Song) and dropped D (Embryonic Journey) as well as standard. My only complaint is that Jorma's explanations seem rushed and sparse in contrast to other artists in the Homespun series. For example, Richard Thompson's book and CD on Homespun deserves 5 stars because Thompson takes the time to really explain what he is diong, and even cracks a few jokes along the way.

This book provides an invaluable step-by-step method on how to play these eight classic acoustic guitar pieces by Jorma Kaukonen.

I tried to buy the sheet music for Jorma Kaukonen's "Embryonic Journey" but it wasn't available anywhere, by itself. Thus, I had to purchase an entire book of his songs, which would have been fine if I had not discovered that the transcription of "Embryonic Journey" is riddled with inaccuracies and down-right musical impossibilities. It's absolutely unforgivable to release music as flawed as this. Fortunately I have the skill to watch videos of the song being performed by Jorma and others on Youtube and I can figure out most of the errors in the transcript, but I shouldn't have to. I contacted the publisher via email, Hal Leonard, and received a polite response, but the reality is I will never by another thing from this publisher.
Just for the record, while I'm not much of an acoustic guitar player, I have been playing electric guitar for 39 years, and have a BA in music so I know what I'm talking about.