Customer Reviews

Masters of Country Blues Guitar

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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I've had this book for three years or so. Lately, I've switched from playing mostly acoustic fingerstyle to electric blues, but I still like to get out the acoustic and this book from time to time. It has a bunch of Hurt's best songs, and the skill range is from fairly easy to quite difficult.

Keep in mind that you won't find complete tabs for all of the songs. Sometimes, you get just the 12-bar pattern for the song. Learning the breaks and extras will be up to you. But if you're a fingerstyle player with at least a little experience under your belt, Hurt's songs are a great way to build up your chops.

Not to mention that the book includes two CD's full of Hurt performing his music. If you like his music, then the purchase price is a good deal just for the CDs! The book also has an essay by the author who found Hurt living in poverty and obscurity, and brought him to New York for the early 60s folk-blues revival. And there are some great pictures in the book.

Please keep in mind that if you're a raw beginner at fingerstyle guitar when you get this book (as I was), even the easiest of the songs will seem impossibly difficult at first. The book simply contains tab. It has zero information on how to play the songs; just the tabs. If you're a raw beginner, and you're determined to learn to play Hurt's music, I suggest getting the book, and bringing it to a good teacher. That's what I should have done!

I was interested in learning the guitar style of Mississippi John Hurt after checking out one of his CDs (Satisfied Blues)from the library. The CD did not come out of my CD player for over a month, and I felt driven to learn his style. This book was extremely useful in helping me learn this style. I have had the book about 4 months and can play about half the songs. The learning process involves following the tab and listening to the CDs over and over. The first song I attempted to learn (Spikedriver's Blues)took some time and a lot of patience. You have to learn to play the alternating base while putting in the melody lines. Now that I have practiced his style for four months, many of the other songs are coming much easier. The book includes the lyrics, so that after learning the song, one can practice singing over the guitar. I have been playing guitar 17 years, and haven't found a particular style that sucked me in so much. The CDs that accompany the book are excellent as well, and include some songs which I haven't found on many of his popular recordings. The songs are excellent. I actually practice more guitar each day, because of this style and this book. I bought an instructional DVD for Mississippi John Hurt as well, but use this book far more often.

When a guitar player hears Mississippi John Hurt's playing athey are generally struck by the simple beauty of it. To master the Hurt style is quite complex, but this book with its combined CD's (which feature MJH himself!) offer a good roadmap for unlocking the style of this master. Definitely not for the beginner, but one great feature is the way the tablature is presented. It is large and easy to read. To me, this makes a world of difference when attempting to learn a new piece using tablature.

this is a great cd/book combination to learn some wonderful blues tunes. the book is well written and the tablature is very easy to follow. the music isn't easy to play, but it's very well written and anyone who puts their mind to it will be playing some of john hurt's great tunes. the best part of the combination is the cd's. two cd's covering each tune in the book and all done by john hurt himself. it's a great way to learn or just listen. highly recommended.

Although I've been playing guitar for years, this book is a real challenge for me. I'm determined to work it from the first song and not move on until I've mastered each piece. I've had it for a couple of months and I'm on song number three. The other 5 star reviews speak accurately about the significance of the music and the transcriptions and CD are a good value. If you are learning finger style blues or just need the tab to play it, then you should buy this book.