The Guitar of Mississippi John Hurt Volume One

Product Description Mississippi John Hurt's appeal was universal, he was very much a musician of his time and place, playing within a tradition, but mapping out his own territory with subtleties of touch, phrasing and use of the guitar that were all his own. Though famed for fingerpicking in the alternating bass style, John would often employ omitted beats or syncopated runs, rather than sticking to an unvaried alternation. Also, unlike many musicians of his region, he was comfortable playing in a variety of keys, routinely working in E, A, D, G, and C in standard tuning, as well as Open D and Open G tunings. This video presents instruction in John Hurt's repertoire, with songs chosen to showcase his playing in different keys. The video lesson includes, at its conclusion, rare documentary silent film footage of Mississippi John Hurt playing guitar at his home in Washington, D.C. The accompanying booklet includes TAB/standard notation transcriptions and lyrics of the songs. 90 minutes. About the Actor At the age of 12, John Miller was inspired to play the guitar after seeing Mississippi John Hurt perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. he bought his first guitar at the age of 16 and launched into an intensive period of study of Country Blues guitar, learning the music of John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, Bo Carter, Blind Blake, and other greats. By the time he was twenty-seven, John had released five solo albums to international critical acclaim. Those albums ranged from Country blues and Old Time country music to the songs of George Gershwin. For the next 15 years, John focused on teaching, founding two music camps, composing, and building a vocabulary in Jazz and Latin music. In the last seven years, John has released CDs with a Jazz trio, Catwalk, duos with mandolinist John Reischman, violinist Ruthie Dornfeld, singer Becky Kilgore, and French cabaret music with the ensemble Rouge. Says Miller of his musical travels, I ve played many many different styles of music in recent years, but I ve come to realize that everything I ve done has been informed by my early involvement with Country Blues and the lessons I learned from that music: the primacy of rhythm and the need to communicate with clarity and strength of purpose. I strive for those qualities in the music I play, and I hope that what I do honors the memory of my heroes, like John Hurt, who have passed on. Just brilliant. John Fahey One of the most exciting and innovative guitarists performing today. Pickin