Bottleneck Blues Guitar; Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques; Joe Amico's Learn Guitar Video

With guitar instructional videos becoming a dime a dozen industry (except they cost a bit more than ten cents), it's refreshing to see Stefan Grossman's pair of tapes for people who are ready to move beyond "House of the Rising Sun." Grossman blistered his fingers learning from the legends of blues guitar: the Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Fred McDowell, and others. On Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques, Grossman begins by explaining three-handed guitar playing--which is not a form of alien picking, but rather emphasizes the fact that one's thumb, which establishes the steady bass line, is practically a whole hand in itself. Once the philosophy is established, the program offers the treat of some rare footage of the Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mance Lipscomb, Elizabeth Cotton, and Lightning Hopkins fingerpicking the blues. Then Grossman gets down to the nitty, explaining the different keys and working through "Monday Morning Blues," Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," "Stagolee" (which many of us know as "Stagger Lee"), "Avalon Blues," and "Devil's Dream." Bottleneck Blues Guitar follows the same format, with wonderful clips of Bukka White, Fred McDowell, and Son House who, does indeed, as Grossman casually points out "slap the hell outta that guitar." Although there are many commercial bottleneck slide pieces available, Grossman advises viewers that copper tubing, spark plug sockets, and yes, bottlenecks, work just as well. Some of the songs which are taught include: "Banty Rooster," "God Moves on the Water," and "Whistlin' Blues." Both tapes include songbooks. Joe Amico's Learn Guitar Video is a basic no-frills standard introduction which is hampered by amateur production values. Divided into 14 segments, the program begins with the parts of the guitar, discusses the different types of guitars, demonstrates tuning methods, teaches notes and chords, offers a brief primer in music theory, and concludes with how to replace a string. Instructor Joe Amico is good with the guitar but seems a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera, and occasionally looks into the wrong one. While there is a lot of good general information on the tape, the script could have been much tighter and the production values more professional. As it is, at the end of two hours, you will only know how to play one song: "House of the Rising Sun." Attractively packaged, Bottleneck Blues Guitar and Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques are excellent introductions to their respective branches of guitar playing. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Joe Amico's Learn Guitar Video is not recommended. (Bottleneck Blues Guitar and Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques are available from: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, P.O. Box 802, Sparta, NJ 07871.) (Joe Amico's Learn Guitar Video is available from: Joe Amico Productions, P.O. Box 1621, Mooresville, N.C. 28115.)