Learn to Play the Blues Guitar (and Harmonica) of John Hammond

Blues revivalist John Hammond, who has been on the road for 44 years, is an extremely self-effacing guy (his humbleness before his blues precursors and contemporaries is evident here), but he's an absolute genius on six-string guitar. Opening the program by vamping through a blues piece that showcases him simultaneously singing, playing guitar, and blowing the blues harp, this fine how-to combines Hammond's masterful playing and instruction with producer/host Happy Traum's interview questions about the artist's style. Hammond is heavily influenced by the acoustic blues masters (including Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Willie McTell) and hails from a musical family (anyone who has seen the back of Stevie Ray Vaughn's debut album, Texas Flood, is familiar with the face of Hammond's father John Sr., a record exec extraordinaire who discovered, among others, Bruce Springsteen). As well as standard acoustic six-string, Hammond spends a good deal of time with a metal-bodied National guitar (using a Sears Craftsman socket as a slide) for the Robert Johnson tunes, and when he's blowing harp, playing, and singing, the DVD switches to a tri-split-screen to show all of the action in detail (the accompanying booklet also includes tablature for a number of the lessons). An excellent instructional video for guitar- and harmonica-playing blues fans, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Block)