Lonnie Johnson was the “governor” of blues guitar in the 1920’s. His playing combined incredibly fast melodic runs with evocative blues licks. His playing was the forerunner of jazz and rock guitar. Lonnie Johnson’s playing is highly challenging, provocative and exciting. His recordings from the 1920s were highly influential among all bluesmen and widely imitated. His incredible skill on the fingerboard also made him popular among jazz players. Lonnie recorded countless solo records as well as accompanying Texas Alexander, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Eddie Lang..

Lesson One: Away Down In The Alley is a blues guitar solo played in the key of D but with the guitar tuned D G D G B E. The playing combines blues left hand techniques with an intermittent fingerstyle approach. The end result is one of the most unique and powerful blues solos ever recorded.

Lesson Two: Woke Up This Morning With Blues In My Fingers combines intriguing single–string blues runs with the use of diminished chords played in the key of D. This yields a unique blues guitar instrumental. Go Back To Your No Good Man is an example of how Lonnie accompanied a straight blues.

Lesson Three: Lonnie Johnson played mostly in the key of D but he recorded one instrumental solo titled Blues In G which is presented in this lesson. This combines country blues licks with an uptown feel. We conclude the series with Stompin’ ‘Em Along Slow which is another killer blues instrumental in the key of D.

Level 3/4 • 24 page tab/music book with three compact discs