This book was a delight and a challenge to put together. I wanted to highlight the playing of six blues players that have greatly influenced me: Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Scrapper Blackwell and Tampa Red. Each have recorded wonderful instrumental solos. I have transcribed these from the first note played to the last. These are complete transcriptions. Hopefully they will bring you insight into the playing ideas and techniques of these legendary players.

Titles and artists included are:

• BIG BILL BROONZY Slow Blues, St. Louis Blues
• SCRAPPER BLACKWELL A Blues, D Blues
• BLIND BLAKE Guitar Chimes, Blind Arthur's Breakdown
• REV. GARY DAVIS Bill Bailey, Walkin' Dog Blues
• LONNIE JOHNSON Blues for the West End, Blues in G, Woke Up With The Blues In My Fingers
• TAMPA RED Things 'Bout Coming My Way

Level 3 • 116 pages • Direct download link to audio files.

Review: Master these 12, and nirvana is yours. Because "Woke Up With the Blues in My Fingers," the breezy blur of "Blind Arthur's Breakdown" and good ol' "Bill Bailey" pave the path to fingerstyle blues enlightenment. Intricate, catchy and "wow-worthy," not a one of these dizzying dozen is anything less than a spellbinder. And drawn from the repertoires of such six-string royalty as Lonnie Johnson and, yup, Blind Blake, Stefan Grossman heroically, painstakingly and, above all, lovingly transcribed each solo instrumental song-note by note, twist and turn, ooh and aah-from start to finish.

Variety is king around here. In terms of velocity, Big Bill Broonzy alone runs the extremes from "Slow Blues" to his motorized take on "St. Louis Blues." Scrapper Blackwell's "A Blues" gets you flipping noble somersaults on the bass strings, while Johnson's "Blues in G" prefers exquisitely ping-ponging amongst the treble. "Things 'Bout Coming My Way," poached from Tampa Red, is the slide-driven alter-ego of the melody more famously known as "Sitting on Top of the World." And "Guitar Chimes" sparklingly speaks for itself. So, between "Legendary Country Blues Guitar Solos" 116 illustrated pages of tablature/music notation and the online audio (made available for download with this book), nirvana is closer than you think. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag