Early Country Blues Guitar Solos

Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, and Big Bill Broonzy are among the most iconic performers of early country blues guitar. To master this musical language, it is a must for you to study their licks, techniques, and harmonic approaches.

In this lesson Ben Gateno presents three masterful solos from their repertoire. Each number is performed by Ben at full speed, as well as slowed down —all with focused views of each hand. In addition to teaching licks, riffs, and phrases from the tunes, Ben provides learning and practicing strategies that will help you use what you learn to enhance your own skills and find your own voice as an acoustic blues guitarist.

A detailed tab/music PDF file is included on the DVD with note for note transcriptions of the tunes taught. The original recordings are included in the Bonus Audio section.

Titles include: LONNIE JOHNSON Away Down in the Alley Blues BIG BILL BROONZY Stove Pipe Stomp BLIND BLAKE West Coast Blues.

94 minutes • Level 3 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Very good tutorial, from all points of view, Ben Gateno respects the 'Grossman style' teaching approach. These remarks apply to the two other DVDs, Volume 1 and Volume 2. The 3 DVDs flights are a must for fans of blues and rag guitar. Very big “big names” are visited in these 3 DVDs. Ben Gateno is as remarkable as the artists he presents! – Amazon Customer Review

Review:Blind Blake and Big Bill Broonzy are no longer with us, but Rochester guitarist Ben Gateno has been reviving their music. He’s spent a lot of quality time with the scratchy recordings 1920s-era guitarists like these have left behind.

Gateno has also produced two books of country blues and ragtime instrumental transcriptions and three full-length video lessons to help other musicians learn how to play like these lost masters.

“There is a lot of mystique surrounding acoustic blues,” says Gateno. “It's old music. Most of the recordings only exist on very scratchy 78s. Many of its greatest practitioners died or otherwise faded away before they could appear on film or make higher quality recordings.”

Gateno says that for anyone interested in this music it is important that people are willing to put in the work to decipher how these master musicians were playing. “It … helps to keep the music alive,” he says.

The focus of Gateno’s transcription work has been centered on virtuoso guitar instrumentals. Gateno says that film of guitarists like Lonnie Johnson, who played these songs, doesn’t exist. “I get great satisfaction from being one of a small number of people who have tried to figure it out and show others what it might have looked like when he performed these numbers.” – John Sievers/Post Bulletin