HOMESPUNTaught By Happy Traum.
Level 2
CD plus 24-page music + tab book
You only have to know the basic chords to get started playing fingerstyle blues guitar! Happy Traum's user-friendly lesson starts with a play-along explanation of the basic 12-bar blues form in the key of E, and then it's right into your first song. You'll gradually learn turnarounds, fills, runs, bass rhythms and "boogie woogie" walking basses and other important blues elements.
Working on your right-hand fingerpicking, Happy gets you "breaking up the chords" in the way he learned personally from Brownie McGhee. You'll learn the traditional technique of maintaining a steady bass with your thumb against syncopated melody notes, played by your fingers and be on your way to even more advanced blues stylings and repertoire.
Songs: "Good Morning Blues," "New Stranger Blues," "Rock Me Mama," "In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down."
Student Reviews:
|"I have recently purchased one of the Homespun Listen
and Learn series books, namely "Happy Traum Teaches Blues Guitar" and,
as I am so impressed with the purchase, I would like to see what more brilliant
blues guitar books you have to offer. I would be much obliged if your could send
more information or even a catalogue to me, so that I can continue my acoustic
blues sessions in style. Full credit goes to Happy Traum for his remarkable blues
teaching talents - I'd like to shake the man by the hand." -Mike Davies
"Just a quick note to thank you for Happy Traum Teaches Blues Guitar." The
book and CD work very well together as a teaching method - the CD is much preferable
to tape, for me a least. Most important though is your teaching, which is so
clear and methodical . Thanks for helping to "unlock" some of the blues
techniques for me." -Henry Nield
During the past forty years, Happy Traum's avid interest in traditional and contemporary
music has brought him recognition as a performer, writer, editor, folklorist,
teacher and recording artist. He has performed extensively throughout the U.S.,
Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan, and has appeared on recordings as a featured
artist, as a member of various ensembles, and as an accompanist. He has played
and recorded with Bob Dylan, Chris Smither, Maria Muldaur, Eric Andersen, Rory
Block, Jerry Jeff Walker, Allen Ginsberg, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel
and innumerable others. Happy is the author of more than a dozen best-selling guitar instruction books, has written numerous magazine columns and articles, and for three years was editor of Sing Out! The Folksong Magazine. He and his brother, Artie Traum, have been playing as a duo since 1968. Their first two Capitol albums, "Happy And Artie Traum" and "Double Back," are widely considered to be classics. Long-time residents of Woodstock, NY, Happy and Artie co-produced several important records for Rounder, featuring some of the area's finest folk and rock musicians. These included "Mud Acres, Music Among Friends" and "Woodstock Mountains." Happy and Artie's album "Hard Times In The Country" featured liner notes by Allen Ginsberg. In 1993, Happy and Artie released their latest duet album, "The Test Of Time," featuring traditional and contemporary songs backed up by some of Woodstock's finest musicians.
Happy's solo albums include "Relax Your Mind," "American Stranger," "Bright Morning Stars" and "Friends And Neighbors." A compilation CD, "Buckets Of Songs," has been released by Shanachie Records. In 2001, “Bright Morning Stars” was reissued in CD format in the U.S. (Lark’s Nest Music) and in Japan (Slice of Life Records).
Perhaps Happy Traum's most important and lasting musical contribution has been Homespun Tapes, which he and his wife Jane founded in 1967. This dynamic and growing mail order company has a catalog of approximately 400 different music instruction lessons on audio cassette, CD and video tape, taught by top professional performing musicians. Happy produces all of the lessons, and brings to Homespun his many years of experience as a popular and productive member of the music community.