Hymns, Spirituals and Sacred Songs
HOMESPUN
Fingerstyle Arrangements
Taught By Happy Traum.
Level 3
Two DVDs or VHS plus music and tab booklet

Video One starts at a very easy level, but gradually advances in difficulty. By the end of each lesson, even a relative novice will be able to play some fairly challenging material. You'll learn "Amazing Grace," "My Lord What A Morning," "Let Us Break Bread Together," "Angel Band," and Happy's inspiring version of the Bob Dylan hit "I Shall Be Released."

Video Two continues with four beautiful songs taken from the gospel/blues traditions. You'll learn a variety of guitar techniques including complete instrumental solos for "Paul And Silas (All Night Long)," the classic "12 Gates To The City," "Just A Closer Walk With Thee," and "Bright Morning Stars."

Lesson One:
Level 2
80-minute DVD or VHS, includes music and tab

Learn to play beautiful songs of faith taken from the folk, gospel and blues traditions and specifically arranged for beginning and intermediate guitarists. The pieces start at a very easy level but gradually advance in difficulty, so that by the end of the lesson even a relative novice will be able to play some fairly challenging material.

Each song is first taught using basic chords and an easy strumming or plucking style. Happy then shows you how to add bass runs, chord substitutions, harmony lines, fingerpicking techniques and other guitar essentials that will enrich and beautify your accompaniments. Finally, you’ll learn how to play a full-fledged instrumental fingerstyle arrangement of each tune.

The lesson includes two well-known spirituals, "Amazing Grace" and "My Lord What a Morning;" the old-time hymn "Let Us Break Bread Together;" the bluegrass classic "Angel Band;" and Happy’s fingerpicking arrangement of the Bob Dylan hit "I Shall Be Released" (which he recorded with Dylan on “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Volume 2”).

These songs have been carefully chosen for their popular appeal, ease of playing and variety of guitar arranging possibilities. They can be played in many different settings -- in group sings as well as solo performance -- and will be enjoyed for many years to come.

Lesson Two:
Level 3
70-minute DVD or VHS, includes music and tab

This guitar lesson features some great songs taken from the gospel/blues tradition. The arrangements utilize steady-bass fingerpicking, blues licks, bass runs, turnarounds and complete solos within a repertoire of “sanctified”songs.

"Paul and Silas" ("All Night Long") is a spiritual in E with rich chord changes and a bluesy beat. "12 Gates to the City," played in A, is a study in variations improvised from the main theme. The well-known gospel song "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," in the key of C, teaches how to play the melody both in the bass notes and up on the high frets. Finally, the elegant shape-note hymn "Bright Morning Stars" provides a complete fingerstyle arrangement in dropped D tuning.

“Hymns, Spirituals and Sacred Songs” is aimed at people of any persuasion who want to sing and accompany these inspiring songs. They can be played in family, church, camp and community gatherings, in group sings as well as solo performance. The superb guitar instruction will be widely applicable to any acoustic-based songs and will move you into more advanced styles.

About Happy Traum
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.