Blind Blake

The Early Masters of American Blues series provides the unique opportunity to study the true roots of modern blues. Stefan Grossman, noted roots-blues guitarist and musicologist, has compiled this fascinating collection of 16 songs, transcribed exactly as performed by legendary blues master Blind Blake. In addition to Stefan's expert transcriptions, the book includes online audio containing the original recordings of Blind Blake so you can hear the music as he performed it. Blind Blake was the greatest ragtime blues guitarist to record during the 1920s. His guitar styles and techniques were unique, capturing the pulsating rhythms of the blues, ragtime, and jazz music of the period. His records sold well and were greatly influential on generations of guitarists. This collection presents sixteen tunes that will keep your fingers very busy. Sound, feel, and control over right-hand thumb are the elements of Blind Blake's playing that will demand all your attention and patience. Enjoy the wonderful songs, and good luck developing your sportin' right hand!"

This revised and updated definitive blues bibliography now includes 6,000-7,000 entries to cover the last decade’s writings and new figures to have emerged on the Country and modern blues to the R&B scene.

This story of the origins and evolution of the American blues tradition draws on oral history interviews and research into neglected primary sources. Book jacket.

"Blind Blake was the premier ragtime blues guitarist of the 1920s. His technique featured unique right-hand thumb rolls that evoked the feel of the Charleston dance-step. In this comprehensive new book/audio lesson, Woody Mann explores the ideas, techniques, and styles of this legendary musician who has influenced generations of country blues guitarists. The three companion CDs contain three full hours on note-by-note, phrase-by-phrase instruction. Written in standard notation and tablature."

Winner of the 2016 Living Blues Award for Blues Book of the Year Since the early 1900s, blues and the guitar have traveled side by side. This book tells the story of their pairing from the first reported sightings of blues musicians, to the rise of nationally known stars, to the onset of the Great Depression, when blues recording virtually came to a halt. Like the best music documentaries, Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar interweaves musical history, quotes from celebrated musicians (B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, and Johnny Winter, to name a few), and a spellbinding array of life stories to illustrate the early days of blues guitar in rich and resounding detail. In these chapters, you’ll meet Sylvester Weaver, who recorded the world’s first guitar solos, and Paramount Records artists Papa Charlie Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Blind Blake, the “King of Ragtime Blues Guitar.” Blind Willie McTell, the Southeast’s superlative twelve-string guitar player, and Blind Willie Johnson, street-corner evangelist of sublime gospel blues, also get their due, as do Lonnie Johnson, the era’s most influential blues guitarist; Mississippi John Hurt, with his gentle, guileless voice and syncopated fingerpicking style; and slide guitarist Tampa Red, “the Guitar Wizard.” Drawing on a deep archive of documents, photographs, record company ads, complete discographies, and up-to-date findings of leading researchers, this is the most comprehensive and complete account ever written of the early stars of blues guitar—an essential chapter in the history of American music.

"Descriptive analysis and musical transcriptions, in standard notation and tablature" of the works of various blues guitarists.