The Guitar Of Blind Willie Johnson – Tom Feldmann

“Blind Willie Johnson had great dexterity. He could play all of these sparking little melody lines. There’s fabulous syncopation. He’d keep his thumb going real strong…. I never could figure out how in the world he got such a busy sound playing so little…. Of course, I’ve tried all my life – worked very hard and every day of my life, practically – to play in that style… He’s so good – I mean, he’s just so good! Beyond a guitar player. I think the guy is one of these interplanetary world musicians, the kind of person they talk about in that Nada Brahma book, where the world is sound and everything is resonating.” – Ry Cooder

Blind Willie Johnson recorded thirty songs from 1927-1930 and of those thirty he used a slide on only twelve. There has been much debate surrounding how he played and what he played with, but regardless of “how” or “what” those twelve songs stand as some of the best slide guitar ever recorded.

In this lesson Tom Feldmann breaks down the complexities of eight of Johnson’s classics. You will see how Johnson created his “as you feel” bass lines by utilizing alternating, monotonic and “brushing” bass techniques. Of course, the defining element of Johnson’s songs was his unearthly slide playing which Tom shows in detail teaching you Johnson’s strike and slides, pull-offs and vibrato.

A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file, and in addition, the original recordings of all the tunes are included.

Titles include:

• Bye And Bye I’m Goin’ To See The King

• You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond

• Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground

• God Don’t Never Change

• Lord I Just Cant Keep From Crying

• Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning

• I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole

• Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed