Delta Blues course

bencowling81

Anyone have some recommendations for a good inexpensive delta blues course? Have found the odd video here and there on YouTube but nothing structured and comprehensive. Got some basic chops down (pedal bass + syncopated lead picking) but could do with putting a bit of structure around the learning. Alternatively a list of songs I could transcribe that start easy and get harder?

NPP

I have this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Johnson-Crossroads-Guitar-Transcriptions/dp/0793510937/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+johnson+at+the+crossroads&qid=1616665477&s=books&sr=1-1

It's quite good but unfortunately I'm not good enough to master the style

Lewy

Are there any particular artists you're interested in? "Delta Blues" often gets used as a catch-all for a very broad range of country blues and there's a lot of tutorial material out there. Who do you like listening to?

bencowling81

@Lewy I'm leaning more towards the Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton (although most recordings I've heard are pretty poor quality), Tommy McClennan acoustic style rather than the Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker end of things. Acoustic thumb pick style is what I'm after.

bencowling81

NPP said:

I have this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Johnson-Crossroads-Guitar-Transcriptions/dp/0793510937/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+johnson+at+the+crossroads&qid=1616665477&s=books&sr=1-1

It's quite good but unfortunately I'm not good enough to master the style

Thanks for the suggestion! Does it include tab or just score?

Lewy

bencowling81 said:

@Lewy I'm leaning more towards the Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton (although most recordings I've heard are pretty poor quality), Tommy McClennan acoustic style rather than the Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker end of things. Acoustic thumb pick style is what I'm after.

A man of taste! 

Personally I wouldn't go charging into Robert Johnson transcriptions. A Book/CD I got a lot out of when I stated exploring country blues was "The Early Roots of Robert Johnson" by Woody Mann which covers repertoire from the players that Robert Johnson ripped all his stuff off from - Son House, Charley Patton, "Hambone" Willie Newbern, Scrapper Blackwell. Steve James' "Fingerstyle Blues Songbook" is also an excellent source of repertoire and introduction to the range if styles that fall into country blues. 

If you want to delve into the details of individual artists, then Homespun Tapes and Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop videos are where it's at. They're not free - or particularly cheap - but that's where the nerdy instruction can be found. 

NPP

bencowling81 said:

NPP said:

I have this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Johnson-Crossroads-Guitar-Transcriptions/dp/0793510937/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+johnson+at+the+crossroads&qid=1616665477&s=books&sr=1-1

It's quite good but unfortunately I'm not good enough to master the style

Thanks for the suggestion! Does it include tab or just score?

both, plus a bit on the tuning used and the lyrics. I can send you a pic of a typical page if you like (not sure I'll manage to post pics on here)

DulcetJones

The "Blues Guitar Institute" website has a good general acoustic blues library of all sorts, Delta blues, various other fingerstyle blues artists from days gone by, at a cost of course but I'm finding it to be worth it.  Along with standard tuning fingerstyle there is a variety of tunings explored, some using bottleneck slide.  

Gandalph

bencowling81 said:

@Lewy I'm leaning more towards the Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton (although most recordings I've heard are pretty poor quality), Tommy McClennan acoustic style rather than the Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker end of things. Acoustic thumb pick style is what I'm after.

I got this not long ago, haven’t got round to starting it yet but had a look through the videos and tabs and it looks decent. 

https://www.tobywalkerslessons.com/robert-johnson-and-beyond.html

wellsyboy

Truefire have a couple of decent courses, (Dirt Road Blues, DIY country Blues, Lone Wolf Blues) there are also a great series of books on country blues by Stefan Grossman published by Alfred that are worth a look (but I wouldn’t start with those - good transcriptions but you will need to get the basics down first )