"Tom Feldmann is an instrumentalist of the first degree, renowned among guitarists as an instructor and preservationist. No one can teach Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Skip James or Bukka White better than Feldmann, a master fingerpicker and slide guitarist." – Living Blues

Bukka White's slashing slide figures and pounding chords are capable of generating a high level of excitement, capable of leaving dancers joyously exhausted. Yet there is also a sensitivity and a sense of dynamics to his music. Bukka's lyrics ran the gamut from the perceptive to the surreal. The combination of these two voices places Bukka squarely within the blues tradition and in his own unique niche.

In this lesson Tom Feldmann takes you through 10 of Bukka White's tunes. Starting off in Vestapol tuning you'll get his right hand, train beat picking down pat with Special Streamline. Next you'll learn to master playing in Cross-Note tuning with Jitterbug Swing, Aberdeen Mississippi Blues, World Boogie and Sic Em Dogs On.

Bukka's approach to Cross-Note tuning set him apart from his contemporaries and will add a new depth to your own playing. You'll learn Bukka's trick of dampening the 3rd string, behind the slide as well as his signature “Spank the Baby” technique, a real crowd pleaser. Moving into Open G tuning you'll learn Poor Boy, Fixin' To Die Blues and Gibson Hill. The lesson finishes with When Can I Change My Clothes and Strange Place Blues in Standard Tuning.

These carefully selected songs where chosen on the basis that Bukka used similar patterns for many of his songs and by learning these 10 you're really learning his entire recorded works. The original old recordings of all the tunes are included.

Titles include: OPEN D TUNING: Special Streamline CROSS-NOTE TUNING: Jitterbug Swing, Aberdeen Mississippi Blues, World Boogie, Sic Em Dogs On OPEN G TUNING: Poor Boy, Fixin' To Die Blues, Gibson Hill STANDARD TUNING: When Can I Change My Clothes, Strange Place Blues

112 minutes • Level 2/3 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Pound for blue pound, Bukka White gave ol' Son House a run for the money as being Mississippi's most visually spellbinding guitar man. And, for that matter, its most physical, too. (Charley Patton's heart gave out in '34 before film could visually validate all the fabled hearsay for his run at the title.) Slide or no slide White's huge hands led all-out attacks on the strings, beating out the fishtailing swing behind “World Boogie” and “Fixin' To Die Blues,” never once stopping the thrust to accommodate razored bottleneck breaks. The steel body of resonator guitars (like House, White was a National man) didn't fare any better, enduring no less brutalization. For proof, check out the included vintage footage, especially “Aberdeen Mississippi Blues” receiving his signature 'spank the baby' maneuver, a fine piece of hot-dogging if ever there was. For Bukka, playing guitar was war set to a driving, danceable rhythm. Now you too can make guitars shudder in fear. Because Tom Feldmann has been picking off all the great country bluesmen one-by-one, dissecting their technique and repertoire on DVD for fellow players. In just shy of two hours, The Guitar Of Bukka White dismantles ten classics to illuminate all of White's quintessential elements, which then build everything from his prison yard soliloquy “When Can I Change My Clothes” (validated by a stay on Parchman Farm for gunning a man down) to his chugging hobo opera “Streamline Special” (complete with air brakes and other guitar-made railroad sound effects) to that 'spanking' ”Aberdeen.“ – Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag

Review: The Guitar of Bukka White/The Guitar of Son House: Yes, these DVDs show you how to play guitar in the style of Mississippi Delta bluesmen Son House and Bukka White. But thanks to master teacher Tom Feldmann, they are so much more. Feldmann is on a roll of late. He's proven himself an able revivalist and interpreter of classic blues and gospel fingerpicking and slide on several solo recordings, including his latest, Lone Wolf Blues, recently lauded in Vintage Guitar Magazine. His series of how-to DVDs are exemplary, and also include releases on Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie Johnson, gospel blues including Charlie Patton and others, and a general guide to bottleneck slide.

Feldmann's DVDs get deep into the deep blues. He analyses the musical style, how House and White approached a song and made it their own. His instruction is intermixed with rare filmed performances of the bluesmen and original audio tracks wherever possible. On the two-DVD House set, he deconstructs 15 songs: 8 in open G tuning, 3 in open D, 1 in cross-note, and 3 in standard. These songs cover all aspects of House's career, from the classic 30s and 40s recordings through his rediscovery. The White DVDs follow the same approach and scope.

The Son House DVD runs four hours while the Bukka White lesson runs over two hours. These are in truth, detailed documentary films on the mechanics of House and White's playing - documentaries no mainstream production company would ever dream of making, but ideal for diehard guitarists. You might even sit down some evening with a shot of whiskey, your dog curled up at your feet, and just watch for fun and edification. But remember, you can learn to play from them as well. – Michael Dregni/Vintage Guitar Magazine

Mississippi Hill Country Blues Guitar offers a look into the Hill Country technique byway of songs from legendary artists Fred McDowell, R.L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Junior Kimbrough, Rosa Lee Hill and Ranie Burnette.

For this lesson Tom Feldmann has compiled a grouping of songs that highlight the individualistic traits of each artist and also gives a well rounded grasp of the genre as a whole. Though many of these artists played slide guitar, Feldmann focuses solely on their non slide arrangements in Open G, Standard, Open D and Crossnote tunings.

Hypnotic grooves, steady guitar riffs, and few chord changes are the trademark of Mississippi Hill Country Blues and this lesson hands you the keys to some of the greatest examples the genre has to offer.

A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD. In addition the original recordings of all the tunes are included.

Titles include: Black Cat Bone (Jessie Mae Hemphill), Dough Roller Blues (Ranie Burnette), That's Alright (Fred McDowell), Poor Black Mattie (R.L. Burnside), Jumper Hanging Out On The Line (R.L. Burnside), Meet Me In The City (Junior Kimbrough), Standing In The Doorway Crying (Jessie Mae Hemphill), I'm Crazy About You Baby (Fred McDowell), Count The Days Until I'm Gone (Rosa Lee Hill)

117 minutes - Level 2/3 - Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Mississippi Hill Country Blues Guitar is actually codename for Groove 101, Tom Feldmann's crash course on the highly potent strain of drone-and-moan grown amongst the kudzu, up north of the Delta. Riff riders from the Black Stripes to the North Mississippi Allstars were spawned from this heavily rhythmic stock. Yet six of the original architects for the region's guitar trances are the honored role models here. Heroes who shook 'em on down at backwoods house parties, like Fred McDowell and his local competitor, Ranie Burnette. And Jessie Mae Hemphill, Queen of the Hill Country, who, with aunt Rosa Lee Hill, was part of the Hemphill clan, Mississippi fife-and-drum royalty. Of the nine grooves that Feldmann works out, none rely on use of a slide for their hypnosis. A thwack-happy thumb, an unwound third string, the steady pump of your foot? Yes. But no slide, this time. Here, life gets stripped down to the utmost basics of an elastic chord (or two) and an almighty riff that gets ridden for all it's worth. "Dough Roller Blues" is Burnette's snaky hybrid of "Roll and Tumble," just as McDowell's "That's Alright" is John Lee Hooker's "Hobo Blues." As a twist, "Count the Days Until I'm Gone" delivers its gut punch in crossnote tuning. And for your dancing pleasure, R.L. Burnside's "Jumper Hanging Out on the Line" and the incredibly percussive "Poor Black Mattie" share long histories of quaking juke joint floorboards around Marshall County, just as the sloshing motion of "Meet Me in the City" did its share of moving bodies inside Junior Kimbrough's joint. Prepare to shake the shack. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag

Review: Often described as a more 'primitive' form of blues music than its Delta cousin, Hill Country Blues is vocal-driven dance music built on hypnotic grooves and steady, repeated guitar licks. This 117-minute DVD provides a great introduction to both the regional style and to the techniques required to play authentic versions of songs by Jessie Mae Hemphill, Ranie Burnette, Fred McDowell, RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Rosa Lee Hill.

Focusing solely on non-slide songs, Feldman's guitar (equipped with a 20-gauge plain steel unwound third string for authenticity, guitar geeks!) unlocks the workings of open G, open D and cross-note (open minor key) tunings, as well as some unusual stuff in standard. He is, of course, a superlative guitar player, but Feldman's also a convincing singer on material like RL Burnside's Jumper Hanging Out On The Line, which enables him to impart the feel as well as the technique for this material.

With all the usual Guitar Workshop split-screen camera work, PDF tabs and bonus audio tracks of the originals, this DVD should supply any solo guitarist with the necessary chops to set the house a-qua kin' and your ass a-shakin'. - Steve Hunt/fRoots

John Lee Hooker recorded hundreds of songs throughout his career that spanned from the late 1940's until his death in 2001. Very few blues musicians reached the heights that Hooker achieved, among his many awards Hooker was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

John Lee Hookers trademark one chord blues style can be traced back to his Mississippi roots where he first learned to play guitar and although often described as a simple technique, the rhythm found in his playing is the bedrock by which all things blues, fingerstyle, rock, etc., is based upon.

John Lee Hooker played out of standard tuning, E position, and Spanish tuning, typically Open A, and nearly all his recorded works fall into either category. Breaking this collection into two parts Feldmann walks you through every aspect of Hookers playing style in both Standard and Spanish tuning. You'll even be treated to live video footage of Hooker performing the tunes taught out of Standard tuning on electric, and more rare, acoustic guitar.

Whether your looking to learn Hookers songs, licks, or playing style you'll find those elements in spades, plus most importantly you'll improve your rhythmic technique which will benefit your own playing regardless of genre.

Tunes include: Maudie, Tupelo, MS, I'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive, Boom Boom, Boogie Chillen, Hobo Blues, I'm A Crawling King Snake, Bundle Up and Go

118 minutes - Level 2 - Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Stomping out a John Lee Hooker song on guitar comes with a certain untold power. Imagine the visceral rush from personally running down “Boogie Chillen,” the groove heard ’round the world. Or knowing the ins and outs when creeping through the iconic labyrinth of doom, “I’ll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive.” Or having “I’m a Crawling King Snake” slither from beneath your own fingers. Tom Feldmann—who has altruistically also broken the code to Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and a score more greats—now diligently teaches you how-how-how-how to attain badass blues nirvana by harnessing The Guitar of John Lee Hooker.

The two-hour master class is a complete boogie ’n’ blues kit, stocked with step-by-step guidance, tab/music notation, lyrics, and even vintage footage of John Lee performing half of the lesson plan. By transferring the blueprints to eight songs (divided between standard and Spanish tunings), along with basic Hooker design elements (landmark riffs as well as signature strum patterns, finger brushes, bass rumbles, trills, hammer-ons and bends), you’ll be well prepped to springboard off into one of the deepest, most mesmeric discographies ever to have been spawned by misery. Because it is one thing to listen to the almighty “Boom Boom,” but it’s a vastly more intense experience to physically pump the chord while howling out “I’m gonna shoot you right down, right off your feet.” As did everyone from the Doors to George Thorogood to ZZ Top, tap into that Hooker power. – Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag  

Review: One of the very latest recordings by Tom Feldmann, as part of the mighty Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop series. Regular readers will know that I have raved about the range and high quality of the DVDs that issue forth from the Guitar Workshop and this latest offering is no exception. It is hard to remember but JLH passed away in 2001 and you could regard this as a belated tribute to the man. Tom Feldmann is of course much younger but has immersed himself in Country Blues since the time that he started playing and is a particularly good exponent of the huge back catalogue that John left us with. As Tom points out, he recorded in excess of 300 songs, many of which were reworkings of older songs, however he tended to favor standard tuning in E and open tuning in A, he played both acoustic and electric, but largely played in the same style regardless. He was notorious for varying the number of chords in any live performance and must have been a bloody nightmare to support! Although of course for the greater part of his recording career he was a solo artist. On a DVD that runs for just shy of 2 hours you will get the chance to learn and play long with 10 JLH songs, and there are several film clips of him playing them. There is of course the well-known high-quality PDF booklet that you can download, giving you a hard copy that includes the TAB. So just to make my usual point once more; another high-quality issue that will be of great use to any would be JLH tribute act! – Dave Stone/Blues Matters

Review: The instructional DVDs authored by master acoustic blues guitarist Tom Feldmann provide not only lessons in how to play the music - whether it's Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters or other greats - they are also lessons steeped deep in guitar history. And his latest delves into one of the most idiosyncratic of Mississippi bluesmen, John Lee Hooker. The Hook's playing seems simple enough; forget three chords and the truth, he often nails it with just one chord. But there's a unique virtuosity hidden within that simplicity, and Feldmann unveils the rhythms and stylings in Hooker's right-hand technique. Feldmann teaches the templates for songs and rhythm structures that Hooker played in standard, Spanish and Open-A tunings. Even better, there's rare live footage of Hooker performing some of the tunes on electric and (even rarer) acoustic guitar. Michael Dregni/Vintage Guitar