"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

Charlie Patton, considered the “Father of the Delta Blues,” is generally recognized as the most influential blues artist active in the first decades of the twentieth century. No single individual can be credited with “inventing” the Delta blues style but Patton was one of the first mainstream stars of the Delta blues genre. Old fashioned and modern at the same time, Patton's music bridged the musical traditions of the 19th century while simultaneously creating a framework of his own that would inspire just about every other blues musician from that point on.

In this double DVD lesson, Tom Feldmann gives you a detailed look at 18 of Patton's most celebrated tunes. Making this the definitive Charlie Patton lesson. DVD One is dedicated to songs in standard tuning, covering C, E, A and F positions. You'll learn Patton's relaxed right hand strum, top tapping technique, and of course his signature licks as you work through songs like, Down The Dirt Road Blues and Pony Blues. 

DVD Two focuses in Patton's bottleneck slide and non slide numbers in Spanish (Open G) and Vestapol (Open D) turnings. Songs like, Banty Rooster Blues, When Your Way Get's Dark and Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues will become heavy hitters in your blues arsenal.

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

Titles include: Poor Me, Down the Dirt Road Blues, Green River Blues, Jim Lee Blues, Some of These Days I'll Be Gone, Pony Blues, Devil Sent the Rain, Shake It and Break, Tom Rushen Blues, High Sheriff Blues, Hammer Blues (Take 1 & 2), Banty Rooster Blues, Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues, When Your Way Get's Dark, Pea Vine Blues, Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues, High Water Everywhere (Take 1 & 2), A Spoonful Blues

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

Review: Warning: Do not misinterpret the bow tie worn in his ancient portrait. Beneath, the grand master flash of all Delta blues-bedrock Charlie Patton was a "rock star" decades before rock became a devilish glimmer in the blues' eyes. When your prototypical playing style and whiskey-n-women lifestyle recruit a Mississippi dream team of apostles in Son House, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and quintessential crossroad "friend Willie Brown," you are the man. Singing, you can hear gravel being ground in his throat (don't miss the bonus audio with Patton's records). Combine that with how he struck a guitar, and you make dynamite. Up to then, the 1920s never experienced anything like that: whacking the instrument's body for even extra rhythm, as its strings got violently snapped or deeply stabbed by a slide on its way down to the 17th fret. Patton was even Hendrix before Hendrix, hot-dogging plantation gigs by flipping his axe into the air, playing behind his back, then between his legs. You're on your own for the circus acrobatics, but country blues authority Tom Feldmann has got you covered for all the rest. It takes two DVDs, in fact, for him to break down, step-by-step, Patton's method, licks, tricks and 18 classics. Feldmann is a revelator bare-handing the beautifully aching "Some Of These Days I'll Be Gone," then bottlenecking the monster cotton patch smashes "Screamin' & Hollerin' the Blues" and "Pony Blues." Back in the day, you'd have to sell your soul at the crossroads for four hours of detailed how-to instruction like this. – Blues Rag/Dennis Rozanski

"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

"It is difficult to describe the transformation that took place as this smiling, friendly man hunched over his guitar and launched himself, bodily it seemed, into his music. The blues possessed him like a 'lowdown shaking chill' and the spellbound audience saw the very incarnation of the blues as, head thrown back, he hollered and groaned the disturbing lyrics and flailed the guitar, snapping the strings back against the fingerboard to accentuate the agonized rhythm. Son's music is the centre of the blues experience and when he performs it is a corporeal thing, audience and singer become as one." - Bob Groom/Blues World

"In the years before World War II, Son House created some of the purest, most powerful Mississippi Delta blues on record. Playing with partners Charley Patton and Willie Brown, he exerted a profound influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, both of whom copied his music and carried it to new generations. House's influence still echoes through the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and many other musicians, and in many respects, he is the true father of what's known today as deep blues."- Jas Obrecht

In this lesson Tom Feldmann takes you step by step through 15 classic Son House tunes that span every phase of Son's recorded career. This 4 hour lesson is undoubtedly the most extensive look into the music of Son House and the techniques he developed. DISC ONE highlights 8 songs in Spanish tuning. While DISC TWO focuses on 7 songs using the Vestapol tuning (Open D), Standard, and most surprising to students of House's playing, Cross-Note tuning with Clarksdale Moan. 

Also included on DISC TWO is a bonus interview with Stefan Grossman where he talks extensively about meeting Son House and recording with him. Rare performances of Son House following his rediscovery are used throughout the lesson. The original audio tracks are included where footage is not used.

Titles Include: OPEN G TUNING: Death Letter Blues, My Black Mama, Low Down Dirty Dog Blues, The Jinx Blues, Special Rider Blues, Walkin' Blues (from 1930), Dry Spell Blues, County Farm Blues OPEN D TUNING: Shetland Pony Blues, Preachin' The Blues, This Little Light of Mine, CROSS-NOTE TUNING: Clarksdale Moan, STANDARD TUNING: Depot Blues, Am I Right Or Am I Wrong, Walkin' Blues (from 1940's)

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

Review: The Guitar of Bukka White/T he 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

Review: On quite a roll from tackling bedrock country bluesmen as far and wide as Fred McDowell, Kokomo Arnold, Barbecue Bob and Mississippi John Hurt, six-string professor Tom Feldmann is now gunning for Son House. And he's outdone himself honoring the godfather of deep Delta blues with this master class. Luxuriating across four hours of step-by-step guidance, the two DVDs are the exact guitar tutorial Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters would've killed for when originally struggling to decipher their idol's technique and repertoire. Because Feldmann's got all the moves worked out, from the slideless "Jinx Blues" to "Death Letter Blues" with a slide riff just as killer as its macabre imagery. Even to the heart-stabbed "Low Down Dirty Dog Blues." Saddled with such fret-rattling misery, House wasn't exactly a Mississippi merrymaker. He was more about gripping you by the throat with brutal themes, then bruising your soul with strings traumatically snapped, bent up, shoved down and sheared with whip-crack bottleneck flourishes. But besides woodshedding time, The Guitar Of Son House also saves you tens of thousands of dollars by including the ultra-ultra-rare Paramount sides "Clarksdale Moan" and "Mississippi County Farm Blues" among its 15 dissected songs. Twenty three of House's original audio recordings (including that wickedly expensive pair) are stuffed into the bonus goodies, along with priceless film of him in mesmerizing action, an entertaining conversation with Stefan Grossman who recorded with him and a tab/ music/lyric booklet. All but Son's string tie and hulking brass slide are inside here. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag 

Who hasn't been influenced by Mississippi Fred McDowell? Imitated by just about everyone that has picked up a slide, his impact has spread the world over. With so many trying to figure out exactly how he played, we are so fortunate to have a lesson like this one where we get to learn from the man himself. The footage of Fred McDowell seen in this lesson is a treasure because it's as if it was filmed with us, the students of McDowell's style, in mind. With clear shots of his left and right hands, it's like your own private lesson with the master himself.

DISC ONE is devoted to footage of Fred McDowell performing many of his classic tunes in Open E tuning. After each performance, Tom Feldmann breaks down Fred's techniques and then goes to the split screen, playing the song slowly as you play along.

DISC TWO is devoted to the recordings of McDowell in Open A tuning. Tom performs this time around as none of the available footage has McDowell performing in Open A.

A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on each DVD. In addition the original recordings of all the tunes in lesson two are included. On Disc Two there is 51 minute interview with Tom Feldmann where he talks about his influences as well as performing a wide variety of tunes. 

Titles Include: OPEN E TUNING: When I Lay My Burden Down, Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning, John Henry, Break 'Em On Down, Louise, Mojo Hand, I Heard Somebody Call OPEN A TUNING: Write Me A Few Lines, Been Drinking Out of A Hollow Log, Fred's Worried Life Blues, The Train I Ride, Kokomo Blues

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

Review: No matter how famous McDowell's assertions of “I do not play no rock'n'roll, y'all” were, that talkative bottleneck ratted Fred out otherwise. When dropped onto guitar strings, blowing up the push-pull rhythm of elastic groovers like “Write Me A Few Lines”, “John Henry” and their kingpin in “Shake 'Em On Down,” that little glass tube dilates pupils and gets pulses racing, leaving you off far higher than where you first got on. Those aren't physiological hallmarks of the typical “straight 'n' natchel blues.” But such is Fred's type of rockin'. And with it, he was a one-man house party, a north Mississippi slide hypnotist in the grandest definition. So whether holy rolling “When I Lay My Burden Down” or even slide-lessly chugging on “The Train I Ride,” his repertoire knows how to have a good time. Except when wallowing in the depths of despair (“Been Drinking Out Of A Hollow Log” even rubs salt into the wound with its dastardly lowdown lick). Now over the course of two instructional DVDs, the inner workings of The Guitar Of Fred McDowell get exposed by disciple Tom Feldmann. Finally, step-by-step proof that “Shake 'Em” (a.k.a. “Break 'Em”) and 11 other songs can, indeed, be played by mortals. And Feldmann does a fantastic job teaching Fred's moves. Vintage film also lets some of Fred's moves get taught by Fred, the downhome dude with the pencil thin mustache, pomade-slicked hair, string tie, curvaceous electric guitar and grooves that everyone from R.L. Burnside to the Rolling Stones to the North Mississippi All-Stars and now you - just got to have. – Bluesrag/Dennis Rozanski

Review: Over the past ten years plus Tom Feldmann's name has become synonymous with the slide guitar style of country blues and gospel music of the 1920's-1940's. His has honed his skill and developed chops that have put him in the top tier of performers and instructors. His pedigree includes an affiliation with Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshops, and Mel Bay has produced numerous instructional DVDs of such legends as Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt and just about everyone in between. He has released eight CDs since 1999 while touring, six on his own Magnolia Recording Company label and two early CDs for Maple Island Records. In short, Feldmann has not only become an authority on Country Blues but is also well on his way to becoming a national treasure and a portal to the past. It is no surprise that his latest instructional DVD, “The Guitar of Fred McDowell” lives up to all that has come before and is a treasure trove of instruction and insight into the blues and the music of Fred McDowell. This two DVD set offers film footage of McDowell playing seven tunes in Open E (Disc 1) and five in open A tuning (Disc 2). The format of instruction for each tune begins with a film performance of McDowell on electric guitar from later in his career. This of course helps keep instruction rooted to McDowell's actual performance instead of focusing on an interpretation of his playing. Feldmann follows each performance with a discussion of the intricacies of technique of each specific tunes, followed by a split screen that isolates the left and right hand simultaneously throughout his own playing of the same tune at a very moderate tempo to allow the student to adequately take in the techniques presented. Feldmann's easygoing demeanor and clear description of technique makes his instruction accessible for any level player. Feldman also gets into the technical aspects of McDowell's technique and various methods of approaching guitar set-up from string gauges, saddle dimensions and the use of an unwound third string for E Tuning -- all of which speak to Feldmann's knowledge and the quality of his instruction. Bonus materials include a detailed tab of each song in the form of two PDF booklets as well as almost an hour of interview footage of Feldmann who delves into his influences, experiences, technique and instruments. Feldman performs a handful of additional tunes to augment these segments. Total running time of both DVDs is 220 minutes. – Minor 7th