"Robert Johnson is the most important blues musician who ever lived. I have never found anything more deeply soulful. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice." - Eric Clapton

"Robert Johnson's music sent me reeling. I couldn't even imagine how someone could play the guitar the way he did and sing at the same time." - Bonnie Raitt

Robert Johnson is arguably the most well known figure in the history of the blues. Though the 29 songs Johnson recorded from 1936-1937 had little impact during his lifetime, a collection of his singles, entitled King of the Delta Blues Singers was released in 1961 and found widespread recognition. Then, 30 years later, The Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson was released selling over one million copies. The first blues recording to do so, winning a Grammy in the process.

Since that 1961 LP, players from all different musical backgrounds have sought to learn Robert Johnson's techniques and in this 3 DVD set, with over 5 hours and 52 minutes of instruction, Tom Feldmann covers every aspect of Johnson's playing. Each song is performed by Feldmann before he dissects the arrangement verse-by-verse and ends with a split screen segment where the song is played slowly with close up shots of both the left and right hands. This is the most expansive look into the guitar playing of Robert Johnson produced in video form.

DVD ONE: STANDARD TUNING: Kind Hearted Woman, Phonograph Blues, 32-20 Blues, A Blues Variations (Dead Shrimp Blues, Little Queen of Spades, Honeymoon Blues), I'm a Steady Rolling Man, Sweet Home Chicago, Love In Vain, From Four 'Til Late DROP D TUNING: Malted Milk CROSS NOTE TUNING: Hellhound on my Trail

DVD TWO: SPANISH TUNING: Stop Breakin' Down Blues, Walking Blues, Come On In My Kitchen, Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Stones In My Passway with Variations for Terraplane Blues and Milkcow Blues, Cross Road Blues, Traveling Riverside Blues

DVD THREE: SPANISH TUNING: If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day, VESTAPOL TUNING (OPEN E TUNING): Rambling on my Mind, I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, Preaching Blues, STANDARD TUNING: They're Red Hot

352 minutes - Level 3 - Detailed tab/music booklet PDF file included on each DVD

Review: Over the intervening decades since Robert Johnson cut his 29 monolithic sides in 1936 and 1937, countless manhours have been spent by countless guitarists hunched over spinning 78s, then LPs, then CDs, and now spinless MP3s, desperately trying to latch onto the mystical powers inherent in those songs - in that sound - which launched as many legions of rockers as of bluesmen. With Johnson's direct apostles below ground - Robert Lockwood, Honeyboy Edwards, Johnny Shines (who thrice returns, via bonus performance footage) - Tom Feldmann is your best possible instructor. The country blues junkie has put in those countless hours intensively detailing everything from the lemon squeezing "Traveling Riverside Blues" to the tamale-peddling "They're Red Hot" - so that you don't have to. He's got the complete canon down cold (come on, both takes of "Cross Road Blues" get dissected here). Right down to that spine-tingling 'howling wind' slide lick dripping down "Come On in My Kitchen." Even down to that momentary flash of wickedness in the fourth verse of "Walking Blues" when string bends actually snap. With calm coaching, you'll run the existential table from the Son House knockoff of "Preaching Blues" to "Hellhound on My Trail," with a "Malted Milk" break in between. Besides using the slo-mo split-screen, Feldmann makes learning easier by wisely corralling similar pieces, as when taking advantage of the structural relationship between "Terraplane Blues" and "Milkcow's Calf Blues" with "Stones in My Passway." Tremendous clout resides within three how-to DVDs, for herein lie both the kindling and the spark which lit the firestorm of modern blues and rock. So the calculus is simple: Six hours of one-on-one Robert Johnson instruction equals essential. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag

After 25 years as a session guitarist and record producer, Alberto Lombardi fell in love with fingerstyle acoustic guitar. He has performed his arrangements both in Italy and abroad, from small clubs in New York City and London, to renowned guitar festivals held in Sarzana and Ferentino, Italy.

Alberto's arrangements are rooted in the style of the great Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel but also influenced by the 1950's big band sound. His arrangements of American and Italian classics, (Georgia On My Mind, Volare) show the inventive harmonic movements from those great arrangers and composers of the times. Alberto also writes his own material, both fingerstyle instrumentals and as a singer/songwriter.

Here's what Alberto says about each arrangement:

Georgia On My Mind is an amazing song. There are many fingerstyle arrangements. My version is strongly based on Ray Charles's recording. I have adapted his string intro as well as playing this at the end using natural harmonics. Georgia was originally released in 1930. It was a dance tune with lots of 'swing.' So I added rhythm to the verse and chorus using an alternating bass. I combine this technique with some blues/soul licks here and there. I play it in the key of G and modulate to Bm for the chorus.

Volare is one of the most evocative songs ever. The original Italian song talks about a dream, where the singer paints himself blue and flies away. My arrangement echoes the era when Volare was first introduced. There are lots of harmonic movements that embellish the melody chord structure. I think the real goal of arranging this song was to keep it simple, yet interesting. This is a common but difficult task.  

Blue Moon is a combination of Tommy Emmanuel's and my own arrangement. I learned Tommy's version while I was already working on mine. So I made a blend. My intro uses the chord structure from the Ella Fitzgeralds recording and the Frank Sinatra Brass stabs. Plus for the verse I have my own chord movements. I borrowed Tommy's rhythmic ideas as these truly swing. The strength of this tune is the rhythm.

2 hours 50 minutes - Level 3/4 - Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Spider-walked artificial harmonics, Merle Travis picking, string-tickled birdcalls, string bends, snare drum notes, double stops, Stairway to Heaven, Hammond B3-ish natural harmonics, finger skids, James Bond and blues licks. Phew! And all that only builds one of Alberto Lombardis "Fingerpicking Adventures": Volare, the standard on which Domenico Modugno, Dean Martin, David Bowie, and Barry White also consecutively swung. Nearly three hours of Lombardis personal instruction are devoted to just this classic plus three more classics. But each is a mini symphony richly arranged for solo guitar. Each is anything but static, constantly evolving over its course with lots and lots of gorgeously moving parts. Augmented chords, diminished chords, suspended chords, triads, morphing bass, Chet Atkins licks, legato licks and blues licks figure into Georgia on My Mind. Blue Moon follows exceptionally creative suit by rolling in Ella Fitzgeralds chord structures, Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuels rhythm, Frank Sinatras horn stabs, piano licks, a marching band. That and blues licks, too. And, yes, blues licks are also a part of the carousel whirl to Tu Vu Fa' L'Americano, most recently heard in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" soundtrack. Not only does Lombardi provide the step-by-step "how"to all of this, but also the concept-by-concept "why". That way the very thought process behind his fingerstyle designs helps these deceptively challenging workouts get delivered with the greatest of ease. Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag

New Orleans Fingerstyle Blues Guitar features a mix of New Orleans-flavored fingerstyle guitar tunes. Cory Seznec takes you through songs such as Lookin' For A Woman and High Society inspired by the virtuosic playing of Snooks Eaglin, a laid back Latin rumba style version of Corrina, Corrina, a punchy brass band tinged, harmonically interesting rendition of the gospel tune Give Me Dat Ol' Time Religion, and an arrangement of the piano prodigy James Booker's scorching tune Classified.

The goal of the lesson is to help develop different right hand rhythmic techniques - rumba style, thumb dragging, bass movement, flamenco-esque strumming; and help the player develop passing chords and inversions, incorporate classic bluesy, New Orleanian ornamentation, and generally spice up left hand techniques. Within each song Cory breaks everything down and slowly walks the player through the arrangement. For any guitarist looking to branch out and try a new "feel"!

A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD. Each tune is taught phrase by phrase and played slowly on a split-screen.

Titles include: Lookin' For A Woman, High Society, Corrina, Corrina, Give Me Dat Ol' Time Religion and Classified

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

Review: Well here's a new teacher from Guitar Workshop with some really fresh approaches to fingerstyle Blues guitar! The syncopation and Rumba groove underpinning so much of the great New Orleans music is explored to great effect on ‚ "Corinna, Corinna‚" and ‚ "Looking For A Woman," and Seznec also brings Ragtime Jazz into a couple other tunes plus he's also adapted one of brilliant pianist James Booker's pieces to guitar.  

Five different tunes are taught, things that you can use to amaze yourself and your own audiences, and the techniques and chord inversions shown can also creep into your own compositions and arrangements. As is always the case with these DVD courses, there is a file with tablature showing exactly where each note is fingered on the neck, and once Cory plays the pieces, he breaks them down into sections teaching each part, then playing them back slowly with two cameras on his hands. Even a non- player could enjoy just playing through the performance segments as these are nice pieces of music, and in fact there's another unnamed one he plays while the credits roll! Guitar Workshop DOES have a few DVDs that are just performance without teaching, but none I know of yet on Cory Seznec - something to look forward to! Recommended to any fingerstyle guitarist and especially to those who love that New Orleans sound. - Blue Suede News 

Review: Franco-American musician Cory Seznec plays blues, early jazz, gospel and African music. Seznec's focus on complex rhythms and jazz chording should greatly interest intermediate and advanced fingerstyle guitarists. He presents the first tune, "Corrina, Corrina", as a rumba, which will challenge guitarists who favor solid 4/4 time. Learning to sing over his bass line will give the student a foundation in playing polyrhythmically - likewise the treble lines in the guitar breaks. Snooks Eaglin's "Lookin' For A Woman" delves further into rumba, including a triplet accent borrowed from New Orleans snare drum technique - think of Albert King's version of "Crosscut Saw", played solo. He uses a rubato approach for "Give Me Dat Ol' Time Religion", based on a published piano arrangement by J. Rosamond Johnson. Seznec's accompaniment to the vocal resembles a Gary Davis gospel arrangement, with melody played in unison with the voice, but the guitar breaks are much jazzier. Guitarists who absorb the ideas introduced here will have a good basis for creating their own bluesy, reflective arrangements. "Classified", inspired by the playing of pianist James Booker, has a light-hearted, danceable feel. The final tune, "High Society", comes from a 1961 recording by Snooks Eaglin, with Seznec adding some riffs from Blind Blake's "Blake's Breakdown" for good measure. This lesson follows Stefan Grossman's established format: full performance of a tune, discussion and demonstration of distinct sections, then a split screen run-through of the segment at a slow tempo. The download and dvd comes with a 31-page booklet of transcriptions in standard notation and tablature. Seznec progresses logically from simple to more complex rhythmic concepts throughout the lesson, so I recommend following the segments sequentially. It will take guitarists some time to master the techniques shown here, but the payoffs are greater rhythmic and harmonic facility that's applicable in many settings. - Patrick Ragains/Minor 7th

Review: Looking to hip-up your traditional repertoire? Meet cool cat Cory Seznec. He-along with other fresh faces like Dom Flemons, Erin Harpe and Alberto Lombardi-is infusing Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop faculty with young blood. And his "New Orleans Fingerstyle Blues Guitar" wastes no time pumping that oxygenated zing into your strings. Under Seznec's plan, the venerable earworm "Corrina, Corrina" slyly dips and stumbles its way past the pitfall of becoming the millionth rehash. His is the hippest overhaul you'll ever hear, stemming from the right-hand thumb locking down a rumba groove while the left hand engages in string rolls and bluesy flourishes-all without hindering the singalong chorus. "Lookin' for a Woman" also has rumba on its mind and fingers, likewise elevating the right hand into as much a star as is the left. Figuring heavily into that attack is the design of hometown bluesman Snooks Eaglin, right down to his flair for New Orleans flamenco. "High Society," the jazz standard upon which Eaglin built his reputation for blistered solos, remains just as imaginatively amphetamined. "Classified" converts the pianistics of James Booker, another local legend, into Blind Blake thumb drags and neck-long string strikes meant to flash like a keyboard glissando. And as for just how deeply rooted this lesson is: Seznec creatively springboards "Give Me Dat Ol' Time Religion" from an arrangement no younger than 92 years old. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag