DVDs

Tennessee-born, Carolina-influenced, New York-based (in his “folk boom” glory) and a Californian at the time of his death, Brownie showed a wide stylistic range from turn-of-the-century ragtime (Come on, Keep It Coming) to the lyrical sophistication of such original songs as Conversation With a River. His flair for the dramatic aside and autobiographical insight augment passionate vocals and splendid guitar work in 14 performances provide a moving retrospective of an artist too-long taken for granted. Sonny Terry accompanies Brownie on six songs.

You can also download a PDF which contains biographical information, photographs and performance notes on the tunes here.

In a relaxed studio setting on an April afternoon in New York City, Bucky Pizzarelli pays fond tribute to 14 favorite tunes from his decades as a celebrated jazz guitarist. Frank Vignola joins Bucky, one of his earliest influences, on affectionate interpretations of Tangerine, Honeysuckle Rose, Moonlight Serenade and other timeless melodies.The spirited interplay between the two musicians is as pleasant to see as it is to hear.

In this outstanding video recital, Brazilian concert guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima takes the listener on a musical journey through Brazil, The Caribbean, North America, and the Hawaiian Islands, including works by European masters from France and Spain. Maestro Barbosa-Lima displays the stunning musicality, arranging skills, and refined technique that have drawn applause from sold-out concert halls the world over. Program: Sons de Carrihoes (Joao Pernambuco); Odeon (Ernesto Nazareth); Sambolero (Luiz Bonfa); Cochichanda (Alfredo Vianna); Aquarela do Brasil (Ary Barroso); Adios (Enric Madriquera); La Comparsa (Ernesto Lecuona); Fantasy of a Hawaiian Lullaby "Pupu Hinu Hinu" (N. Beamer arr. by Dr. Byron Yasui); St. Louis Blues (W. C. Handy, arr. J. Griggs/Barbosa-Lima); Two Ladies: One Old, One New (Bobby Scott); La Alborada (Francisco Tarrega); La Mariposa (Francisco Tarrega); Golliwogg's Cakewalk (Claude Debussy); I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin); Las Abejas (Augustin Barrios); Ja-Da (trad. arr. J. Griggs/Barbosa-Lima); and Seis Milongas from Suite Antillana (Ernesto Cordero). Many of these selections were arranged by Carlos Barbosa-Lima and include unusual techniques such as double harmonics and Hawaiian slack-key effects.

Celtic music offers the fingerstyle guitarist many beautiful and haunting melodies as well as intriguing dance rhythms and exciting tunes. In this DVD, Duck Baker explores the possibilities of playing a wide variety of Celtic music. Includes Elsie Marley; The Duke of Fife's Welcome to Deeside; The Greenfields of America; Temperance Reel; and Sheebeg An Sheemore. A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

Tony McManus is an adept master of Celtic fingerstyle guitar, both in terms of adapting Celtic music to the guitar, and in its performance- presenting all its intricacies, graces, and frills, yet at the same time maintaining the pace and drive which characterizes the style of this music. In this first lesson, Tony discusses in detail the importance of ornamentation and triplets in Celtic music and how they can be technically achieved. He illustrates these ideas with several melodies played in dropped D tuning. This is followed by a discussion of scales and fingerings and playing reels in the DADGAD tuning. This is a challenging lesson for the fingerstyle guitar student interested in learning Celtic music from one of the finest players of this idiom. A detailed tab/ music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

In this second lesson on Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar, Tony McManus explores all the dance rhythms of Scottish music, with its pipe-marches, strathspeys, single and double jigs, slip jigs and reels. Three unusual tunings are presented: CGCGCD, CGDGCD and DAAEAE. These tunings are used to better maintain the integrity of the music and Tony has been notably successful in translating the complex music of the highland bagpipes to the guitar. The idea and playing of sets is presented as well as further exploration of ornamentation techniques. A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF on the DVD.

John Renbourn is well known for his recordings and performances of Celtic music. In this lesson he discusses and teaches his approach to arranging Celtic melodies using a wide variety of open tunings. All receive the special touches of John's unique playing, and are explained in detail with the help of split-screen techniques.

A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

This DVD covers all aspects of Charlie’s life and music, featuring interviews with family, friends, fellow Oklahoma jazz musicians and music luminaries like Claude ‘Fiddler’ Williams, Jerry Jerome and Les Paul. Also included are a large array of musical performances by such guitarists as Herb Ellis, Eldon Shamblin, Zeke Campbell and others.

Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed in concert together. What a treat!! These two masters of the guitar complemented each other so well that it is hard to imagine one without the other! Chet Atkins, the subdued quiet picker, thrilled at performing the fast, frantic instrumental written by his energetic alter ego, Jerry Reed. Their careers intertwined for most of forty years, resulting in a number of award-winning collaborations. Their 1992 Grammy Award winning CD "Sneakin' Around" led to several show dates together, including this performance at the Bottom Line. The instrumentals that were shared by these two guitar giants will be played and studied as long as there are guitarists on this planet. This 84-minute video features 18 selections including Copper Kettle, Waltz for the Lonely, Summertime, and more.

Continues the best-selling Mel Bay book series: Chet Atkins In Three Dimensions, Fifty Years of Legendary Guitar Volume 1 & Volume 2. New and fascinating work (instruction and commentary) on Chet Atkins; Close-up views of right & Left Hands; Graded progression from Part 1 to Part 2 (alternating bass to advanced harmonics) and Like having a private master class from a Master Coach.

Watch the author on DVD teaching and conveying his very special knowledge of guitar and Chet. Hosted by John McClellan, Chet Atkins in Three Dimensions Chet Licks clearly explains and defines the musical philosophy and style that made Chet Atkins the "singular" figure of fingerstyle guitar in the 20th century.

Virtuoso guitarist and friend of the Atkins family, John demonstrates Chet's techniques (alternating bass, slurs, cross-string scales, arpeggios, tone production artificial harmonics and more and discusses the key elements of Chet's musicianship.

John uses graded musical examples from pieces such as "Avalon," "Take Five," "Canned Heat," "Mainstreet Breakdown" and many others. Filmed with high quality video and audio, "Chet Licks" is a must for the guitarist who desires to learn from this American master…Mr. Chet Atkins.

Please visit www.ChetLicks.com for more information.

The much traveled Mr. Guitar is seen playing in this video collection everywhere from Nashville to Norway. His signature Gretsch Tennesseean guitar, on which Chet made it exquisitely effective use of its Bigsby vibrato bar, is heard in all its sweet, reverb-laden glory on many of these clips. But Chet, whose versatility embraces all styles of guitar, is also seen playing a classical guitar and a Martin dreadnaught. No matter what he plays, the produced becomes a distinct auditory fingerprint of the man known in Nashville as C. G. P. (Certified Guitar Player). The relaxed mastery evident in this video explains why Chet, along with such diverse geniuses as Thelonius Monk and Bill Monroe, was honored in 1993 with a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy "For this peerless fingerstyle guitar technique, his extensive creative legacy documented on more than one hundred albums, and his influential work on both sides of the recording console as a primary architect of the Nashville sound." The booklet for the DVD featuring biographical material, rare photographs and details on the tunes is not included, but can be accessed and downloaded from guitarvideos.com. Running time: 58 minutes.

For more than 40 years, the name of Chet Atkins has been associated with the finest Nashville-based fingerstyle guitar sounds. Even those records he did not play on showed his influence. Yet his own artistic growth never ceased, as is evident in this second volume of Vestapol's chronological documentation of Chet's career. We see this gentle genius exploring the music of Bob Dylan (Don't Think Twice It's All Right), marching band composer John Phillip Sousa (Stars and Stripes Forever), pop standards (Lover Come Back) and progressive funk (Knuckle Buster). Chet's tonal palette draws varied colors from electric guitars, nylon-strung classics, and even a resophonic guitar. Foremost in this collection are his traditional strengths as a tasteful soloist, but we also see him swap licks with the fiery Jerry Reed and Larry Carlton. The overall impression made by these performances is one of a master quietly demonstrating his continued primacy in his field and doing so with a calm assurance unabated by needless grandstanding. The booklet is not included, but may be downloaded from guitarvideos.com. 71 minutes.

Harley Cokliss's Chicago Blues filmed in 1972 was a remarkable film; remarkable in that it was not just a competent documentary but a film crafted with care by professionals with a love and understanding of music and a respect for its history and artists. The music and its artists of Chicago Blues reflect faithfully the structure of the city's Blues activity of the late '60s from unknown amateur to world famous stars, from house to small bar, from traditional down home to modern city style. Thus Johnny Lewis, a housepainter who played for his own amusement at home and was almost a discovery of the film team, to Muddy Waters, Chicago Blues' most famous figure. Lewis' Hobo Blues opens the film over images of the Bus Station and fixes firmly the importance of migration in the development of Chicago's postwar Blues. But with the great bulk of migrants coming from the Delta this pure East Coast offering sits oddly with the heavy electric Mississippi sound to follow. Strictly, only Muddy and Johnny Young came from Mississippi and while they contributed to and still played in the classic Chicago style, by the '60s the influence of Mississippi and the Delta was fading fast. The young lions of the West Side were in the ascendant and it's the nervous, raw energy of Buddy Guy's guitar and searing vocal that catches the positive mood of that decade. (The political mood was also captured on this film by interviews with Rev Ridick. Alderman A.A. Rayner and in a particularly telling contribution from Dick Gregory).

This DVD supplements the popular and creative method of the same title for teaching guitar to young children. From the beginning it integrates chord playing with note reading. The student starts with easy one finger chord forms and strums accompaniments to numerous songs. Note reading is then methodically and carefully introduced. The method features Ron Wheeler's colorful cartoon artwork.

The variety of Christmas songs and carols provides a fertile ground for fingerstyle guitarists. At the same time, the familiarity of these tunes requires the guitarist to explore creative approaches in order to bring new textures and meanings to these timeless melodies. Employing various tunings, unusual chord voicings, counterpoint lines, alternating bass and arpeggio techniques, El McMeen explains his arrangements of Christmas favorites, ranging from the sprightly Jingle Bells and Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella, through a tender version of Away In A Manger, to evocative arrangements of We Three Kings and other songs. Three guitar tunings are explored: standard, DADGAD and CGDGAD. Titles include: Away In A Manger, We Three Kings, Angels We Have Heard On High, Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella, Jingle Bells, A 'Soaling and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. 69 minutes / Level 2-3. A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

John Fahey is well known for his original instrumentals, but in 1968 he released his first album of Christmas songs and holiday melodies. This was greeted with great critical acclaim and John followed with several other Christmas albums. John says this of his arrangements: "The songs are, wherever possible, syncopated, not because I feel that syncopation or 'swinging the Carols' is more in keeping with the times but simply because I prefer to play them the way I do."

In this DVD lesson John explains and teaches nine of his most popular and requested Christmas and holiday arrangements. Normal fingerpicking styles are used, along with slide techniques. Regular and Open G tunings are featured. A detailed tab/music booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

This lesson is designed to give the intermediate/advanced student a wide assortment of technical challenges and an arsenal of hot licks that can be used, expanded and explored when playing blues themes. New approaches to arranging and improvising are featured in five popular blues that range from country blues to ragtime and folk to a barrelhouse stomp. This lesson is strongly recommended for all students of blues, ragtime, folk and swing jazz.

In this 50 minute performance DVD, Denis Azabagic performs compositions representative of the guitar repertoire from the days of its predecessor, the Spanish vihuela, to the present. Azabagic is one of the most compelliing classical guitarists on the international concert circuit today. He performs concerts around the globe, maintaining a balance between his solo recitals, chamber music with the Cavatina Duo, and engagements as a soloist with orchestras.

This classic guitar DVD anthology has performances by some of the world’s best players. Pieces and performances include Carlos Barbosa –Lima: Mi Bossa Blue and Embers, Castellani-Andraccio Duo: Sonata in D Minor, Nikita Koshkin: Cambridge Suite, Ronn McFarlane, Jorge Morel, Newman – Oltman Duo: Prelude, Judicael Perroy: BWV 997, Andrew York: Marley’s Ghost, Fabio Zannon: Appassionata, and more.

In this unique lesson David Laibman teaches two classic ragtime compositions: Red Carpet Rag and Scott Joplin’s 1899 famous Maple Leaf Rag. These are difficult arrangements but they are taught section by section, including split-screen segments, where you can see exactly what the left and right hands are doing. David explains fingerings, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, harmonics, and any other technical points. Also, complete music and tablature are included.

As David says often in the lesson, “Fingerstyle guitar is a creative process, and there is no single right way to do things. I am always discovering new ways to play certain bits, and then wondering why it took me so long to find them. If the fingering of a passage seems difficult and you want to change it, go right ahead! Fingerings should work for the music, and for you. Above all, ragtime should be fun. Enjoy!”

A detailed printed ab/music instructional booklet is included as well as a PDF file of the booklet on the DVD.