Book Description

Rev. Gary Davis was a musical giant. His ideas spanned a wide range of techniques and styles. His repertoire featured blues, rags, show instrumentals and gospel songs. He played with his thumb and index finger to pick out complex melodies, rhythmic licks and lightning fast single-string runs. In this book, seven of Rev. Davis's blues are presented. These arrangements have been performed and recorded by a host of great artists including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Hot Tuna, David Bromberg, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and many others. These lessons are for the intermediate to advanced fingerstyle guitarist. The accompanying three CD lessons teach these arrangements phrase by phrase as well as presenting the original recordings. LESSON ONE: Our first lesson highlights two of Rev. Davis's most popular blues arrangements. Hesitation Blues is played in the key of C. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down is played in the key of G. LESSON TWO: The key of C was a favorite for Rev. Davis. In this lesson we explore the party tune Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor From (made popular by Hot Tuna). Rev. Davis used to joke that he could play Candyman so many different ways that he would be able to play it nonstop for at least 8 hours without repeating himself! We look at two versions of this very popular folk blues with the regular Candyman followed by the Two-Step Candyman. LESSON THREE: Raggin' the blues was a great part of Rev. Davis's repertoire. His Walkin' Dog Blues is a tour de force in a blues in C. All fourteen verses are transcribed here, and we study how this arrangement develops. Buck Rag is a fascinating rag played in the key of C. Single-string runs, counterpoint lines, rhythmic variations and syncopated bass patterns are featured.