Ragtime Guitar
Duck Baker–Thumbs of Fury
Since I often talk about right hand technique on this Blog, you might think ‘Thumbs of Fury’ refers to the right hand thumb.* Yes, the fingerpicker’s Jedi force surely resides in the right hand thumb, but in the case of long-time fingerstyle master Duck Baker, there’s a lot going on with the left hand thumb. [...]
Duck Baker-Modern Fingerstyle for the Ages
I’m pretty much obsessed with guitar technique, especially fingerstyle, so I was excited to get a chance to hear the legendary Duck Baker perform and catch one of his teaching workshops.
Duck Baker jumped on the instrumental guitar circuit in the early 1970s, at a time when the glow was still warm on the 1960s heyday [...]
Blind Blake-the Stevie Wonder of the 1920s
Blind Blake was an important American recording artist at the dawn of the recording industry.
Traveling to the north from the Piedmont region of the eastern seaboard, he recorded for Paramount Records, the premiere label marketing ‘country blues‘ music to black audiences in the late 1920s. Because he was one of the first widely heard players, [...]
What the Hell are the Piedmont Blues?
I had been playing fingerstyle blues for many years before I ever heard the term ‘piedmont blues.’
I had gravitated towards a group of players that included Blind Blake, the Reverend Gary Davis, and Brownie McGee, looking for songs that I felt comfortable singing, without knowing they were all from the same region. There’s certain [...]
Blind Boy Fuller — “Weeping Willow”
Here’s a really unique acoustic guitar blues by Blind Boy Fuller.
This is video is from the YouTube channel of ‘Ragtime Dorian Henry‘, who has taken over 1800 blues and ragtime recordings and made them into video soundtracks. You can listen to it all in playlists–an incredible educational resource for anyone interested in finding out [...]
