Piedmont Style Country Blues Guitar Basics by Valerie Turner
Over 20 Piedmont Style Arrangements with Audio Files and Lyrics • Mudbone Productions 2017
Everyone’s brain works differently, in learning an instrument as in anything in life. Some people can learn guitar by just working their way through it all by themselves and picking everything up by ear. Others need to be shown. It’s always great to have a guitar teacher, if you can afford it and if the right teacher is near your proximity. But what if that’s not possible?
Nowadays there are many guitar instructional methods. People are teaching via Skype, by video and by old-fashioned instructional books. Some work, some don’t.
There is an undeniable truth about guitar instruction: Many people play blues guitar very well but they really can’t teach so good, even if they write instructional books and make videos. There are others that teach well but really don’t deeply know and feel the country blues. Finally, there is a complete, comprehensive instructional book written by a genuine country blues musician who actually knows how to teach, who presents the traditional acoustic blues in a clear, meaningful, respectful and articulate way.
Valerie Turner is herself an accomplished blues fingerpicker in the mid-Atlantic Piedmont tradition. Plus, she is a natural teacher who is a favorite, sought-after instructor at guitar workshops and blues camps. She studied under the late great National Heritage Fellow, Piedmont guitarist John Cephas, and has spent decades perfecting her guitar style, including with virtuoso Woody Mann. Valerie is a wonderfully talented creative musician and a researcher of the instrument and of blues history. Uniquely, she also possesses keen analytical skills and a thorough, organized mind, sharpened by years as a software engineer. That rare combination has resulted in an accessible and effective guitar instructional book. Valerie Turner truly thought of everything and presented it succinctly and methodically – making no assumptions, giving the guitar student a full, coherent picture. She has developed the content structure as if it was a pedagogical curriculum to assure maximum comprehension and understanding, focusing on the student’s ability to process the presented information. She truly thought of everything and has made it simple and clear. Much care was taken to contemplate every single word before she put it to page – as articulately, precisely and plainly as possible. Nothing is missing. Not a word too many or too few.
Valerie not only shows you how to play Piedmont Blues, she explains it indubitably, starting off with helpful hints to lead the reader to understanding, with a meaningful Introduction to the content of the book. She helps the student to understand what is included: various keys, tuning, timings, and chord charts, tablature and standard notations. She gives extensive Tips for Using this Book. For example, “The early blues musicians that originally performed the songs in this book did not always sing these songs from one performance to another. Having said that, the lyrics that accompany each song are just a guideline and you should feel free to alter the lyrics to suit your taste.”
One of the major differentiators is the clearly articulated, easy-to-understand and follow instruction, with simple, concise words and comprehensible illustrations, charts and graphics, explaining the basics: Understanding Standard Notation and Chord Charts, Reading Tablature and Fingerpicking techniques. When she explains fingerpicking technique, for example, she covers the details: upstrokes, downstrokes, pinch. Brush, slide, hammer-on, and pull-off.
Each of the 23 songs she teaches have everything you need to know: Timing, tunings string-by-string, Key, chords, notation, and lyrics, plus an explanatory paragraph.
For every song the student can download an accompanying MP3 file from writer’s website, of audio files she performed on a 1927 Stella Art-i-So guitar. You get the full details in print and can hear the songs she teaches: Buck Dance, Candy Man, Coffee Blues, Do Lord Remember Me, Freight Train, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, Goodnight Irene, I Shall Not Be Moved, I’ve Got the Blues and I Can’t Be Satisfied, I Will Turn Your Money Green, Just As Well Get Ready You Got to Die, Key to the Highway, Louis Collins, My Creole Belle, Nobody Cares for Me, Railroad Bill, Richland Women Blues, Shake That Thing, Spike Driver Blues, Stagolee, Sugar Babe It’s All Over Now, Walkin’ Blues, and When Death Come Creeping in Your Room.
Her husband and musical duo partner, Benedict Turner, tastefully designed the book, with excellent layout and illustrations.
This book is a real winner, something you can work with and make genuine progress. This may be one of the very best on the market for this musical genre, not only in method, but in song choice. After working through this book, the player will have a comprehensive basis and a strong starting repertoire in traditional fingerpicking blues. You can read, practice and listen to the songs you are learning. The only thing better would be to take classes directly from Valerie to supplement the book, which is best done at the various workshops she teaches.
The book cover features a striking portrait of the author taken by Lisa Elmaleh by using traditional tin-type photography.
