The Art ofFingerstyleGuitarfeaturingJohn RenbournStefan GrossmanPeppino DAgostinoMartin CarthyBob BrozmanMartin SimpsonBrad JonesJoe Miller

2The Art ofFingerstyle Guitar

by Mark Humphrey

Art, the Oxford American Dictionary informs us, is the pro-duction of something beautiful, skill or ability in such work.Unlike other forms of art, which we experience as artifacts quitedetached from their creators, musical performance gives us theexperience of the artifact, the artist and in improvised music,the moment of creation all simultaneously. No wonder musi-cians get stagefright! They have a lot happening (and at stake)every time they perform. Imagine demanding other artists toreveal so many elements of their art all at once. It requires aspecial sort of concentration, a balanced sense of introspectionand extroversion to excel at such a pursuit. But, risk taking aside,being such a complete means of expression is what makes musica joy for performer and audience alike. Music, asserts criticEdmund Hildebrandt,...in a mans hands is his chief means ofself-advertisement, and it unites even the lone figure with theworld around him...

The performers in this DVD bear witness to that unitythrough their music. The music (and musicians) express differ-ent traditions, personalities and stylistic approaches via their gui-tars. Yet there is a commonality, not only in the instrument andfundamental approach to it but also in the choice of these play-ers to both take risks and to respect tradition. Bob Brozmanplays Moana Chimes (Hawaiian Greetings) unlike any of theHawaiian guitarists of the 1920s, yet his cheeky version over-flows with love of his sources. John Renbourn plays renaissancelute music on a steel string guitar with a phase shifter. Joe Millerfeeds his guitar an American fiddle tune and Stefan Grossmanpicks one from the Irish harp repertoire of Turlough O'Carolan.Peppino DAgostino uses unorthodox techniques to transformhis guitar into a Brazilian rhythm band. Brad Jones moves fromclassicism to fleet references to two of his major influences, jazzpianist/composer Vince Guraldi and country guitarist Jerry Reed.Martin Simpson deftly plays the spaces around notes in his solospot, while his duets with Brozman explore modal music, oneselection suggesting the Anglo-American The Cuckoo and theother the North Indian rag Yaman. The incomparable MartinCarthy shows what can be done with a mere five notes from apentatonic Mixolydian mode in Seven Yellow Gypsies.

For all the variety in these 14 performances, there is a unityof skill, passion and exploration. Starting from such unlikely in-

3spirations as the English skiffle craze which brought us suchdim-witted delights as Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavoron the Bedpost Overnight, these musicians have continuallyexplored new realms of sound until arriving at one which wasabsolutely personal and right and became the sound of theirown voice through the guitar.

The means of getting there are obviously different. Oneguitarist uses fingerpicks while another purely flesh and nails.Some play with a semiclassical right hand position and othersanchor the pinky on the guitars face, as was recommended ina 17th century manual for lutenists: set your Little Finger downupon the Belly of the Lute, just under the Bridge...it steadies theHand and gives a Certainty to the Grasp. Various tunings andstyles of guitar - classical, flamenco, steel string, metal-bodied -express the musical personalities of these players. They tell uswho they are by these means. The art of fingerstyle guitar? Itsplaying with such self-certainty that a musical phrase unfoldsinto something as unique and identifiable as a fingerprint. Hereare eight of the idioms finest artists clearly telling us who theyare.

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4Stefan Grossman

A remarkable career in teaching and performing began forBrooklyn-born Grossman as a teenaged pupil of the legendaryRev. Gary Davis. I was absolutely enamored by him, Grossmanrecalled in a Guitar Player feature. He spent as much time aspossible with Davis, documenting one of the most extraordi-nary repertoires in American folk music. This was the era of bluesrediscoveries and soon Grossman was meeting (and learningfrom) the likes of John Hurt, Skip James, and Son House. By1965, his knack for transmitting what he had absorbed wasmanifest in an instructional album, How to Play Blues Guitar forthe Elektra label. A few years later, Grossman wrote an influen-tial series of books documenting varied blues and ragtime gui-tar styles for Oak Publications. By then he lived in England, wherehe soaked up the music of everyone from Eric Clapton to JohnRenbourn, with whom he has performed extensively. With theformation of the Kicking Mule label in 1973, Grossman becamethe nexus of an international crop of fingerstyle guitarists whooffered vital and varied music (as well as instructional mate-rial).

Today Grossman continues to perform, teach, and documentoutstanding guitar stylists. He has reissued the best material thathe produced for Kicking Mule on the Guitar Artistry Series forShanachie Records. As evidence of his own eclectic artistry, Gross-man the Brooklyn blues boy here performs the lilting Irish tune,Sheebeg and Sheemore, attributed to the legendary blind harp-ist OCarolan, as well as some hot acoustic funk in Danish Dronewith Duck Baker.

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5Shining Shadows (Shanachie)Love, Devils and the Blues (Shanachie)

Guitar Landscapes (Shanachie)How to Play Blues Guitar (Shanachie)

Black Melodies on a Clear Afternoon (Shanachie)Yazoo Basin Boogie (Shanachie)Shake That Thing (Shanachie)

Snap A Little Owl with John Renbourn (Shanachie)Keeper of the Vine with John Renbourn (Shanachie)

Northern Skies, Southern Blues with Duck Baker (Shanachie)Videos/DVDs

Stefan Grossman - A Retrospective (Vestapol 13036)Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques (GW 966/7)

Bottleneck Blues Guitar (GW 902)How to Play Blues Guitar ((GW 903)

Country Blues Guitar Parts 1, 2 & 3 (GW 90456)Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Blues Guitar (GW 928)

Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Ragtime Blues Guitar (GW 929)Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Hot Fiddle Tunes & Rags (GW 930)

Fingerpicking Country Blues Guitar (GW 931)

Bob BrozmanNo player is more

closely identified with hisinstrument (or instruments)than Bob Brozman, who hasspearheaded the revived in-terest in the National guitar.The Brooklyn-born Brozmancame to the instrument viahis discovery of such Na-tional-brandishing blues-men as Son House andBukka White (House praisedthe metal-bodied guitarsutility as both a shield andweapon in barroombrawls). I was into blues soheavily that I was buying ev-ery album with a picture ofa Nat ional on i t , saysBrozman, who found onesuch album offering notonly blues but also the Ha-waiian music of Sol Hoopii.The discovery of Hoopiis as-tonishing technique promp-ted Brozman to seek outvintage Hawaiian 78s andreplicate their sounds on his ever-expanding collection of vin-tage National guitars.

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6In the 1970s, Brozman was also honing his performing skillsas a street busker in Santa Cruz: I learned yodeling, scat sing-ing and growling on the street, says Brozman, who adds thatthe projection and visual appeal of National guitars helped stimu-late tips. By the early 1980s, Brozman had moved off the streetsand on to such coveted gigs as opening for the Grateful Deadand Bonnie Raitt. He has recorded and toured extensively since,authored the definitive history of vintage Nationals and workedas consultant to the new National company in the developmentof their Tricone guitars. Brozmans performances here demon-strate both his technical range and some of the varied soundsof the Tricone and style O model Nationals. Moana Chimes(Hawaiian Greetings) becomes a showcase for Brozmans useof harmonics on his Tricone, while his ragtime jaunt on his styleO suggests the forgotten splendors of vaudeville tenor banjo-ists.

A Truckload of Blues (Rounder Records)Devil's Slide (Rounder Records)

Hello Central, Give Me Dr. Jazz (Rounder Records)Videos/DVDs

Bob Brozman in Concert (Vestapol 13047)Bottleneck Blues Guitar (Homespun Tapes)

Traditional Hawaiian Guitar (Homespun Tapes)Hot Guitar Techniques From Folk to Jazz Volumes 1 & 2 (Homespun Tapes)

Brad JonesBrad Jones grew up

surrounded by pickers.When his dad wasntworking on the Ames,Iowa police force, he wasstarring on one of thoseonce-ubiquitous l ivecountry radio shows, TheBuster Jones Show. Olderbrother Ron was finger-picking a la Merle Travisand Chet Atkins, so it wasnatural for Brad Jones tofollow in the family tradi-tion. As is evident fromthe autographs on hisclassical-sty le guitar,Jones wears his influ-ences proudly, primarilythat of the wise guy whowrote, To Brad, My Hero

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7- Jerry Reed. Also known as the Claw, Reed took Atkins style toanother dimension in the 196Os and Jones says, I went crazywith Jerrys stuff. I do a lot of his licks but I do em different. Theinfluence of left-handed brother Ron contributed: Ron played aright-handed guitar upside down, picking the bass notes (a laLibba Cotten) with his fingers. I just never learned to play right,says Jones. I double pick a whole lot on the bottom and get akind of funky sound. (Notice that he sometimes cross picks upand down with his thumbpick as if it were a flat pick.)

Jones has three albums out on the Virginia-based Flat Fivelabel, and in 1992 won the fingerstyle guitar competition inWinfield, Kansas. He has played in Europe in the company ofsuch legends as Albert Lee, Larry Coryell and Marcel Dadi, butJones doesnt lean on the guitar for his livelihood. I move furni-ture, he says. I go on tour when I can, but I dont take it all thatserious. I tried that a while, but I got severely overweight, so Ihad to go back to work.

Live at Five (Flat Five)Backporch Boogie (Flat Five)

Videos/DVDsGuitar Portraits (Vestapol 13096)

Bag of Tricks, Pocketful of Licks (GW 925)Styles & Techniques of Jerry Reed (GW953)

Hot Licks, Rhythms & Grooves (GW955)Legacy of Country Fingerstyle Guitar Volume One & Two (GW962 & GW963)

Back Porch Picking (GW964)Songs of Inspiration & Joy (GW965)

Martin SimpsonWriters have t ied

themselves in knots of ad-jectival ecstasy describingSimpsons playing (un-derstated beauty. . . , breathtaking musicalclarity, tunes..like glis-tening jewels). Simpsonfirst inspired praise on theEnglish folk club circuit,where he trailed in thewake of the seminal1960s folk revival guitar-ists (Davey Graham, BertJansch, Martin Car thy,John Renbourn) and ab-sorbed a fair measure ofAmerican blues and old-timey music in the bar-

8gain. He was sharing bills with the likes of Richard Thompsonand Steeleye Span while still in his teens and made a quantumartistic leap in 1977 when he embarked on a decade long ven-ture as accompanist to singers singer, June Tabor.

Simpsons work with Tabor not only brought him greaterattention but focused his attitude towards interpreting traditionalsongs. (He became hooked on them when he learned BarbaraAllen at school in Scunthorpe at age seven.) I started playingthe guitar because I wanted to tell stories like Marty Robbins,says Simpson. I still feel Im much more influenced by singersand songs than I am by guitar players. And thats how Simpsonapproaches his arrangements of traditional songs: I dont learnthe tunes, he says. I learn the songs...I know exactly what thelyrics are about. If I dont, I dont play.

Since moving to America in 1988, Simpson has found ampleopportunity to flaunt his blues chops as well, even performingat blues festivals with pianist Henry Gray, onetime Howlin Wolfband member. When the British became aware of black mu-sic, says Simpson, who has played blues as long as he has bal-lads, the effect was unbelievable. His duets with Bob Brozmanare thus no great stretch for this gifted multi-stylist. Simpson isthe author of The Acoustic Guitar of Martin Simpson (Accent onMusic)

Leaves of Life (Shanachie)When I Was On Horseback (Shanachie)

The Collection (Shanachie)A Closer Walk With Thee (Gourd Records)

Red Roses w/Jessica Simpson (Rhiannon Records)Videos/DVDs

Martin Simpson In Concert (Vestapol 13046)Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals/Arrangements in Alternate Tunings (Homespun Tapes)

Peppino DAgostinoMessina, Italy was the birthplace of Peppino DAgostino, who

has since taken in much of the worlds music and become, ac-cording to San Francisco Examiner critic Phillip Elwood, a poeton acoustic guitar, handling the instrument as if it were a dancepartner... DAgostino took his first steps with guitar at age 11and was moving smoothly enough by age 18 to be performingacross Italy. Paco DeLucia was an early influence, but soonDAgostino was writing his own distinctive material incorporat-ing influences from across Europe as well as Brazil and NorthAmerica. His debut album, Bluerba, was a collaboration withEnzo Ponzio and Alfredo Morabito. 1983s Silk And Steel pre-sented DAgostino in the company of Duck Baker as well as sev-eral noted Italian guitarists, among them Giovanni Unterberger.DAgostinos mastery of varied attacks and repertoires came in

9handy that same year when Berben-Italy had him write a blue-grass and country guitar flat-picking instructional book.

In the decade since, DAgostinos reputation has gone in-ternational and he has expatriated to the West Coast. He hasshared stages with the likes of Doc Watson, Leo Kottke, ChetAtkins, John Lee Hooker and Michael Hedges Whimsically call-ing his style minestrone music, DAgostino says of the guitar,You embrace it. Its intimate. Unlike a keyboard, the guitar canbe held close to the heart.

Sparks (Shanachie)Acoustic Spirit (Shanachie)

Close To The Heart (Mesa/Blue Moon)Silk And Steel (Lizard Records)

Bluerba (Drums)

John RenbournLondon-born and nurtured on American folk music via

skiffle, Renbourn became deeply entrenched in the vibrant Lon-don music scene of the 1960s. Inspired by Ramblin Jack Elliott,Big Bill Broonzy and other seminal American influences,Renbourn played Jimmy Reed tunes with English R 'n' B bandsbefore absorbing the eclectic music of Davey Graham and thejazz/blues tinged traditionalism of Bert Jansch. Renbournsfriendship with flat-mate Jansch produced some legendary gui-tar duets (Bert & John/After the Dance, Shanachie Records), andprovided the core for the uniquely adventurous folk baroqueensemble, Pentangle.

Since the dissolution of Pentangle in 1973, Renbourn hasmaintained an active solo career as well as performing and re-

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cording duets with Stefan Grossman (Snap a Little Owl ,Shanachie Records). Readers of Renbourns prose in Guitar Playerand elsewhere know he is also a passionate scholar of guitarmusic from varied genres and eras. Dick Weissman wrote ofRenbourn in Acoustic Guitar: He always has a clear vision ofwhat can and cannot be done on the steel-string guitar and hecan coax an almost classical sound out of the instrument, withall the subtle gradations of tone that the best classical playerscan create.

Renbourns performances here illustrate his expansive re-naissance-to-rock artistry. I think the most enjoyable approachto the guitar, Renbourn told Stefan Grossman in a Frets maga-zine interview, is to regard it, if you can, as something like askeyboard instrument, with the possibility of playing the sepa-rate parts, rather than embracing a style of music which youthen have to fit all the music into...My concern is playing thetype of music I like. How it actually sounds is an accident.

The Black Balloon (Shanachie)Sir John Alot... (Shanachie)

The Hermit (Shanachie)The Lady And The Unicorn (Shanachie)

Snap a Little Owl w/Stefan Grossman (Shanachie)Live In Concert w/Stefan Grossman (Shanachie)

John Renbourn Group/A Maid In Bedlam (Shanachie)John Renbourn's Ship Of Fools (Flying Fish)

The Nine Maidens (Flying Fish)Videos/DVDs

John Renbourn 1965-1995 (Vestapol 13032)Folk, Blues & Beyond (GW 907)

Celtic Melodies & Open Tunings (GW 908)The Jazz Tinge (GW 917)

Medieval & Renaissance Music for Fingerstyle Guitar (GW947)

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Martin Simpson & Bob Brozman

How did this seemingly unlikely duo come to be? Simpsonand Brozman met at the 1993 NAMM (National Association ofMusic Merchandisers) Show in Los Angeles, testing and demon-strating instruments at the National guitar company display. Itwas a seemingly telepathic relationship from the start, saysBrozman, who admits to a prejudice against...Celtic stuff priorto meeting Simpson. Common ground, however, was providedby the blues. What makes it work, says Simpson, is that Boband I are well grounded in traditional forms...We have a similarvocabulary of music and it works wonderfully. Enough so that aSimpson/Brozman album is in the works.

Martin CarthyThe premier singer/guitarist of Britains folk revival was in-

spired to take up the guitar by Big Bill Broonzy and has quipped:Basically, what I do is Travis picking trodden upon to make itwork for English music. But theres little mistaking Carthys ob-lique yet commanding attack on his lovably battered 000-18Martin for any American antecedent. His triumph has been cre-ating a style which is uniquely personal and singularly right fortraditional English music. Carthy has been a mainstay of the English folk scene sincethe early 1960s, during which time he influenced such visitorsas Bob Dylan (Lord Franklin came from Carthy) and Paul Simon(Scarborough Fair). His punchy, angular playing and penchant

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for ballads rife with murder,myth and magic made hima sensation, and yielded sev-eral classic albums for theFontana label in the 1960s.He was then just developinghis unique guitar tuning andrhythmically challenging ap-proach to such songs as thepentatonic Seven YellowGypsies. The 1970s found Carthy

occasionally engaged in thefolk-rock bands of bass-play-ing enfant terrible AshleyHutchings (Steeleye Spanand Albion Country Band),sometimes solo as a singer-guitar ist and others acappella in the traditionalvocal quartet the Watersons.The 199Os find Carthy againteamed with fiddler DaveSwarbrick, who accompa-nied him on many of his

most memorable 1960s recordings. Widely acclaimed as one ofthe most creative living acoustic guitarists (Musician magazineonce ranked him among the Hundred Greatest Guitarists of AllTime), Carthy downplays his achievement as an instrumentalistand says, Your business is to transmit the song.

The Collection (Green Linnet) Life and Limb w/Dave Swarbrick (Green Linnet)

Martin Carthy (Topic Records)Video/DVD

Martin Carthy: British Fingerstyle Guitar (GW 927)

Stefan Grossman & Duck BakerFingerstyle funk on an acoustic guitar? No sweat for Duck

Baker, ably assisted by Stefan Grossman. Baker, its tempting tosay, took to music like his namesake to water. The first musicalexperience I can recall, he says, was when I was in kindergar-ten and one of the kids parents came in dressed up like a gypsyand played the fiddle. I thought it was the greatest thing in theworld. Though violin lessons bored him, Baker later managedto become something of gypsy, living variously in Vancouver,Torino, London before recently returning to his native Virginia.

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In Gitano tradition, Baker embraced the flamenco guitar,though hes more apt to play swing than soleraes on it, as wellas a potpourri of folk and jazz from Appalachia to Manhattan(and a few foreign ports besides). The guitar usurped theukuleles place in Bakers world when he was 15 and trying tolearn Doc Watsons arrangement of the Delmore Brotherss DeepRiver Blues. But the influence of Richmond ragtime pianist BuckEvans plunged Baker headlong into a lifetime of arranging key-board music, principally jazz, for guitar. The way you learn tocompose, Baker told Michael Crane in an Acoustic Guitar fea-ture, is to learn to arrange...The instrument will teach you whatyou can and cant do when it comes to arranging. Go out thereand try it.

Opening the Eyes of Love (Shanachie)The Art of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar (Shanachie)

Videos/DVDsCeltic Airs, Jigs, Reels & Hornpipes (GW 909)

Guitar Aerobics (GW 910)Classic American Folk Blues Themes (GW 919)Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar (GW 920, 921 & 922)

Introduction to Gospel Fingerstyle Guitar (GW312)Introduction to Swing Guitar (GW313)

Joe MillerThe Smothers Brothers arent often cited as seminal influ-

ences by virtuoso guitarists, but as a kid Joe Miller enjoyed thefun he saw them having and followed Toms example. But theguitar wasnt the only instrument in Miller's world. Growing upin Toronto, which has a large Indian community, Miller studiedsitar with Shambhu Das, a student of Ravi Shankars . It had abig effect on me, Miller recalls of his sitar lessons, learningabout rhythms and the way I think about scales. Mandolin, clas-

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sical guitar, electric bass, and even viola da gamba were amongthe succession of stringed instruments Miller explored beforedevoting himself to the acoustic steel-string guitar.

His move to Berkeley in 1978 put him in the midst of whatlocals deem the music capital of the West, and opportunitiesto play with the likes of mandolin virtuoso David Grisman andto teach Country Joe McDonald. Miller took home the gold fromthe Olympics of fingerpicking at Winfield, Kansas in 1987. Activeon the American folk festival circuit, Miller has made two al-bums on his Rising Sleeves label, which inspired Englands FolkRoots magazine to marvel at his rare combination of technique,humor, and panache.

West Coast Music for Guitar (Rising Sleeves)Semi-Traditional Guitar Solos (Rising Sleeves)

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The performers in this collection expressdifferent traditions, personalities and sty-listic approaches via their guitars. Yetthere is a commonality, not only in theinstrument and fundamental approach toit but also in the choice of these playersto both take risks and to respect tradi-tion. Bob Brozman plays Moana Chimes(Hawaiian Greetings) unlike any of theHawaiian guitarists of the 1920s, yet hischeeky version overflows with love of hissources. John Renbourn plays renais-sance lute music on a steel string guitarwith a phase shifter. Joe Miller feeds hisguitar an American fiddle tune and StefanGrossman picks one from the Irish harprepertoire of Turlough O'Carolan. PeppinoDAgostino uses unorthodox techniquesto transform his guitar into a Brazilianrhythm band. Brad Jones moves fromclassicism to fleet references to two ofhis major influences, jazz pianist/com-poser Vince Guraldi and country guitar-ist Jerry Reed. Martin Simpson deftlyplays the spaces around notes in his solospot, while his duets with Brozman ex-plore modal music, one selection sug-gesting the Anglo-American The Cuckooand the other the North Indian ragYaman. The incomparable Martin Carthy

shows what can be done with a mere five notes from a pentatonic Mixolydianmode in Seven Yellow Gypsies.

For all the variety in these 14 performances, there is a unity of skill, passionand exploration. One guitarist uses fingerpicks while another purely flesh andnails. Some play with a semiclassical right hand position and others anchor thepinky on the guitars face. Various tunings and styles of guitar - classical, fla-menco, steel string, metal-bodied - express the musical personalities of theseplayers. They tell us who they are by these means. The art of fingerstyle guitar?Its playing with such self-certainty that a musical phrase unfolds into somethingas unique and identifiable as a fingerprint. Here are eight of the idioms finestartists clearly telling us who they are.

STEFAN GROSSMAN Sheebeg An SheemoreBOB BROZMAN Hawaiian Greetings, Steel Guitar Stomp

JOHN RENBOURN Medley: Lament For Owen Roe O'Neill/Mist CoveredMountains Of Home/The Orphan, Sweet Potato BRAD JONES Funky Fingers

MARTIN SIMPSON Medley: Lord Gregory/Bob's SongJOE MILLER Lime Rock MARTIN CARTHY Seven Yellow Gypsies

PEPPINO D'AGOSTINO Grand Canyon, PonteioMARTIN SIMPSON & BOB BROZMAN Bentonia, Chimes Of Timbuktu

STEFAN GROSSMAN & DUCK BAKER Danish Drone

Vestapol 13021 ISBN: 1-57940-996-2Nationally distributed by Rounder Records,One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140

Representation to Music Stores byMel Bay Publications

2004 Vestapol Productions / A division ofStefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop Inc. 0 1 1 6 7 1 30219 5