Shake That Thing The Guitar of Mississippi John Hurt, Volume 1 (Mel Bay Presents Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop Audio Series)

This book is a must for any fans of MJH who want to learn his songs. Grossman has the advantage of having actually played with the man and his transcriptions are very accurate. He includes detailed tips and instruction on the CD, as well as the actual MJH recordings. In addition, Grossman sorts the songs into lessons by key, which is really great for helping to build a vocabulary of notes and chords within each key, and is invaluable for anyone wanting to compose original songs in this style. This book helped my playing immensely.The only complaint I would have is that he often transcribes only one verse or instrumental break rather than the whole song, which can be a little frustrating for purists who want to learn all of the variations within each verse, intro, etc...but there is actually wisdom in that because I've tried other MJH books that do transcribe every note of every verse and it makes the transcriptions take up too many pages and seem overly daunting. I'm now coming around to Grossman's view that it's better to learn the core of the song, and then figure out the variations on your own through listening, since they're usually pretty simple, minor variations anyway. This and the other book in this series will keep MJH fans busy and entertained for a very long time!

This book and CD combine the best of both worlds. Grossman knew Mississippi John Hurt personally and often watched him play. His analysis of Hurt's songs in both regular music notation and tablature is helpful, and even moreso when you listen to the music it documents. Grossman's discussion is clear and concrete, and he helps apply the techniques gradually so the reader/player understands and masters the music at a reasonable pace. I may very well order the other volumes in this series because this one is excellent.

I am an intermediate/advanced guitarist (23 years but no formal lessons). I got serious about becoming a better Travis picker last year, and I worked my way through Mark Hanson's Art of Contemporary Travis Picking, which was excellent. Hanson is more classically oriented, though, and I wanted to play Hurt's three-fingered alternating bass style, laying my pinky on the guitar top to strengthen my thumb attack. I am very glad I worked through Hanson's book first because this book is NOT FOR BEGINNERS, but I am thoroughly enjoying Grossman's instruction and it is true in every way to Hurt's own picking style. This is the real thing.Mr. Grossman groups the songs by key (starting with G), and the songs progress in difficulty in terms of adding more chords and more fretting hand movement as you go along. This is a splendid approach and builds your skills and confidence very efficiently. You should learn each song in order and resist the urge to skip ahead to your favorites. Everything builds logically and it is worth it.Unlike many instructors on cd, DVD, or online, Mr. Grossman is quite relaxed and has a friendly, encouraging manner. The blues are a folk form, and Grossman's avuncular demeanor seems to have been picked up from the vibe of his mentors Rev. Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt (yes, he actually played with them!). The first song, as a bonus, is a tune Grossman recorded on tape while hanging out with John Hurt at a New York City cafe in the '60s. Clearly, this is the most authentic Hurt instruction you could hope to find.One problem: the third bar of the first guitar tab is completely wrong, wrong in both the tab and the standard music notation. I skipped ahead to the second song out of frustration with myself before I realized the music was just written down incorrectly and did not match the cd. I wrote in the right notes, learned it, and moved on. This is disappointing from a quality control standpoint, but don't let it discourage you from buying the book. Just be ready for it when you start learning that first song ("Shake That Thing").

order came on time....it was what I wanted....great sound....

Love this product!

As the first reviewer noted, the book has mistakes. He pointed out one, I have found many more. For example, I'm Satisfied, bar 9, notation shows an F cord with a G in the bass. That would be pretty avant garde for John Hurt. But my main problem with this book isn't the mistakes, it's that it only has intros or breaks. I suggest a slow down tool like Amazing Slow Downer and the original recordings and skip this book all together if you really want to learn MJH's tunes and how he played them.