Topic: John Miller Lessons

[Slack]

Please post your questions and comments to John about his lessons in this topic.

[Rockdale]

Guitar lessons on the internet. That's a great idea!! I'll have to check out the other ones now. "Mean Conductor" is an amazing song. I've never heard it before.

[dj]

John M,

While everyone else is off having fun at PT, I finally found a free afternoon to give this a try  What a great lesson!  Two very interesting songs and a real workout for the ears!  I have to admit that when I picked up the guitar last December for the first time in 20 years, I'd grown very lazy.  I've spent all my playing time either relearning things I knew years ago or reading tabs.  Trying to learn from audio was pretty daunting at first.  I kept saying "What?  What's that he just said?  What's he doing?"  But after only an hour or so with each song, patiently going back over each change and listening really hard, I have the basics of each song down.  That's a lot faster than I'd memorize a song from reading tabs.  So thanks, great job, and I'll be ordering a few non-free ones any day now.

By the way, I enjoyed playing these Ed Bell pieces so much that I had a go at figuring out Mamlish Blues all by myself.  And I have to say what amazes me the most about people like you is how the heck you can hear what's going on with the guitar beneath all the singing and surface noise!   

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for your message, dj, and I am particularly happy to hear that the lesson worked out well for you.  Best of luck in figuring out "Mamlish Blues".  It is a great piece.  One tip you might find helpful--in passages where it seems particularly difficult to sort out what is happening, it can clarify things if you try and separate out and distinguish what the thumb is hitting. 
All best,
Johnm
p.s.  I am just back from Port Townsend, and it was great fun.  Good music and always wonderful to have a chance to re-unite with old friends and make new ones.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just wanted to let you know that the instructional videos I did on Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins and Bo Carter have been converted to DVD, with recordings of the pieces by the original artists included.  Stefan Grossman currently has a sale running on his website, www.guitarvideos.com, in which he offers the videos, if all three are purchased at once, at $20.00 apiece.  I don't anticipate being able to match that price, so if anybody is interested in picking up these videos, you would probably be wisest to get them from Stefan.  Thanks.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Just to add to what John said, since he discreetly doesn't toot his own horn, I have all three and they are all tremendous resources. I know quite a number of weenies have at least some of them as well, judging by the number of people who were playing "I'll Go With Her" at Port Townsend. I'm seriously considering buying them all again just to have them on DVD with the better quality and seriously better access.

[Sudsbury]

Hi John,
I have your Videos, which are great but somewhat vulnerable for long-term use.  I'd like to get the DVD's - who is distributing them?  Stefan G?
Regards,
Sudbury

[Johnm]

Hi Dougal,
Yes, all of the instructional videos I've done, 1 each of Bo Carter, Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins and Elizabeth Cotten and 2 of John Hurt, are available now in the DVD format from Stefan Grossman's website, www.guitarvideos.com.  I think you will probably get the best deals there too.  Take care, and I hope all is going well.
All best,
Johnm

[Sudsbury]

Thanks John - I'll give myself a New Year's present of your DVD's!
All the very best for 2006.
Regards,
Sudbury

[Wayne]

What a great lesson....and such lovely subtle guitar ideas, the individuality of this music is a real joy.

[Johnm]

Hi Wayne,
Thanks for the good words, and I couldn't agree more about the subtlety and style of Ed Bell's music.  For anyone else who may be interested, John D. and I decided to post this lesson free as a promo a while back, and it remains free to this day.  If you have only ever learned from TAB, I would encourage you to give it a try and see if you are comfortable learning a song via listening and hearing it talked through in detail.  See what you think.
All best,
Johnm

[Wayne]

I've never really learned from TAB...I'm very slow at reading it, and get fed up with doing it...I find I learn best by listening and watching...  I  get a lot out of just watching someone like John Lee Hooker or Bukka White play. I find it very inspiring just to see their hands move..to see how all those sounds are generated.

I'm not really a guitar player, I love playing guitar around the house and I play guitar when I go out busking with my son....my wife just got me a Fender FR50 Dobro...arrived home with it one night....it's got pretty awful reviews, but's it's OK for me..and I could hardly say to her "Ah, Darling, thank you, but everyone who knows about these things pans this one''...(well, not  without serious personal consequences of the 'ear bending' variety anyway! )..

[Slack]

Bump...

Just so folks will know I've merged various lesson comments and questions into one topic.

Thanks,
slack

[Slack]

Identifying Spanish Tuning and A Position in Standard Tuning

The long awaited 3rd in the series of "ear training" lessons from John Miller.  Spanish tuning (or Open G) and A Standard tuning share the same pitch intervals and it is often very difficult to tell which a player is using - especially if the recording is from the 20's and 30's where playing at concert pitch is the exception and not the rule.  John runs through the common I, IV, V chord shapes, the uncommon I, IV, V shapes, typical runs, turnarounds and distinguishing techniques and characteristics used in these two tunings - all the while relating the techniques and positions to familiar Country Blues songs.   

Pump up that ear - another outstanding lesson from John Miller!

The new lesson is located on the Main Menu link: "Country Blues Lessons".

Lesson Link

Paypal Link

[Easy Rider]

How does one get the password, to open these lessons?