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?

[Johnm]

Hi Easy Rider,
You get the password to the lesson when you buy the lesson.  I receive notification that a deposit has been made to my Paypal account, at which point I e-mail you the lesson access code.
All best,
Johnm

[LusciousLucy]

Hi there,

I'm located in Germany and glad I found this list!

I just received John Miller's "Guitar of Robert Wilkins"-video which is really awesome! Thank you John: you are the guitar teacher I've always wanted to have! And by coincidence I even found an old nice record by you in my father's vinyl collection which he must have bought a long time, hehe.

Regarding the video, I was only a little disappointed that there was no time left for a in detail-discussion of my favourite Wilkins tune "Falling Down Blues" - after watching Banjochris' brilliant(!) rendition of that song on Youtube, I immediately bought the Miller-tape especially to learn this particular song. Even though it does bear similarities with "I'll go with her," I believe there to be subtle, but nonetheless crucial differences..

Also, I generally still seem to have problems with the correct timing -  are you guys aware of any material which could help me to improve on that?

Kind regards!
Lucy

[Johnm]

Hi Lucy,
I'm glad you are enjoying the Wilkins instructional DVD, and I agree, Chris does a really nice job on "Falling Down Blues". 
With regard to timing difficulties, I would suggest listening a lot (I mean ALL THE TIME) to the original performance of whatever tune you would like to learn, so that "what sounds right" to you is in fact, right.  Another thing to remember in playing Robert Wilkins songs is that he never swung his eighth notes, so there is never an underlying triplet feel to his music as there is most modern blues; the shuffle feel is altogether absent from Robert Wilkins's music.  The fact that Wilkins always played straight eighth notes can give his syncopations an almost jerky sound that is practically never encountered in present day music.  Think of the signature lick in "I'll Go With Her"; it is a perfect illustration of that distinctive rhythmic feel of Robert Wilkins.
Best of luck figuring out more of Robert Wilkins songs and welcome to Weenie Campbell!
All best,
Johnm 

[LusciousLucy]

Dear John Miller,

Thank you very kindly for your reply and the valuable hints,
appreciate it a lot!

I just realized that my difficulties in getting the timing right
may indeed have their cause in the unusual lack of "triple-feel"  in
Wilkins' tunes.

Will keep on trying

Shine on,
Lucy

 

[Slack]

I'm pleased to announce a new John Miller Country Blues Lesson - Luke Jordan's "Won't You Be Kind?"  here is John's summary of the lesson:

"Won't You Be Kind?" was Luke Jordan's only tune recorded in A in standard tuning.  It combines a great melody and clever, uptown sort of "Keep It Clean" lyrics with a nifty accompaniment and a sneaky Latin rhythm in the solos of a type that is very unusual in the Country Blues.  "Won't You Be Kind?" definitely qualifies as a neglected gem.

John goes into more detail, along with transcribing the lyrics, in a thread posted yesterday:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=4558.msg33369#msg33369

Click on the left side bar "Blues Lessons" link for the lesson.  If you don't have the tune, I'll be posting a sample mp3, after I dig it out, later today.

Thanks!
Slack

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've just completed a new lesson for the Weenie Site on Gabriel Brown's great 8-bar blues in dropped-D, "Going My Way".  If you are interested in the tune, you can go either to:  http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=428&Itemid=118, or click on Blues Lessons in the Main Menu on the left of your page.  Thanks to John D. for putting the lesson up, and I hope you'll enjoy the song.  It's a great one.
All best,
Johnm

[ArthurBlake]

Hi John, glad to find somewhere to thank you for your latest dvd's, Jackson, Texas and  Atlanta blues guitar and they are great, there's so much there I have to prioritise there, but I enjoy them a lot. I was really surprised at the Jackson dvd, I find myself going to that one a lot. I first discovered you when I saw a VCR tape of your Bo Carter lessons, I paid for it immediiately and loved it, as I love his music. Unfortunaly, as it was a tape, it snapped so I don't have it now. Cant remember the songs in entirety, but I do use a fair few of the riffs and ideas from that video in songs from other players, for me, I like to improvise by mixing and matching with other CB styles, like mixing Carter, Blake and bits of Lonnie in Drop D, I find it easier to play naturally that way as its all up to me in the moment.... hell why not play some Lemon lines over Robert johnson in E. Anyway, enough of that for now. Thanks John for expanding my horizons,...... Greg from Australia.

[Johnm]

Hi Greg,
I'm glad you've enjoyed the lessons and welcome to Weenie Campbell!
All best,
Johnm

[ArthurBlake]

Hi Greg,
I'm glad you've enjoyed the lessons and welcome to Weenie Campbell!
All best,
Johnm

Yes mate you're welcome, even if I couldn't play a note I would enjoy those dvd's, and I'll have to get that Bo Carter one again as it was great. It's great to see there are still many great blues guitarists in the states, I suspect that here in Australia there are a few I don't know about as there is no work for them anyway, I try to get the country blues out there in my area, I'm lucky when I do find a big fan of the music but they are rare as hens eggs. Blues does better here if its done with electric guitars and a full band,,,,,, I think its a volume thing..... we do like it loud here. There is a bloke in Sydney, John Morris who can play virtually anything in CB,,, he's a in-high-demand teacher in Sydney, but he really can teach. I am very happy to join weenie campbell and converse with peers like yourself, thank you for all that dedication to the music, hey, do you have a king solomon hill on the way, I wouldn't be surprised. I may ask a few questions to you down the line, great to meet you.

[Westside]

Quick question about the audio lessons... Do they come with tabs?

Thanks much!

[Johnm]

Hi Ryan,
The lessons do not come with TABs.  In the early days of Weenie, a bunch of the folks involved wanted me to do lessons the way I do them at music camps, which does not involve the use of TAB.  I do talk the the tunes in detail, though.  Speaking only from my own experience, I learn and retain music much better that I've learned by ear, but that having been said, folks have their preferred learning styles.  I offer a ton of lessons with TAB at my website, www.johnmillerguitar.com in the teaching section.
All best,
Johnm

[Westside]

Thanks for the quick response!  I will give one a whirl.  I have checked out your site and will make some purchases when I have a little more money to play with.  I am going to have to get your lesson for Geeshie Wile's "Last Kind Words Blues" for sure (among others) as I love that song.  Do you have any plans to do more DVDs along the lines of the regional ones you've done for Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop?  I have a few of them and think they are great!  I love the fact that you put a few semi obscure gems on each DVD!

[Johnm]

Hi Ryan,
I'm glad you've enjoyed the regional lessons I did for Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop.  I don't have any others in the works at this time, but there are a couple in the pipeline you may find interesting when they are released.
   * The Legendary Country Blues Duets--Frank Basile and I joined forces to present a number of great duets with Frank taking and teaching one of the parts and me doing the other.
   * Country Blues in Spanish and Vestapol tunings--This will be a 2-DVD set with one disc devoted to songs done in each of the tunings.
   * Country Blues Musicianship--This will be another 2-disc set focusing on building skills in recognizing different blues forms and knowing where they're going to go, playing rhythm and other skills pertinent to knowing how to join in meaningfully when blues are being played.
All best,
Johnm

[Rivers]

Very good ideas there, looking forward to them.

[Bill Roggensack]

John - you are a blues machine!


Sent from Mr. Page's iPhone using Tapatalk

[frailer24]

Very interested in the duet lesson. Will there be any Frank Stokes numbers on that?

[Johnm]

Yes, Frank and I will be teaching "What's The Matter Blues".
All best,
Johnm

[frailer24]

Yes! Extremely excited. :-D

[dunplaying]

I will add a good word for "Country Blues Guitar Collection".
A wonderful selection of songs. I hope there will be a second volume in the not too distant future.