Shake That Think (Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop Audio) [Paperback]

I've been meaning to write a review of "Shake That Thing" and "Avalon Blues" for a few months now. I found them at Colony Music in Times Square, NYC. If you are interested in playing the music of Mississippi John Hurt, I don't believe you will find any better instruction than Stefan Grossman's.

He breaks down the songs musical phrase by musical phrase at a very slow tempo. His instruction is very clear and easy to follow. In the beginning, I had a little trouble getting used to playing an F chord by hooking my thumb around the neck of the guitar but it's an important skill to learn. With consistent practicing, I am now playing five songs very smoothly (although not quite up to MJH's tempo yet, but with a steady rhythm and competence!).

I bought this book in July along with Grossman's other book "Avalon Blues" (this is another Mississippi John Hurt book). There is a wealth of things to learn in both books. The material is presented in both standard notation and guitar tablature. Most of the M.J.H. songs are in standard tuning but there are a few that are in alternate tunings which I haven't tried yet (an excuse to buy that 2nd guitar!). Some songs require a capo ("Candy Man" is one of those songs...it's in the "Avalon Blues" book).

Anyway, the bottom line is if you enjoy fingerpicking, you will have a blast with these books. I was only playing (strumming) guitar for 1 1/2 years when I decided to try my hand at this type of music and after a few months, I'm actually playing it!

If you practice regularly, you'll be playing these songs in no time and you can build up an excellent repertoire that people will enjoy for years to come. So far I can play "Louis Collins", "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me" and "I'm Satisfied" from this book. I can also play "Sliding Delta" and "Coffee Blues" from the Avalon Blues book.

Both books come with CDs that contain the original 1928 MJH recordings of the songs as well as the 1960s recordings made when Hurt was "rediscovered". Grossman includes some additional recorded versions by other Bluesmen (Rev. Gary Davis, Mance Lipscomb).

Grossman doesn't always tab out the entire song, but you get enough info to go back to the original recordings so you can figure out what to do and try to play along. I'm sure when MJH played the songs, he never played them the same way twice. That being said, Grossman also gives minor variations on how you can play some phrases. I also enjoy the extra background info that he gives. For example, in the song "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me" he talks a little bit about white songster Jimmie Rodgers and how a trademark Jimmie Rodgers lick keeps appearing in this song. It's a cool sounding lick. I recently taught it to a friend who's been playing guitar for years!

This is really an excellent book for anyone who wants to sharpen their fingerpicking skills. It's not for the absolute beginner. You should be able to play a clean barre chord and have sufficient dexterity in your fretting fingers to play over four frets when needed (I hope that sounds intelligible). It will help too if you're not a slave to looking at your fretting hand while playing. All of this comes with time and practice. I don't see why a beginner can't be playing from this book fairly quickly as long as they have determination and a willingness to practice consistently. The fingers will learn to cooperate eventually. I speak from experience.

There's just something about this music that makes it very accessible, even to someone like me. When you listen to the original recordings, it sometimes sounds as if there's more than one guitar playing. As I was learning the songs, I was surprised at how simple and "bare-bones" the music was. This simplicity is what makes the songs of MJH sound so enchanting. The songs are not difficult to learn at all, the way Grossman teaches them. Some are easier to learn than others. This only increases your motivation to keep on learning more songs!

Me? I'm just a middle aged white woman who's used to playing Bach and Beethoven on the piano. Practicing classical music can be a slow and torturous process (for me and anyone who is stuck within hearing range of me). Being able to sit down and fingerpick these Mississippi John Hurt gems is so much fun! And my family doesn't even mind when I play them. These two books "Shake That Thing" and "Avalon Blues" have opened an entire new world of music for me.

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").

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!