Stefan
Grossman
A Retrospective
1971–1995
Stefan Grossman
A Retrospective 1971-1995
Stefan with Charlotte and Sarah
In a sense, we have his father’s aversion to the saxophone
to thank for Stefan Grossman’s lifelong engagement with the
acoustic guitar. It entered his life as his brother Karl, three
years Stefan’s senior, took up the saxophone. After a few
squawk-filled weeks, Herbert Grossman wasn’t happy. “He
would have him practice in the closet because it was too
loud,” Stefan recalls. Like all kid brothers, Stefan wanted to
imitate Karl, but wasn’t keen on practicing in a closet. A
quieter instrument – a guitar, for instance – would be less
grating on paternal nerves. “My father got a guitar from a
Goodwill Shop,“ Stefan recalls, “an old Epiphone.” The year
was 1954. Stefan Grossman was nine.
Forty-two years later, Stefan’s name has become synonymous with most aspects of the acoustic guitar experience.
He’s a performer in varied styles who has always been passionately engaged in teaching. In the thirty years since his
How to Play Blues Guitar appeared on vinyl, Stefan has used all
available media—books, cassettes, Lps, CDs, videos—in disseminating information to guitarists of all levels. “That’s
what life is all about,” he says, “getting information.” Along
with playing and teaching, he has been active in recording
and championing a host of gifted guitarists worldwide. And
his role as archivist of phenomenal filmed and videotaped
guitar performances is evident in his Vestapol Video series
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and Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop. Stefan’s tireless
engagement with a range of guitar-related enterprises and
explorations has taken him a long way from the Brooklyn
Goodwill shop which supplied his first instrument. And the
world of guitar lovers is a far richer place for his father’s
aversion to saxophones.
Stefan was born April 16, 1945 to Herbert and Ruth
Grossman. (He and a sax-playing cousin, Steve Grossman,
who once worked with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, were
both named for the same grandmother, Stephanie.) He was
born in Brooklyn but raised in Queens, New York in an
environment he describes as “middle-middle-class” in a
family which valued education and the arts. For a brief time,
he tried to accompany Karl playing what he calls “1940s
oldies but goodies.” But he soon chafed at the songs of his
parents’ era and the formality of reading pop chestnuts from
staff notation. “I was learning proper music notation from
books,“ he recalls, “which is rather dry. To a kid of 10 or 11,
learning how to play `Autumn Leaves’ doesn’t mean anything.”
Playing three-walled handball, however, was another
matter entirely. For nearly four years, Stefan neglected the
guitar while attending the all-male Brooklyn Technical High
School. Then, as he turned 15, the guitar once more raised its
voice. “I started to play guitar again,” Stefan recalls, “first
because it was the thing for a social event – you’d go to a party
and play a guitar and meet girls – and, second, because I really
liked the guitar.” It was during this time Stefan happened
onto the Washington Square Park `hoots’ which were in full
cry in 1960. They provided Stefan his initial connection with
the burgeoning folk revival. At the same time, his curiosity
about the music’s sources was piqued. “I’d got some old-time
country records as well as recordings by Woody Guthrie and
Big Bill Broonzy on the suggestion of my brother,” he recalls.
“My parents thought the old-time music was very strange.
They said it had been heavily sponsored in the 1920s and
1930s by Henry Ford, meaning that it was very right-wing
music, and my parents were very leftist. The Woody Guthrie
and Big Bill Broonzy music were politically alright for them.
The politics meant nothing whatever to me but the music
really moved me.” Stefan's preference was for Broonzy’s
recordings. “I liked the sound of instruments,” he says. “I was
struck by Broonzy’s rhythmic, driving, phenomenal guitar. It
3
1961 on the stairs outside Rev. Davis's home. Photo by David Gahr
was always the black
musicians that interested me most.” And
the one who had the
most profound impact on him was
about to enter his
life.
“I started going
out with some girls
from Brooklyn College,” Stefan recalls,
“and one of their
friends, Bob Fox,
said, `You should go
see the Rev. Gary
Davis,’ and I didn’t
even know who Rev.
Gary Davis was – I
had no idea. That
same week I went to
the Folklore Center
on Bleecker Street
and Jack Prelutsky
was there playing a
tune, ‘I Belong to the
Band.’
I
said,
`What’s that?’ He said, `That’s a Gary Davis piece.’ I said,
`Oh,’ and things clicked. Someone had just told me to see
Gary Davis and there was this piece I liked.”
Stefan got Davis’s address on Park Avenue in the Bronx
and casually informed his parents he was going there for
lessons. “My father was really scared because of this little
white kid, this white Jewish kid afoot in the worst crime area
in the whole of America,” Stefan recalls. “My Dad drove me
there for that first lesson on the pretense that he wanted to
buy shoes at a shop nearby! Once you got to the address you
had to go down an alleyway to a little tenement shack at the
back which was Rev. Davis's home. You could see rats dancing in the shadows. I knocked on the door and this man
opened up and said, `You bring your money, honey?’ One eye
was totally missing and the other was bulbous with a cataract.
He didn’t have his glasses on, he just had his long johns on.”
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Despite this off-putting introduction, Stefan remembers
feeling “totally charmed” by Rev. Davis. “I mean, he was an
incredible genius as a teacher,” he says. “He was great if you
were a good student. Musically, we really hit it. Emotionally,
I’d never had met my grandfathers as they died before I was
born and Rev. Davis very much substituted for them. I went
out there every Saturday, also every Friday, Sunday, and
every school holiday that I could. I’d stay up there for 12
hours at a time. Rev. Davis was a patient, exacting teacher. He
would go over everything and help you with the accenting,
the notes and variations. Man, he was always practicing! He
always said he wanted to keep one or two steps ahead of his
students, and he always did.”
While learning all he could of Davis’s vast repertoire of
secular and sacred tunes, Stefan continued to hang out where
he had first heard a Davis tune, the Folklore Center, warmly
remembered as “a place where you could always get together
and pick. You’d go down there and see Bob Dylan and Doc
Watson just sitting and casually playing music. It was a great
atmosphere to get started in music.” Then, too, there was
Washington Square, where, Stefan recalls, “Everything was
happening on Saturdays. After the park closed, you’d go to
one of the kid’s houses in Brooklyn to pick. You’d meet
people, some of them bluegrass people, some blues and
ragtime people...we got to be friends and would play.” With
his friends Steve Katz and Eric Kaz, Stefan played blues as the
short-lived Gramercy Park Sheiks. He continued his tutelage
from Rev. Davis, who, by 1962 had upgraded his digs with a
color TV (won in a church raffle) and a `No Smoking’ sign
visible through the omnipresent White Owl cigar haze. Stefan
The Even Dozen Jug Band at Carnegie Hall, 1963
5
was also absorbing more vintage roots music via 78 collectors. “They were very hip to turn you on to music,” says
Stefan. “It would take six months, but they would gently lead
you from the Memphis Jug Band to Charley Patton.” The
infectiously funky jug band sound was naturally appealing to
the Washington Square ‘hoot’ crowd. 1963 was the year in
which the Rooftop Singers scored a number one hit with an
update of Cannon’s Jug Stompers 1929 waxing, “Walk Right
In.” Stefan’s stab at jug band stardom came as an organizer of
the Even Dozen Jug Band, a loose ensemble which at times
had as many as fourteen members, among them John Sebastian
(“an incredible harmonica player,” says Stefan), Steve Katz,
Peter Siegel, David Grisman, Joshua Rifkin, and Maria
Muldaur. A scaled-down incarnation of the group made one
album (Even Dozen Jug Band, Elektra EKS 724, 1964), but
wrangling over its direction, coupled with college schedules,
made it a short-lived burst of youthful energy.
During this time Stefan was attending Cooper Union
Architectural School, though his aims weren’t entirely academic. “I was going to school basically to get meet girls,” he
recalls, “and to stay out of the draft, like thousands of other
people.” While achieving those goals, Stefan witnessed the
astonishing appearance of blues rediscoveries — Mississippi
John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, Bukka White — men
known from rare 78s seemingly rescued from a time warp. He
learned from them all and kept company with like-minded
Photo by Herbert Grossman, 1965
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Stefan, Steve Katz & Ry Cooder, at the Ash Grove, LA, 1964
contemporaries, both in New York and Washington, D.C.,
where he acquired his ‘Kid Future’ nickname (from being
able to play Willie Brown's arrangement of ‘Future Blues’).
Later in California, he encountered John Fahey, Ry Cooder
and Steve Mann. “If you could play guitar,” says Stefan, “you
were accepted anywhere. I found that out. The first time I
went to California and met all the good pickers there, I started
playing the classic rags and fiddle tunes with counterpoint.
As soon as they heard those arrangements I would have a
place to sleep that night.”
In 1965, Stefan and former girlfriend Rory Block (aka
Sunshine Kate) delivered How to Play Blues Guitar to Elektra.
Along with the music, Stefan supplied tablature and notes
about blues musicians for the booklet. This pioneering instructional recording led to an acoustic band venture on the
West Coast with Janis Joplin, Taj Mahal, and Steve Mann
which, due to contractual conflicts, never got beyond the
rehearsal stage. Back in New York, Stefan spent a miserable
four months (September-December 1966) playing electric
guitar with the legendary shock-rock band, the Fugs. (Stefan
got the gig when head Fug Ed Sanders asked, “Are you
crazy?” and he replied in the affirmative). Early in 1967,
Stefan found more convivial company playing in the rock
group Chicago Loop. Mike Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg
were good friends of the group and after four months, they
told him: “You’re a fantastic and unique acoustic guitar
player and you should stick to that.” Jobless, Stefan said to
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himself: “I’ve been kicked out of school; I’m out of the draft.
(With some difficulty, he got a 4F deferment). I’m going to
Europe.” Before leaving, Stefan finished three books for Oak
Publications, Country Blues Guitar, Delta Blues Guitar and
Contemporary Ragtime Guitar. With detailed tablature, lyrics, and commentary on the musicians, these books were
landmarks in their field. “Grossman’s books were unique,”
wrote Dale Miller nearly three decades later. “The concepts
and scope of his vision were much more ambitious than other
one-shot method books, and his tablature, though idiosyncratic, was extremely accurate. In addition, he explained how
to capture the tone of the original work, advising that to play
a Gary Davis tune one should wear a thumbpick and
fingerpicks on two fingers just like Davis, to play a Mississippi John Hurt tune one should use the bare thumb and two
bare fingers just like Hurt...and so on.”
In June 1967, Stefan arrived in England with a list of
contacts provided by his friend, Marc Silber. “Just after I got
to London I went up to the Cambridge Folk Festival and I
faced a big dilemma whether to enter a folk contest as an
amateur or not,” Stefan recalls. “I was an amateur but they
said I was too good an amateur. I met the High Level Ranters
at the festival and I went up to Northumberland and I hung
Sam Mitchell, Mike Cooper & Stefan, London 1975
8
out there. One of the big shocks of coming to England is that
everyone sings a lot, and it doesn’t make any difference, good
voice or bad voice. So I did start to sing, and I went through
a phase of writing songs because everyone else was going
through it, and then suddenly I found myself in what I do
best, which is to play the guitar with the occasional song. But
I play the guitar best, whether it’s my own or other people’s
compositions.”
Stefan found a ‘parallel universe’ of sorts to the American
folk revival thriving in England. “The Young Tradition were
friends of Marc Silber,” Stefan recalls, “and they were living
in the same house as John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. They
were really open-armed. I arrived when there was a real
vacuum and people were thirsty for a new sound and I had
it....I just had this capacity to be able to play all these fancy
ragtime tunes and other stuff – Mance Lipscomb, Skip James,
Fred McDowell, Rev. Davis, Son House – you name it, every
black musician, I could play their styles to a T because I’d
study it like a college professor and could play it...”
Folk Roots editor Ian Anderson remembers Stefan’s arrival on the British folk scene as akin to that of an aggressive
Yank storming a beachhead: “He didn’t, to be blunt, set out in
entirely the best fashion, “Anderson writes, “trumpeting his
arrival here with a Melody Maker interview which, basically,
said that whilst these British guitar chappies of the Jansch/
Renbourn ilk were jolly talented, they couldn’t play ‘real’
blues. Thus he had come here to show us a trick or two.”
Show `em Stefan did, and his performances on the British folk
club circuit led to a recording contract with Fontana, then one
of Britain’s leading folk labels. His debut album, Aunt Molly
Murray’s Farm, rated a `record of the month’ kudo from
Melody Maker in 1969, and his follow-up, Gramercy Park
Sheik, appeared later the same year. The success of these
recordings cemented Stefan’s expatriate status and made him
a unique fixture of the British and European folk scene. Robin
Denselow, writing in The Electric Muse: The Story of Folk
into Rock, writes that Stefan “carried out the ideals and
promise of the folk blues revival with greater success than
anyone else...What Stefan achieved with the blues is a musical ideal that other folk musicians, working in different fields,
might have followed if they’d had the skill or the
imagination...He’s written everything from children’s songs
to bleak, surreal ballads, and a whole variety of instrumen9
Mike Bloomfield & Stefan, Bologna, Italy 1984
tals. He moves from the traditional to the experimental, and
back again, in a way that British traditionalists, with only one
or two exceptions, find quite unthinkable.” While absorbing
traces of a British musical accent via contact with Jansch,
Renbourn, and Eric Clapton (who he had toured with while
playing with the Chicago Loop) , whom he credits with
teaching him the vibrato technique, Stefan found himself
sought after by Paul Simon. “I didn’t even know who Paul
Simon was,” he recalls, “though of course I’d heard Simon
and Garfunkel – this was 1969, and they were at their peak.
Anyway, Paul was about to leave Art and was thinking about
forming a band. He got in touch with me in October, and in
December I met him in New York – he was staying in a house
which belonged to Segovia’s former mistress. Paul gave up
on the band idea, but over the next year we recorded four
times together. ‘Paranoia Blues’ appears on his first solo
album with me playing slide guitar.”
Ever restless, Stefan moved to Rome in 1969, continuing
to tour not only the Great Britain but the rest of Europe as
well. Stefan’s impact on European guitarists in the late 1960s
was prodigious: “To this day the woods of Europe are full of
Stefan’s heirs,” says Dave Van Ronk. But Stefan’s love for
instruction and the `cause’ of exceptional acoustic guitarists
was about to lead him to forums beyond concert halls and folk
clubs.
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In the early 1970s, responding to many requests, Stefan’s
parents began marketing a series of their son’s audio instruction tapes in the U.S. This was the onset of Stefan Grossman’s
Guitar Workshop. At the same time, Stefan was seeking
American distribution of his Transatlantic label albums.
“Transatlantic was never able to get a deal for me in America,”
Stefan recalls. “I was really frustrated because I’m an American and I knew my records could sell here.” Stefan contacted
his collector friend Nick Perls, who reissued the Yazoo blues
series, but Perls wasn’t interested. John Fahey at Takoma
didn’t even reply to Stefan’s query. Finally, ED Denson,
Fahey’s Takoma label cofounder, expressed an interest in
Stefan’s work and they jointly founded the Kicking Mule
label, Denson manning the American operation and Stefan
holding forth in Europe. “All during the years my instructional books had kept going,” Stefan recalls. “My parents had
run that operation and had amassed a large mailing list and
that was the first 3000 names that we used for Kicking Mule.
So there was a lot of mailorder and we started to sell in stores
and we started to have some success.”
Though Kicking Mule’s initial raison d’etre was American
distribution of an ambitious expatriate’s recordings, it quickly
became a haven for a wide range of talented guitarists who
might otherwise have gone unrecorded. (Not all Kicking
Mule acts were guitarists — Stefan vows the label’s finest
album and the first released was by banjoist Art Rosenbaum.)
For Stefan, his isolation in Italy was a further catalyst for
producing records of other guitarists: “I would go to the
record store in Rome and there was no record there that I
could learn from,” he says. For a man to whom “getting
information is what life’s all about,” this was untenable. If the
records weren’t there, Stefan would set about producing
them.
Thus began a decade of recordings with a dual musicalinstructional focus. While anyone could enjoy the music, the
Kicking Mule Lp packages included booklets with tablature
from which aspiring guitarists could glean knowledge and
attempt to replicate the recording. The Kicking Mule stable of
artists included several exponents of guitar adaptations of
‘classic’ piano rags (Dave Laibman, Ton Van Bergeyk), Celtic
revivalists (Dave Evans), leading lights of British folk guitar
(John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham), and artists
who adroitly wandered the stylistic map (Duck Baker, Peter
11
The Assassination of John Fahey & Stefan Grossman, 1986.
Finger and Leo Wijnkamp Jr.). The guitarists were an international cast – English, American, Dutch, German, Welsh – who
evinced individuality while sharing a common love of the
acoustic guitar, usually steel strung and played solo. “Stefan
was the focal point for bringing together a whole lot of
musicians – guitar players primarily – and giving them a
chance to interact with each other,” says Duck Baker.
Extensive interaction took place on the Kicking Mule
tours Stefan organized for his label’s acts. It was an exciting
time, says Stefan, of “cross-fertilization. We all learned from
each other...” European wunderkinds like Leo Wijnkamp Jr.
and veterans like Dave Van Ronk could be seen and heard
together picking guitar rags in a way which bespoke a
continuity of tradition.
Like almost every renaissance, that of the fingerstyle
guitar celebrated by Kicking Mule was short-lived. By 1983,
Stefan and Denson were undergoing a “friendly divorce”
effectively dissolving Kicking Mule as a haven for acoustic
guitarists. “We’re very good friends still,” says Stefan, “but
ED got involved in doing other types of music, not guitar
music, which did not interest me at all....” In the late 1970s,
Stefan toured and recorded extensively with John Renbourn,
with whom he had first recorded in 1976 for Kicking Mule.
New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden praised their “exceptional rapport...matched by their understated virtuosity.”
Of his duets with Renbourn, Stefan said simply, “It works
well because we’re friends, and because we really work on it.”
By the mid-1980s, Stefan had been working on the road
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for nearly two decades and was weary. Sidelined by a herniated disc, Stefan, based again in Rome, Italy, took stock of his
life and decided it was time to come home especially as
Shanachie Records had made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
He had been back frequently to perform, but he returned to
live in the States in 1987, 20 years since departing at age 22.
His work at Shanachie Records involved CD reissues of
the Yazoo catalogue, Shanachie’s acclaimed Guitar Artistry
series, which incorporated some Kicking Mule material, and
the vintage performance videos which were precursors of
Stefan’s current Vestapol Video line. “When I hear him describe the lengths he has to go to get this stuff,” Duck Baker
once remarked of Stefan’s film footage sleuthing, “I realize
that if anybody else but Stefan was doing it, it just wouldn’t
happen.”
After five years at Shanachie, Stefan left to devote himself full-time to the varied enterprises presently occurring
under the umbrella of Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop.
These include production of learning materials in all media
– print, audio, and video. Aside from instructional books,
cassettes and videos by Stefan and a host of other fine guitarists, there are the acclaimed Vestapol Videos of vintage and
contemporary blues, jazz, folk, and country guitar performances. All this activity leaves Stefan precious little time for
performances, though he professes not to miss them. He still
does the occasional gig and recording (Pepsi called him for a
commercial last year), but Stefan, the product of what he calls
John Renbourn & Stefan, 1987 Photo by Jo Ayres
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“a typical Jewish family, believing that the mind is very
sacred and very holy,” believes what he’s doing through his
Workshop is of far greater importance. Besides, he had two
decades of performing under his belt before the latest phase
of his career began. Now Stefan’s doing for other guitarists
what Rev. Gary Davis did for him, only one needn’t brave a
Bronx tenement for his instruction. Nothing more formidable
than a VCR is required.
Thirty years have passed since How to Play Blues Guitar
pointed the way towards a lifetime of passionate involvement with the preservation and perpetuation of guitar
music, to paraphrase Malcom X, “by any means necessary.”
Those who know Stefan unanimously vouch for his tenacity
and intensity, qualities which have served him well in his
single-minded pursuit of sounds as exciting as those emitted
by Big Bill Broonzy’s “rhythmic, driving, phenomenal guitar,” a sound he first encountered when Eisenhower was
President and Stefan’s English counterparts were banging
away in skiffle bands. The world has much changed since
then, but one suspects Stefan’s drive to get at the sounds he
wants and share them with the like-minded has not. It’s a rare
knack, but then some guys will go to extraordinary lengths to
avoid being locked in a closet with a saxophone.
Stefan, Bert Jansch & Ralph McTell, Denmark, 1979
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The Performances
This retrospective of Stefan’s career begins with two
performances from Denmark in 1971. “Roll & Tumble Blues”
is the archetypal Delta bottleneck blues first recorded by
Hambone Willie Newbern in 1929. Robert Johnson revamped
it in 1936 as “If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day,” and in
1950 “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ Pt. 1 & 2” became Muddy Waters’
final release on the Aristocrat label prior to its rechristening
as Chess. Stefan’s performance of this Spanish tuning (open
G) showpiece with a jagged bottleneck suggests his direct
approach to the sometimes arcane business of wresting the
necks from wine bottles. For him, a solid whack at a curbside
with an empty gave him what he wanted. “I remember in
Denver I was almost arrested one night in the back alley of the
Folklore Center breaking bottles,” he recalls, “and I couldn’t
explain to the policeman that what I was doing was a valid
exercise!”
“High Society” is an archetype of another sort. Based on
Snooks Eaglin’s Folkways recording, this spritely guitar showpiece likely dates to the turn of the century, when guitars
were just becoming widely popular folk instruments and
piano ragtime was still in vogue. Just as a ragtime pianist
might imitate the sundry sections of a band, a guitarist,
setting out from the favorite ragtime key, C, might readily
recreate a pianistic imitation of the brass bands which were
then a fixture of American public life and thus enjoyed by
society both high and low.
The next five performances occurred in Sweden in 1972.
“Shake Sugaree” comes from the repertoire of Elizabeth
Cotten. Cotten’s music came from a time and place when
blues was emerging but ragtime was still prevalent. What she
recalled from her childhood was a piquant blend. “Shake
Sugaree,” like all her work, is sure but seldom showy. The
fancy picking Stefan adds towards the tune’s end suggests
other Southeastern guitarists more than Cotten.
“God Moves On the Water” is a Vestapol (open D) tuning
bottleneck tour de force taken from the 1929 recording of the
great guitar evangelist, Blind Willie Johnson. The song concerns the sinking of the Titanic, a theme used in several folk
songs to illustrate God’s punishment for man’s hubris. Mance
Lipscomb’s version, also based on Johnson’s, appears in Texas
Blues Guitar (Vestapol 13041).
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Stefan & Ry Cooder, Los Angeles 1964
“Dallas Rag” comes from the Dallas String Band by way
of Dave Laibman, from whom Stefan learned this jaw-dropping arrangement. He remembers this as the ragtime showpiece which separated the men from the boys in the fraternity
of early 1960s New York fingerstyle hot-shots.
“Friends Forever” is an original which almost – a few
chord progressions excepted – sounds traditional. “Lena
Anne” is another original which shows the impact his contact
with English guitarists, especially Bert Jansch, had on Stefan’s
compositions.
The next two performances were made in England in
1974. “Hot Dogs” is Blind Lemon Jefferson’s rather uncharacteristic contribution to the ragtime guitar idiom mixed with
Rev. Gary Davis’s “Cincinnati Flow Rag” and some of Stefan’s
own ragtime touches.
“Memphis Jelly Roll” is an original Spanish tuning slide
workout which pits a Stella 12-string against a blues format
incorporating some unconventional (by strict blue standards)
chord changes.
The next two performances are from Italy, 1977. This was
near the apex of the Kicking Mule era, when a lot of fresh
ideas and players were challenging young veterans like
Stefan. “Bermuda Triangle Exit” is a logical result, a bluesbased tune with some wry, whimsical twists which likely
wouldn’t have seemed `right’ to Stefan a decade prior. But
they were perfect for that moment in 1977.
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“Danish Drone” epitomizes the best of the Kicking Mule
stylistic symbiosis as Stefan is joined by Duck Baker in a fiery
foray through fingerstyle funk. It was a heady hour for
acoustic guitar adventurers.
The next half dozen performances come from a 1982
American concert. If the previous Italian outings show Stefan
pushing his generic envelope, here he returns to his roots.
“Satisfied” is from the repertoire of Mississippi John Hurt,
whom Stefan recalls as “the ideal elderly person...he came in
gently, he left gently.” Hurt’s apparent innocence belied the
risque edge of songs like this.
“Mississippi Blues” was learned from a Library of Congress recording by Willie Brown. “It’s the first time you really
hear a blues guitar player doing a piano transcription,” says
Stefan. “He does a Leroy Carr type of piano lick on that tune.
It was a very sophisticated approach for 1942.” We also hear
Stefan quote Robert Johnson following his mention of 1930s
guitar players.
“Cocaine Blues” learned from Gary Davis, was one of
several songs on the topic which probably date from the turn
of the century, when cocaine was readily ingested via patent
medicine nostrums. The reference to the doping of race horses
also occurs in Leadbelly’s “Take a Whiff On Me.” Davis
learned this song in 1905, the year prior to the elimination,
thanks to the Pure Food and Drug Act, of cocaine from its
namesake, Coca-Cola.
The sweetly melancholy “Pretty Girl Milking a Cow” is a
piece Stefan has introduced on stage as “a stunning melody
and a title quite absurd.” It was composed by the 18th century
Irish harpist, Turlough O’Carolan. Stefan learned it from the
playing of Duck Baker.
“Tightrope” is as musically ambitious as any of the original compositions in this collection. Stefan’s impressionistic
evocation of a Herculean hangover turns fresh stones but is,
like most of his music, deeply rooted in the blues. Astute ears
will even notice passing quotes from the blues guitarist Stefan calls “the governor,” Lonnie Johnson.
“Vestapol/That’s No Way to Get Along”is an ebullient
train trip on the open D express. `Vestapol’ is a corruption of
Sebastapol, the siege of which during the Napoleonic Wars
was celebrated in a 19th century guitar piece in open D. The
open tunings used extensively by early 20th century blues
guitarists seem to have come from popular `parlor guitar’
17
Herbert & Stefan Grossman
pieces of the previous century. “That’s No Way to Get Along”
is the Robert Wilkins blues later revamped as “The Prodigal
Son.”
The final two entries in this video retrospective return to
Sweden in 1988. There we find Stefan in the company of John
Renbourn, with whom he had then been performing for the
better part of a decade. “Spirit Levels” is a chunky, funky duet
which New York Times reviewer Robert Palmer called “a
lovely, jazz-tinged ballad...with subtle string bending and
delicate embroidery...” As an exception to the rule, Stefan
does his stitching here with a flatpick. He says this staple of
Grossman-Renbourn performances was “different every time.
We were always improvising.”
The closing duet selection, “Looper’s Corner,” is a light
chaser of a tune which refers back to the ragtime roots shared
variously by Stefan and John. No matter where their music
took them, they always brought along sweetly accessible
souvenirs from home.
The last two tracks come from a 1995 performance at the
Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, California. Stefan combined
two night of concerts with daytime recording sessions with
John Fahey and Pat Donohue.
— Mark Humphrey
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Photo by Herbert Grossman
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Discography & Bibliography
The following compact discs, books and videos are all
available. Detailed information regarding them can be obtained by writing Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, PO
Box 802, Sparta, NJ 07871.
Compact Discs
Love Devils & The Blues (Shanachie 97001)
Guitar Landscapes (Shanachie 97010)
Yazoo Basin Boogie (Shanachie 97013)
Shining Shadows (Shanachie 97020)
How To Play Blues Guitar (Shanachie 98001)
Black Melodies On A Clear Afternoon (Shanachie 98011)
Instructional Videos
Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques (GW 901)
Bottleneck Blues Guitar (GW 902)
How To Play Blues Guitar (GW 903)
Country Blues Guitar Part One (GW 904)
Country Blues Guitar Part Two (GW 905)
Country Blues Guitar Part Three (GW 906)
Hot Fingerpicking Guitar Solos (GW 912)
More Hot Fingerpicking Guitar Solos (GW 913)
Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Blues Guitar (GW 928)
Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Ragtime Blues Guitar (GW 929)
Advanced Fingerpicking Guitar/Hot Fiddle Tunes (GW 930)
Fingerpicking Country Blues Guitar (GW 931)
Instructional Books
Masters Of Country Blues Guitar Series:
Anthology Of Country Blues Guitar
Rev. Gary Davis
Blind Boy Fuller
Lonnie Johnson
Mississippi John Hurt
Blind Blake
Complete Country Blues Guitar Book
Complete Ragtime Guitar Book
Complete Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Book
Fingerstyle Guitar/New Dimensions & Explorations
The Guitar Of John Fahey
The Classic Rags Of Scott Joplin
Complete Fingerstyle Guitar Book
Deluxe Anthology Of O'Carolan Music For Fingerstyle Guitar
Complete Fingerstyle Guitar Exercises & Hot Licks
Legends Of Country Blues Guitar
20
The Roots Of Robert Johnson
Fingerpicking Jazz Guitar Workshop
Beginner's Fingerpicking Guitar Workshop
Play Ragtime Guitar
Play Country Blues Guitar
Country Blues Songbook
The Holy Blues/Rev. Gary Davis
Anthology Of Blues Guitar:
Country Blues Guitar
Delta Blues Guitar
Ragtime Blues
Rev. Gary Davis/Blues Guitar
Texas Blues Guitar
Guitar Workshop Book Series:
Folk, Blues, Jazz & Beyond
Fingerpicking Blues Guitar Solos
Art Of Fingerstyle Guitar
Fingerpicking Guitar Solos
Classic Ragtime Guitar Solos
British Fingerpicking Guitar
Bottleneck Slide Blues Guitar
Celtic Airs, Jigs, Hornpipes & Airs
Masters Of Fingerpicking Guitar
Guitar Duets Of Stefan Grossman & John Renbourn
Fingerstyle Guitar Solos In Open Tunings
John Sebastian, Stefan & David Grisman
21
Guitars, Guitars & Guitars
by Stefan Grossman
I have been extremely fortunate to have owned and played
many great guitars. Over the years I have searched far and wide for
guitars in pawn shops, music stores, private homes, auctions and
yard-sales. Just a few years ago my wife went to a furniture auction
in Sussex County, New Jersey and found herself bidding on a dirty
old parlor-sized guitar. The bidding started at $15.00 but no one was
interested - the folks had come to buy furniture not guitars! She
ended up buying the guitar for $10.00. Once we got it clean we
discovered to our amazement that it was a Mauer made by the Larson
brothers in 1905 at their Chicago shop. There are still treasures to be
found but they are not as abundant as the 1950s or 1960s. Here's a
listing of the guitars used on this video. Some I still own while others
have gone their way and are being picked by other players:
Denmark, 1971
Roll & Tumble Blues
Martin 1956 D-28 refinished by Randy Woods
High Society - 1930 Martin OM-45
Sweden, 1972
Shake Sugaree - 1939 Gibson Advanced Jumbo
God Moves On The Water - 1920s Stella Six String
Dallas Rag, Friends Forever, Lena Anne
1939 Gibson Advanced Jumbo
England, 1974
Hot Dogs - Euphonon (Maple)
Memphis Jellyroll - 1920s Stella Twelve String
Italy, 1977
Bermuda Triangle Exit and Danish Drone
Prairie State (Rosewood)
U.S.A., 1981
Satisfied, Mississippi Blues, Cocaine Blues,
Pretty Girl Milking A Cow, Tightrope and
Medley: Vestapol/That's No Way To Get Along
Euphonon (Mahogany)
Sweden 1988
Spirit Levels and Looper's Corner
Franklin Jumbo Cutaway (Indian Rosewood)
U.S.A. 1995
Struttin’ Rag and Blues For The Mann
Franklin Jumbo (Brazilian Rosewood)
Tab/Music Transcriptions
I have included transcriptions for some of the arrangements
presented on this video. Have fun!
22
SHAKE SUGAREE
Standard Tuning
# 4 Gœ .
j
j œj œ
œ
œ
& 4
œ
œ œ
œ
j
œ œ.
œ
œ
‰ .
œ
œ œ
VERSE
‚ ‚
y
‚
y
‚‚ ¤‚‚
Ô
‚
¤
y
y
y
j œj œ
# œ.
j
œ
œ
&
œ
œ œ
œ
j
œ œ.
œ
œ
‰ œ.
œ
œ
‚ ‚ ‚
y
‚
y
Ô ‚
¤
‚ ¤‚‚
y
y
y
# C œ œ œœ
&
œ
œ œœ œœ
‚
Ô ‚
&
1H
2H
3H
‚⁄‚
¤y u ‚
# Œ
œœ
œ œ œœœ
Ô ‚
2H
œœ
Œ
œ œ œœœ
2H
œœ Ó
œœœ œ
∑
œ. œ œ
‚⁄‚
¤yu ¤
œ
‚⁄‚ ‚⁄‚
¤y u ¤yi ¤ ‚
23
œ
œ
P0
y ‚ y
Œ
œ
œœ
œœœ
Œ
œ
œœ
œœœ
‚⁄‚
‚⁄‚
y ¤y u y ¤yu
# ˙
&
œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ
J
‰ œ
j
# œ œ.
œ œ
œ
˙
œ
‚ ⁄‚ ⁄ y
‚
›
¤
‚ › ‚
Ôy ‚
y
y
# ‰ œ. œ
œj œ .
&
œ
œ
Œ
œ
‚ y ‚ ‚ y
Ô
&
G
j œj œ.
j
œ
#œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
Œ
œ
œœ
œœ
‚¤ ‚¤
y y
‚
y
#
Œ
œ
D
j j
œ œ œ.
œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
‚
‚
y
‚
¤
Ô y ‚
‚
‚ ¤‚
y
y
¤
¤
#
&
G
˙
œ
œ
j
‰ œ
œ
œ
œ
Ô ‚ ‚
y
y
y
w
œ
œ
œ
œ
y
‚
‚
‚
‚
y
y
24
#
&
j j œ.
j
œ
œ
#œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
j j
œ œ œ.
œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
‚
‚
y
‚ ¤
¤
Ô y ‚
‚
‚
‚
y
y
¤
¤
j
‰ œ
œ
œ
œ
#
&
˙
œ
œ
Ô ‚ ‚
y
y
# œ
&
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
y
w
œ
œ
œ
œ
y
‚
‚
‚
‚
y
y
œ
j
œ # œ œ œ œj
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ #œ
œ
y ‚ y ‚ y ‚ y ‚‚ y ‚
Ô ‚ ‚
‚
‚
y y
y
y
BREAK
# œ
&
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ.
œ # œ œ œ œj
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ #œ
œ
y ‚ y ‚ y ‚ y ‚‚ y
Ô ‚ ‚
‚
‚
y y
y
y
25
# C‰ # œ œ œ œ œ œ
& œ
œ
œ
œ
C
‰ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
‚›‚›‚ ›‚›‚›‚
›
Ôy ¤ y ¤ y ¤ y ¤
# GŒ œ
&
œ œ
œ
œ
œ.
j
j
j
#œ œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
y ‚ y
Ô ‚ ‚
y y
y
‚
y ‚‚
‚
y
y
&
œ
œ
# D‰9 œ . œ
œ
j
œ
œ.
œ
œ
Œ
‚⁄¤‚⁄
Ô
¤
&
# GŒ
G7
œ
nœ
C
j
‰ œ. œ œ œ œ.
œ
Œ
œ
‚ ¤
b
œœ E #7œœ
œ bœ
G
œ
y y⁄ y¤
Ô y ¤ ⁄
y
26
‚⁄¤‚⁄
˙
˙
˙
˙
˙˙
˙˙˙
y‚
‚
y‚‚
‚¤y
u
‚
God Moves On The Water
Open D Tuning: DADF#AD
j
j j
# # 4 n œj œ œ œj œ œ n œ .
& 4
œ
œ
œ
œ
&
œ
–5
œ
j j
nœ œ
–5 — 3
j j
œ œ
œ
œ
–5
j
œ nœ
j
œ
œ
–5 — 3
j
œ nw
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
y Y y
‚
Ô
‚
‚
‚
‚
–5
#
& #
œ
y Y y
y Y y
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
Ô
##
j j
j j j
nœ œ œ œ œ œ nœ .
j j
nœ œ œ
¤
‚
‚
‚ ‚
–5 — 3
œ
–3
j j
œ œ œ
j j j
œ œ œ nœ .
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
j
nœ œ
j
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
y Y y
Y ‚ ⁄‚
Ô
‚
‚
‚ ‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
–5
## 6
& 4
–5 — 3
j
nœ œ
j
œ œ
j
œ nœ œ
œ
œ
⁄‚
Ô
‚
–7– 5
– 12
œ
n œ œ œj œj œ .
œ
œ
œ
⁄‚ ‚ y ‚ ¤
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
–5 — 3
– 12
27
–3
– 12
## 4
& 4
j
‰ œ nœ
œ
œ
j
nœ ˙
œ
œ
œ
n œj œ
j
œ ˙
##
‰
œ
œ
¤
‚
3H
–5
œ
œ
y ‚ ‚ ‚
‚
‚
Ô
&
j
j
œ nœ œ ˙ .
j
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
¤
‚
–3
–3
‚
‚
œ œ œ œj n œ
œ
œ
œ
Y
⁄‚
‚ ¤
⁄
‚
Ô
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
‚
–7
– 12
# j ˙
Ó
& # nœ
œ nœ œ
J
œ
œ
J
–12–10
–3
∑
œ nœ
J
œ
œ œ
J
œ œ œœ œ
J
Ô y ‚ y ‚ ¤ ‚¤ ‚¤ ‚
‚ ‚
–5
–3
&
##
nœ
J
Ô y
œ
–7
œ œ
–3
∑
œ
J
Y ‚ ¤
nœ
–3
28
œ
nœ œ
J
–3
∑
œ
œ
œ
‚ y ‚ ‚
‚
–5
Dallas Rag
Standard Tuning
G7
nœ œ œ
4 j
œ
œ
#
œ
& 4 œ œ #œ œ
œ
œ
nœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ œ
œ
A
y⁄‚ ⁄‚⁄y‚ y
‚
Ô ‚ ⁄ ¤y y y
y
‚ ¤
y
y
y
C
&
j j œ.
œ
œ
œ
‰
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
J
‚
‚
Y
Y
‡
⁄
⁄
y
y
Ô y› ¤ y ¤ y Y ‡ Y
–7
G7
&
j
j
œ
œ
#
œ
œ
œ œ œ
‰
œ
œ
œ
œ # œ œœ œ ˙
œ
œ
œ
‡ ⁄⁄ ‡ ° ⁄⁄ ‡ ⁄⁄ ‡ °
⁄⁄
Ô ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚ ⁄‚
(C) # œ
&
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ #œ
œ
œ œ œ
œ
⁄⁄ ⁄¤ ‡ ° y Y y › ‚ ⁄ ¤ ‚
Ô
°
29
G7
&
œ # œ œœ # œ œ
œ
nœ
nœ œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
y⁄‚ ⁄‚⁄y‚ y
‚
Ô ⁄ ¤y y
y
y
‚ ¤
y
y
y
C
&
j j
‰ œ œ œ œ œ. œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
J
‚
‚
Y
Y
‡
⁄
⁄
y
y
Ô y› ¤ y ¤ y Y ‡ Y
–7
j
œ œ œ œ œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
F6 œ
&
Cœ
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ bœ
° ‡ °‡ ⁄‚ ° ⁄‚ ‡ yY ‚ y› Y ° ‚
Ô°
‡ fl
°
G
&
œœ # œ œœ # œ œœ
nœ œ
œ
y
‚
‚
Ô ‚Y ⁄ ¤y y ¤ ‚
30
C
œ
œ
œ œ #œ
œ bœ œ
⁄ ‚ ⁄ ¤
y ¤ ⁄ ‚
G7
Œ
&
j
œ œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
‰ œ œ œ œj œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
B
y ‚ y
Ô y
y
y y
C œ
&
y ‚ y
y
y
y
y
œj œ .
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
y
Œ
œ
y y ‚ ⁄
Ôy ¤ y ¤
G7
Œ
&
œ
œ
œ
j
œ œ.
œ
œ
œ
&
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
y Y°‚⁄¤ ‚
Ô
œ
œ
œ
bœ
#œ
œ
‚ ⁄ ¤
y ¤ ⁄ ‚
‰ œ œ œ œj œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
y ‚ y
Ô y
y
y y
(C) j œ
P0
y
‚ y
y
y
y
y
y
bœ
P0
œ œ œ bœ œ
œ œ #œ
–8
⁄ ‚y¤⁄‚‚⁄¤
31
G7
Œ
&
j
œ œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
‰ œ œ œ œj œ.
œ
œ
œ
œ
y ‚ y
Ô y
y
y y
C œ
&
œ
œ
œ
y
y ‚ y
y
y
y
y
P0
œj œ .
œ
œ
y y ‚ ⁄
Ôy ¤ y ¤
Œ
œ
œ
œ
b œœ
⁄ ‚ y
y ‚ ⁄ ¤
(A)
F
&
œ
#œ
j C œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
j œj
œ. œ œ
œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
‚
‚
Y
y
‚
‚
⁄
›
Ô ¤ y ¤ y y ¤ ‚ ‚‚
⁄
⁄
1H
G7
&
œ œ œ
œ
œ
#
œ
œ #œ œ
œ
œ
nœ
C
œ
œ
œ
˙
y
‚
‚
⁄
Ô ⁄ ¤y y
y
y y y
y
y
32
Mississippi Blues
# # # 12
j œ
œ
#
œ
&
8
œ œ.
œ.
J
Regular Tuning
j
œ
n œ œœ
œ
œj œ
œ.
œ.
œœ
œœj
#œ œ
œ.
‡°
Y‡ YY
‡°
Y‚ fl
Ô ‚ › Y fl ‚ fl
‚
‚
&
j
j
œœ œœ j
œœ œœ œœ j
j
j
n
œ
œ
œ #œ œ œ
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
# # # œœ
Y
Y
‡
‡
Y
fl ‚
› Y‚ fl ° ‚ fl
Ô
‚
‚
‚
j
œœ
# # # œœ œœ
#œ œ
&
œ.
œ.
j
j œœ œœ œœ
œ
j
œ
#œ
œ.
œ.
œ n Jœ # œ
œœ
œj
œ
J
Y‡ YY ‡°
Y‡ YY
Y‚ fl
fl ‚
Ô
¤
y
›
‚
‚
‚ y › Y
# # # n œ œ œ œ D6
œ œ œ œj # œ
&
œ.
n œ.
œ Jœ # œ
j nœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ œ.
n œ.
J
Ô YYY›y›¤ ¤ y › YYY›y›
Y y ¤y › Y Y y
33
j
j
œ
œ
œœ
D6
œ
œ
#
n
œ
œ
j
##
j œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ #œ
#œ
œ.
&
œ.
œ.
œ Jœ œ .
œ.
œ.
‡°
Y‡ YY ‡°
Y‚ fl
Ô ¤ ‚ › Y fl ‚ fl
¤
‚
‚
&
j
œœ œœ œœ œj œ n œj œœ œj
j
œœ . œj
œ
œ œ # œ œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
œ.
# # # œœ
‚
Y
Y
‚
¤
y
›
‡
Y
¤
y
›
Y
y› ‚
fl ‚
Ô
fl
‚
‚
‚
&
###
E7 j
œœ .
œœ œœ ..
‚y
Ô ⁄¤
D6
nœ œ œ œ œ
j
œ . œ bœ œ nœ
˙.
œ #œ œ.
J
j
œ
⁄ ¤ ‚ ¤‚ ⁄ ¤ ⁄ ‚
‚ ⁄ ¤
¤ y ‚
W
&
###
A
D F
œœj œœ j œ j n œ œ œ
œ nœ
œœ. n œ.
œ. nœ .
A
E7
œ.
œ œ œ œœ
œ œ œ.
J
‚
¤
y
⁄
‚
y
Ô ¤ › y ¤ ¤‚ ¤ ¤
‚ y ¤ ⁄
‚
34
j
&
### œ œ
BOOGIE
SECTION
j
œ œ
œ œ
J
œ œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ œ
J
J
j
j
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ Jœ œ œ
J
J
Y ‚· · ‚ · · ·· · ·‚·· ·
Ô ‚ ‚
‡
‡
‡
‡
·
·
· ·
· ·
–9
jœ œ
œ
œ
###
&
œ œ œ œ œ
J
J
œ œ œj œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ Jœ œ
œ Jœ
J
j
œ œ
œ œ
œj
Jœ
· ··‚· Y ‚· · ‚ · · · · ·
Ô ‡ ‡
· · ‚ ‚· ·‡ ‡· ·
–9
### œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
&
J
j
œ œ
œ
J œ
j
œ œ
Jœ œ
œ
j
œœ œ
œ
œ.
œ D 7 n œœ
œ
J
œj
œ
J
· ‚ · · · · · · ‚ · °‡ °‡ ‡ ‡
Ô ‡ ‡· · ‡ ‡
‚
· ·
· ·
### Ó .
œ œœ œ œ
&
J
j
œ
œ œ œ
œ
œ.
D7 n œ
j
œ Ó.
œ œ Jœ œ œ œ
J
°‡ °‡ ‡ ‡
Ô ‡ ‡· ‡ · ‚ · · ‡ ‡ · ‡ ·
35
&
###
j
œ œ
j
œ œ
œ œ
J
œ œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ
J
J
j
j
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ Jœ œ œ
J
J
Y ‚· · ‚ · · ·· · ·‚·· ·
Ô ‚ ‚
‡
‡
‡
‡
·
·
· ·
· ·
–9
jœ œ
œ
œ
###
&
œ œ œ œ œ
J
J
j
œ œ
œ œ.
J
j
œ œ # œ œ n œ . œj œ # œ œ
œ
œ.
œ.
· ··‚· ¤ ›‚›‚y ‚y›‚
¤
›
Ô ‡ ‡
· ·
‚
‚
–4
–4
&
A
# # # Dn6œ
j
œ
œœ œj
œ
j
œ œœ. n œ.
œ œ œ œ œ bœ j
œ.
œ nœ
œ.
˙.
Ô ⁄ ¤ ‚ ¤‚ ⁄ ¤ ⁄ ‚ y ‚ ¤¤ ›
¤
¤
‚ y
W
&
# # # Dœ
œ.
F
A
j nœ œ œ
nœ
nœ.
œ.
œ
E7
œ œ œ œœ
œ œ.
J
‚
y
⁄
‚
y
¤ ¤‚ ¤ ¤
Ô
y
¤
⁄
‚
36
Friends Forever
F
.. ‰ œ œ
œ
œ
4
& 4
œ
j
œ ˙
j
E œ
œ
œ
œ
Standard Tuning
œ
j
#œ œ ˙ œ
œ
J
A
°
‡Y ‚
.
fl
. ‡ ‡
Ô
fl fl
y y
° ‡
‡
–8
D
&
j
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y ⁄ ‚ ‚ .
y
.
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›
¤
¤
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Y
y
y
F
‰
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&
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j
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j
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y
y
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y
y
⁄
⁄
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G7
&
j
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j j
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‰
‚
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y
y
y
y
y
1H
37
E/G # j
j jœ
j œ
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nœ
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‰
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y
D/F #
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j j
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j j
# œ œ œ.
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y
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F
&
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nœ
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G7
&
œœœ
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‰ œ œ
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y⁄ ⁄ y ⁄ y ⁄ y
u
P1
2H
X
j j
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œ
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‰
j j
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y
y
y
y
38
j
‰ œ œ œj œj œ œ œj ‰ œ œ œj œ œ . œ
œ
œ
œ
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C
&
J
C
° Y ‡ YYY
Y
Ô¤ YY Y Y Y Y Y Y
–5
F/DŒ
&
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Ó
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j
œ ˙
‰ œ
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YflY
Ô‚
‚ Y
(G 7)
&
œ
y
Y
‚ ‚ ‚ ‚
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œ
œ
œ
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C
j j
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‰ œ
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y
‚
y
y
⁄
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F
‰
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&
œ
j
œ
j j
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j
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j
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y
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y
y¤ y
⁄
⁄
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39
G7
&
j
‰ œ œ
œ
œj
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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j j
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œ
œ
‰
‚ ‚‚‚ ⁄
‚
Ô ‚y ‚y
y
y
y
y
y
y
1H
C
&
˙
œ
‰
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
Ôy ¤ ‚ ‚
y
2H P0
C ma j 7
&
j
‰
œ ˙
œ
œ
œ
œ
C
œ
w
œ
œ
œ
œ
⁄ ¤
¤
y
y
j j
‰
œ œ .
œ œ
œ œ œ
œ
VARIATION
‚
‚
‚ ¤
Ôy‚¤
¤ y‚¤
y
y
C ma j 7+ 5
&
j
‰
œ
˙
œ #œ œ
œ
j œj
‰ œ
œ œ œ #œ . œ
œ
œ
‚
‚
‚
‚
Ôy ⁄ ¤ y ¤ y ¤ y⁄¤
To B
40
Lena Anne
Standard Tuning
A
B
E
# # # 4 gg œœ˙ œ œ œ œ # œ˙ œ œ
œ
&
4
œ bœ œ œ
œ. œ œ ˙ œ œ œ
J
A
‡ · ‡ ‡ ‚ ‚ ‡ fl Y
·
°
‡ fl
Ô ·
9H P7
P0
P0
P0
‚‚
jœ
E j
œ
œ
œ
œ œ #œ
#
œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ ˙
##
˙
œ
œ
˙
J
&
œ
‰
› ‚‚¤
¤
Ô ›
P2
‚ ‚ ‚⁄ ‚ fl Y ‡ · ‚ °
4HP2P0
B
E
# # # œ˙ œ œ œ œ # œ˙ œ œ
œ
&
‡·
Ô
9H P7
A
œ bœ œ œ
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Jœ ˙ œ
· ‡ ‡° ‚ ‚ ‡‡ fl Yfl
P0
P0
P0
‚‚
# # # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3E ˙ .
˙ œ ˙
œ
&
4 œ
œ
›› ‚ ‚ ¤¤
Ô
P2
4HP2P0
‚‚
41
œ
‚⁄
¤ ‚
# # # 4 j Aœ
&
4 # œJœ œ
Œ
œ nœ
Œ
œ
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B
⁄⁄ ›
y
Ô
&
–2
–2
œ œ
###
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C
3
œ
n œœ
¤ ‚ ¤y
P0
A7
œ œ
œ n œœ # œœ
nœ #œ
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œ
œ
œ
¤
P0
C
A7
œ n œœ # œœ
nœ #œ
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Y y Y ¤¤
Y y Y ¤¤
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Yy › ‚
Yy ›
Y
‚
‚
P0
P0
Am
### ‰
&
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œ
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‚
⁄⁄
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‡ Y Y
8H
9H
# # # 5 A‰
# œœ
&
4
œ J
J
Ô
Em 7
≈ œ ≈ œœ A 7œ
# œœ
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œœ
–2
–2
Œ
œ nœ
› y
42
Œ
œ
P0
œ
‚
3
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¤ ‚ ¤y ¤
P0
C
A7
œ œ
### 4
œ n œœ # œœ
&
4 œ
nœ #œ
˙
œ
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œ
Y yY ¤
Y yY ¤
¤
¤
Y
Y
›Y
y ›‚ ‚
y ›‚
P0
Ô
P0
Am
&
A7
C
œ n œœ # œœ
nœ #œ
### ‰
Em 7
≈ œ ≈ œ A 7œ
œ. n œ n œ . œ # œœ
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œ.
œ
Ô ‚ ‡‡
8H
9H
‡‡ ‡ YY Y Y‡ YflY
### A œ Œ Œ
‰ # œœ œ œ
&
J
nœ œ
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D
‚
F
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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nœ
Œ
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y
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⁄
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¤
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y
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–2
P0
P0
P0
#C
E7
œ nœ œ œ œ nœ
#œ
nœ
nn œœ .
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n˙
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n Jœ
y ‚ y‚ ‚ ⁄‚
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Ô Yy ¤ ‚
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y
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##
43
Bb
C ma j 7
C7
œœ n œ
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n œœ
nœ
n
b œ.
Œ
nœ
J
n œ œ n œœœ œœ
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nœ
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y
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Yy
y
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Yy ° ‡
‚
&
###
### 5 A
&
4 ‰ # œœ
J
Ô
‚
⁄⁄
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–2
–2
Œ
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C
A7
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### 4
n œ # œœ
&
4 œ
nœ #œ
˙
œ
Ô
Œ
œ
P0
œ
3
œ
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P0
œ œ œ C œ A7
n œ # œœ
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nœ #œ
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Y y Y ¤¤
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‚
P0
P0
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3
# # # 5 A‰
Œ
Œ
3
œ
#
œ
&
4
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4 œ
J
œ
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J
Ô
Y
⁄⁄
‚ › y ¤ ‚ ¤y ¤ ›Y ‚
–2
–2
P0
44
P0
Bermuda Triangle Exit
3
3
INTRO.
# 4 3 œœœ
& 4 œœœ
oœ oœ
U
FIRST SECTION
oœ œ
.. ‰
‰ Jœ Jœ˙
œ œ
œ œ
#˙
œ œ
‚
¤
‡
‚
Y
‡
Y
⁄
⁄
‚
Y
¤
.
°
Ô Y ¤ ‡ ⁄¤ ¤ . ‡
fl
‚
•
•
•
–
–
3
j
# œœœ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œj œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& ˙
œ ˙
#œ
˙
y
Ô‚
5H P3 P0
y ‚ › ‚ ¤ ‚ ‚‚ ¤ ‚ ¤ y ‚ y
›
y
¤
P0
# 1.œ E mœ A# œ
œœ
&
œœ œ œœ
œ.
J
G
2.
œœ ..
œ œ
œ E mœœ A# œœ
œœ
œ. œ Jœ œ
G
œœ
œ
‚ ‚‚‚ ¤¤ ‚‚ . ‚ ‚‚‚ ¤¤ ‚‚
.¤
Ô ¤¤ ‚
¤¤u ‚
u
‚
y
‚
y
–
SECOND SECTION
# B.mœ # œ œ œjAœ
‰ œœ
jE mœ œ
j
œ
œ
œ
œ
.
&
œ
œ
œ
œ
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‚
.
y
‚
¤
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y
‚
y
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¤⁄ ‚‚
‚
P2
–2
45
1.
# œ
& œœ œ œ œ # œœ œ œ œ
Œ
œ
Em
œ
œ.
œœ A# œœ G œ ..
œ
œœ
œ œ œ œ
J
‚
‚
Ô ‚y ¤ ‚ ¤› Y ¤ ‚ ¤ ‚‚¤¤ ‚ ¤¤ ‚‚ ..
y ‚ u y
P0
To Sec.1, then Sec.3
# 2. E m œ A # œ G
œ œœ
& œ œœœ
œ
œ œ œ œ
œ.
J
THIRD SECTION
Am 7
œ
Œ E mœ
œ # œ n œœœ
œ
œ œ œ
.œ
J ˙
Aœ
‚‚‚ ¤ ‚ Y
Ô ¤ ¤¤u ‚ ¤ ‚ ¤ Y
‚
y Y
6H
–
#
&
YYY
Yt Y ‚ ··‡t
–7
j
œœ ‰ œœ œ œœ œ œ
œ œ
J ‰
œ œ œ œ ˙
œ #œ nœ
œ
¤¤ ¤¤ ‚ ¤¤ ‚ ¤¤ ‚
Ô ¤Y ¤› ‚ ¤y
‚
P0
# Em
&
œ
œ.
G
œœ
œœ
œœ
œ œ ˙
J
A
œ
œœ
Am 7
Œ E m œœ
œœ # œ n œœœ
œ œ œ œ
œ.
J ˙
‚‚‚ ‚ y‚ Y YY
Ô ¤ ¤¤u ‚ ‚t Y YYt Y ··‡
‚ y
Y
‚ t
6H
–7
46
œœ
#œ
#
œ œ œ œ ˙
œ #œ nœ
&
œœ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ œ
#œ œ
nœ
œ
‡°‚y
⁄
‚
⁄
‚
· ·‡
Ô ¤Y ¤› ‚ ¤y
‚ · fl ‚ y
P0
–7
#E mœ
A
To 1st Section
Em
A
Œ
œ
œœ
œœ
œ.
œœ
# œœ
œœ
œ œ œ.
J
‚
Ô
‚
‚‚‚ ¤¤
¤¤u ‚
‚¤¤
‚‚ ¤¤
¤t ‚
‚ ¤
‚
&
œ
J
2H
END TAG
6H
–9
–9
–
j
#œ # œ œ œ œ
œ
œœ # œ n œœ œ œ œ œ œ # œ
JJ
J
œ ‰
j
œ #œ œ œ œ
œ
# œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ
& œ # œ n œ Jœ J
J
œ ‰
‡
Y
Y
Y
Ô Y Yt ‡
Y
œ # œœ
œ œ œ œ œ
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J
‡ Y ‡ ‡‡ ·
‡ Y ‡ ‡t ·
‡
6H
6H
– 11
– 11
·‡
·‡
3
3
#
&
3
œ œ œ œ
œ œ
o
oœ oœ œ œ rit.
‰ Jœ
U
œ
œ
Œ . œ œ œ˙
J
‚ ⁄ ⁄¤ ⁄¤
y
‚
Y
Ô Y¤ ‡ ¤
‡ Y ‚y¤
•
•
47
•
8H
Cocaine Blues
j j
j
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ
44 ‰ œ
œ œ œ
œ œœ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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C
&
Verse
3
Ô
0
3
0
0 2H
3
0
1 3H
0 2H
0 2H
0
2
3
3
1
3
Fj
&
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œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 64 œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ .
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œ
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Ô
2
1
3
1
44 ‰ œ
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0
3
1
j
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0
2
˙
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0
1
C
j
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œ
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G
œ
0 2H
0
3
‰ œ
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2
3
1
2
3
1
3
3
Ô
&
3H
1
C
&
0 2H
3
1
0
3
0
1
2
3
j
œ w
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œ
œ
œ
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3
Ô
0
2
3
44
1
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3
2
3
48
2
3
E
&
j j
œ . œ #œ œ #œ . œ
œ
œ
‰ œj # œ œ
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Ó
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3
Chorus
Ô
0
0 1H
2
0 1H 2H
0
2 P0
1
2
0
0
2
0
Fj
&
j
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 64 œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ .
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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Ô
2
1
3
1
44 ‰ œ
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0
3
1
j
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0
2
˙
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0
1
C
j
‰ œj œ œ œj œ
œ
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G
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0 2H
0
3
‰ œ
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2
3
1
2
3
P1
3
3
Ô
&
3H
1
C
&
0 2H
3
1
0
3
0
1
2
3
j
œ
w
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œ
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3
Ô
0
2
3
44
1
0 2H
3
2
3
49
2
3
&
C‡ j
j
j
‰ œ œ bœ œ œ
œ œ bœ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
E
‰ œj # œ n œ
œ
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Instrumental Break
Ô
3
&
1
0 2H 3
0
œ.
œ
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Ô
3
P1
2
3
3
j
# œ œj # œ .
F
œ
2 P0
1
2
0
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
Ô
3H
P1
3
1
0
1
2
&
3
j
œ
œ œ œœ œ
œ
œ
œ
2
0
0 1H
2
0
‰ œ
0
0
3 P0
2
3
1
1
C
j
œ ˙
‰ œ
œ
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1
0 2H
3
œ
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3
2
0
1
2
2
3
3
C
j
‰ œj œ œ œj œ œj ˙
‰œ
œ w
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ
œ
œ œ
œ
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G
&
3
Ô
0
0 2H
0
3
0
3
1
2
0
2
3
50
3
1
0 2H
2
3
2
3
Cincinnati Flow Rag
Swing Rhythm:
qr = qce
44
&
œ
G
Œ
D‡
‰ # œœ
œ œ
œ œ #œ œ
3
Ô
0
1
œ
jœ
& # œœ œ n œ
C
J
Ô
2 –5
2 –5
2
1
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
3
3
j j
j œj
œ
œ
œ œ.
‰
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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8
5
2
1
2
3
G‡
‰ N˙
œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ œ
7
5
5
5
5
7
5
5
5
5
5
0
G
Œ
œ
‰ # œœ
œ
œ
œ
&
3
Ô
3
C
&
j
#œ œ
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J
Ô
D‡
2 –5
2 –5
2
G‡
‰
œ œ
N˙
œ
2
1
0
1
2
51
œ
œ
0
3
0
0
2
œ nœ œ
8 5 3 0
œ
1
0
œ œ œ
œ
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3
3
œ
0
Ó
bœ œ œ œ œ
1
0
1
0
3
œ
0
œ
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G
Œ
&
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D‡
3
Ô
J
2 –5
0
0
0
2
3
0
3
3
œ
8
5
œ
œ
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j j
j
j
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‰
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œ
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jœ
& # œœ œ n œ
Ô
œ
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1
0
C
2 –5
N˙
œ
2
1
2
3
G‡
‰
‰ # œœ
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7
5
5
5
5
7
5
5
5
5
5
0
A¯‡
jC
‰ œ.
‰ œ
œ . œ bœ bœ œ œ
œ
bœ
œ
&
Ô
1
2
1
3
1
1
‰
‰ # œœ
œ
œ
#œ
Œ
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F
A‡
3
2
1
1
3
2
2
jC
jG‡n œj œ
‰ # œœ
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œ
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2
0
2
D‡
&
2
1
Ô
0
2
0
1
0
œ
œ #œ
0
1
1
0
3
52
3
2
G
Œ
&
œ
œ
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D‡
3
Ô
3
2
œ
jœ
& # œœ œ n œ
C
J
Ô
2 –5
2 –5
N˙
œ
2
1
œ
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1
0
0
0
3
0
0
2
œ
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3
3
j j
j
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œ
‰
œ
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8
5
G‡
‰
‰ # œœ
œ œ
œ
7
5
5
5
5
7
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Denmark, 1971
Roll & Tumble Blues
High Society
Sweden, 1972
Shake Sugaree
God Moves On The Water
Dallas Rag
Friends Forever
Lena Anne
England, 1974
Hot Dogs
Memphis Jellyroll
Italy, 1977
Bermuda Triangle Exit
Danish Drone
(w. Duck Baker)
U.S.A., 1981
Satisfied
Mississippi Blues
Cocaine Blues
Pretty Girl Milking A Cow
Tightrope
Medley: Vestapol/That's
No Way To Get Along
Sweden 1988
Spirit Levels
(w. John Renbourn)
Looper's Corner
(w. John Renbourn)
U.S.A., 1995
Struttin’ Rag
Blues For The Mann
“Stefan Grossman has done just
about everything one can do in the
field of music. He has been, among
other things, a performer, a recording artist, a record company founder,
a video producer, an A&R man, a
record producer, a student, a teacher and a music historian. But it is his
success in illuminating classic and contemporary country blues, ragtime
and other fingerstyle guitar techniques that has made him, in the words
of guitarist Dave Van Ronk, ‘one of the most important people in
fingerpicking guitar in the history of the phenomenon.’” – Acoustic Guitar
Vestapol 13036
Running Time: 75 minutes • Color
Nationally distributed by Rounder Records,
One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
Representation to Music Stores by
Mel Bay Publications
© 2003 Vestapol Productions
A division of Stefan Grossman's
Guitar Workshop, Inc.
0
ISBN: 1-57940-975-X
1 1 6 7 1 30369
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