Product Review

Homespun and String Letter Press, the publishers of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, have joined forces to create a DVD version of String Letter's best-selling guitar instruction book. This clearly organized, carefully graded set of lessons by popular guitarist and author David Hamburger teaches beginners to play guitar using the techniques and songs of American roots music.

DVD 1 covers all the basic chords and flatpicking techniques; DVD 2 gives you a solid start on fingerpicking along with more advanced flatpicking styles.

David gives total beginners a great start as he teaches you how to tune up, use the capo, play bass runs, vary your strumming patterns and form all the most important chords and chord progressions. DVD 2 continues on an intermediate level, giving those with some previous guitar experience a solid start with fingerpicking and an introduction to more advanced flatpicking styles, including scales and single note playing.

Throughout the lessons you’ll learn to play more than two-dozen classic songs drawn from blues, folk, country and bluegrass traditions, including Careless Love, Columbus Stockade, Darling Corey, In the Pines, Scarborough Fair, Man of Constant Sorrow, Stagolee, Hot Corn Cold Corn, East Virginia, House of the Rising Sun, Banks of the Ohio, The Crawdad Song, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Gambler’s Blues and many others.

Bonus: A four-song play-along session with guitarists Happy Traum and David Hamburger gives you a chance to practice your newly learned flatpicking instrumentals.