The Guitar of Big Bill Broonz

There's a lot here. There's actual footage of Big Bill, which is truly rare and really great. And just in case you can't believe a blues player from that era could actually play this complicated blues/ragtime music that Woody Man is showing you, there's your proof. Also, there's a brief history of the man's music and how it fits in with other guitar stylings of his era, which I found quite interesting.Now Woody Man is an expert level guitarist and hearing him play the first song is, well, it's kind of intimidating. Not to worry too much, he'll break it all the way down for you. And unless you are at Woody's level, what you want to do is just take one lesson at a time. Get a handle on that, maybe even master it, and then go on to the next. This IS NOT the kind of video most guitarists are going to just see Woody play and then cop the song. These songs have some real difficulty to them. I mean there's definitely harder songs to learn out there, but I'm betting you bought this DVD having heard some ragtime fingerpicked guitar, and you are just wanting to get a start at maybe trying it. This is the place for that I think. And these songs are great, definitely worth spending the time to learn if this is your introduction to ragtime guitar, of which I see Broonzy's music being more than blues.Now two things will really help. If you can read guitar tablature, and if you can find the original booklet of guitar tablature that came with this DVD. The tab will really speed things up for you. But unfortunately, I'd be surprised if you will ever be able to find the booklet. If you can, buy it! And know that this particular DVD sold here makes it very clear in the description that it does NOT come with the booklet.Woody Man is a great teacher, very calm, very encouraging. And this video is well produced. But I'll tell you something about these old instructional DVD's. First of all, I love them. They make the impossible seem plausible. And back in the day as a young musician, they were a luxury I couldn't afford. But I certainly can now and I like getting them when I can. I mean even if you are just a beginning guitarist and can't fathom playing this stuff, just watching and listening to Woody do his thing will teach you tons.Second, these old DVD's DO NOT work well in modern DVD drive extensions for your new PC's and particularly, iMacs. I have an iMac with an external DVD drive, and folks, you are going to need to rewind and fast forward a lot to get these songs down. And with my mac drive, it just gets impossible. What I have done and suggest you do, is pull that old DVD player out of your closet, find an empty corner someplace, buy a cheap monitor or maybe find one of those in your closet too, an old CRT TV would actually work best, find a little desk, then hook it all up to make a little old fashioned learning center. I'm pretty sure this old DVD will fast forward and rewind fine on that old DVD player. Just trust me on this one. There are why's and wherefores, but it'd take a long time to explain. And this DVD being gummy on your modern computer's DVD Drive is something that you are going to find true of most of these kinds of old instructional DVD's out there. So if you are going to be getting into them, setting up the learning center I described is a wise move. And if you don't want to do that or can't, I'd just forgo buying them altogether I'm afraid. Sometimes they get uploaded on You Tube, but not this one folks. This is kind of a rarity and I'm glad I've got it.So in sum, if you'd like to get started playing ragtime guitar, this a good place. Set up your learning center and you'll learn a lot. Enjoy !

Fantastic!This is a very deep DVD. It is not for the faint of heart.Woody Mann is not only a gifted performer, but a natural teacher meaning that he possesses the gift of teaching; the ability to share information, anticipate students' trouble areas, and to inspire.These songs are terrific and although the student may be able to get through them, learning them at tempo is another issue. Mann gives the most perfect replications of BBB's material and breaks down the songs to the point of understanding for Intermediate, and even some "advanced Beginners".This DVD will provide you with MONTHS of "private" lessons. The songs are fun to play, and fun to hear.Camera angles are terrific and the song selection is the best of BBB. Some nice additions: video clips of Big Bill performing in the 50's.Mann never disappoints; here and in his other instructional DVDs. He is a treasure to all guitar students.

There's no 44-page booklet in this DVD, like it says on the product description. Instead, you'll need to download the 33-pages of tabs on a PDF installed on the DVD (using a computer, of course, instead of a DVD player).

Great instruction and insight on Big Bill's classic heavy handed finger picking blues. Definitely a must-have if you're a fan of country and pre-war blues as well as trying to build your repertoire of phrasing, licks and finger/travis technique that Big Bill Broonzy practically wrote the book on. I would definitely also check out the other amazing DVD's from the Stefan Grossman Guitar Workshop and his roster of amazing teachers - each really taking their time to walk you through a music that they not only understand, but developed into their style of playing. Get it!

An excellent DVD, fine Broonzy selections and Mann instructs in his usual way of making the learner work just a little.He's not about too much discourse on technique and fingering. He knows that his own precise playing, the split screen and original Broonzy audio and visuals of him playing, make it all well within grasp. A very fine Broonzy lesson by a fine musician

Very good history lesson about a great guitar player. Good for experienced players.

I didn't open the cd case right away and buy the time I did, my return had expired and I realized only half the lesson course was included. The CD was there but the 44 page tab/music booklet was not inside the the case. This makes the lesson CD worthless.I'm pretty fed up with the garbage merchandise I get from Amazon and it's vendors.

I Choose To Rate This Item 5 Stars, Because It's Simply Quality Material. Pure And Utter Quality In My Opinion, I Hope To Enjoy It For Years To Come.

Another really useful tutorial by the great Woody Mann who is outstanding as a tutor here.

Another great video lesson from woody mann