Skip James Style Part 1 (Guitar Lesson)
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Skip James Style Part 1
Orville Johnson explores the style of Skip James in open G tuning.
Taught by Orville Johnson in Fingerstyle Blues seriesLength: 19:28Difficulty: 2.5 of 5
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Fingerstyle Blues
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsThe blues is a distinctly American style of music. Many popular genres such as jazz, rock, and country music draw upon basic blues concepts. Consequently, it is advantageous for any guitarist to study the blues.
Lesson 1
Alternating Bass
In this lesson, Orville introduces one of the basic fingerstyle techniques - the alternating bass technique.
Length: 14:49 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Winin' Boy Blues
Orville Johnson teaches his interpretation of the piano-based song "Winin' Boy Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton.
Length: 29:33 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 3
Blues Turnarounds
Orville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Length: 16:30 Difficulty: 2.5 FREE
Payday Blues
Orville Johnson teaches the fingerstyle blues song "Payday Blues."
Length: 19:04 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Walking Bassline with Chords
Orville Johnson demonstrates how to play a walking bass line in conjunction with chordal accompaniment.
Length: 18:33 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
One Dime Blues
Orville Johnson teaches his take on a blues standard entitled "One Dime Blues."
Length: 13:46 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
I'll Fly Away - Piedmont Style
Orville Johnson teaches the classic gospel tune "I'll Fly Away" in the Piedmont style.
Length: 18:40 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Beulah Land
Orville Johnson teaches the classic gospel song "Beulah Land."
Length: 12:40 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Make Me a Pallet on the Floor
Orville Johnson teaches "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" in the Piedmont style.
Length: 17:58 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
How Long, How Long Blues
Orville teaches the a fingerstyle version of the classic blues number "How Long, How Long."
Length: 23:31 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Common Blues Melody
Orville Johnson teaches a common blues melody that has been used in several classic songs including "Louis Collins."
Length: 15:09 Difficulty: 0.0 Members Only
St. Johnny
Orville Johnson reviews an original tune he calls "St. Johnny" in this lesson.
Length: 44:09 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blind Blake Style
In this lesson, Orville Johnson takes a look at the style of Blind Blake with some fun tips and tricks.
Length: 12:50 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Chord Substitutions: Major
In this Fingerstyle Blues lesson, Orville Johnson uses the 12 bar blues in C to talk about chord substitutions.
Length: 35:34 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling
To demonstrate the relationship between gospel and blues, Orville Johnson teaches an arrangement of an old gospel tune called "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling".
Length: 20:22 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Chord Substitutions: Minor
Orville Johnson is back with another fantastic lesson on chord substitutions, this time in a minor key.
Length: 19:03 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Mississippi John Hurt Style
Orville Johnson demonstrates Mississippi John Hurt's style using an old spiritual song called "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder".
Length: 10:18 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Skip James Style Part 1
Orville Johnson explores the style of Skip James in open G tuning.
Length: 19:28 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Skip James Style Part 2
Orville Johnson takes another look at the style of Skip James, this time in cross-note (D Minor) tuning.
Length: 25:08 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Bo Carter Style
Orville Johnson takes a look at the style of blues artist Bo Carter in this lesson.
Length: 15:35 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Jelly Jelly
Orville Johnson walks through "Jelly Jelly," an original piano blues style song.
Length: 22:14 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Travis Picking Pt. 1
Welcome to part one of a two part lesson bundle where Orville breaks down Travis Picking, a fingerstyle pattern made famous by the great Merle Travis.
Length: 21:51 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Travis Picking Pt. 2
This is part two in Orville's Travis Picking demonstration. Orville now teaches how to increase speed with the picking hand. Then, he explains how to improve synchronization between the picking and fretting...
Length: 23:10 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Scrapper Blackwell Part 1
Welcome to part one of a two part mini series on the great guitarist known as Scrapper Blackwell! Orville tackles the unique techniques Scrapper utilized.
Length: 28:15 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Scrapper Blackwell Part 2
Now that Orville has introduced Scrapper's style, he covers some more difficult techniques that he used.
Length: 17:56 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Mississippi John Hurt Style 2
Orville Johnson delves into the style of Mississippi once more. This time around he takes a look at a song that is inspired by "Frankie and Albert".
Length: 16:17 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
The Style of Elizabeth Cotten Part 1
Orville talks all about the style of Elizabeth Cotten, an acoustic fingerpicking legend. He uses a song called "I'm Going Downtown" to showcase her way of playing.
Length: 38:01 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
The Style of Elizabeth Cotten Part 2
Orville dives back into the world of Elizabeth Cotten. This time around he teaches a newsong called "Sugar" and introduces other common musical themes she was known for.
Length: 18:20 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Heavy-Time Bass
Orville Johnson likes to use a technique called "Heavy-time bass" when playing the bass notes on his guitar. In this lesson he teaches you how adding this trick to your arsenal can make you a more versatile...
Length: 25:29 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
About Orville Johnson
View Full Biography
Orville Johnson was born in 1953 in Edwardsville, Illinois and came up on the St. Louis, Missouri music scene, where he was exposed to and participated in a variety of blues, bluegrass and American roots music. He began singing in his Pentecostal church as a young boy, in rock bands in middle school, then took up the guitar at 17,with early influences from Doc Watson, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Chuck Berry. In the early 1970's, Orville spent several seasons playing bluegrass on the SS Julia Belle Swain, a period-piece Mississippi river steamboat plying the inland waterways, with his group the Steamboat Ramblers.
Orville moved to Seattle, Washington in 1978, where he was a founding member of the much-loved and well-remembered folk/rock group, the Dynamic Logs. Other musical associates include Laura Love, Ranch Romance, File' Gumbo Zydeco Band, Scott Law, and the Twirling Mickeys. Johnson, known for his dobro and slide guitar stylings and vocal acrobatics, has played on over 100 albums. He has appeared on Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion, Jay Leno's Tonight Show and was featured in the 1997 film Georgia with Mare Winningham. His musical expertise can also be heard on the Microsoft CD-ROMs, Musical Instruments of the World and the Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball. He teaches as well at the International Guitar Seminar, Pt. Townsend Country Blues Week and Puget Sound Guitar Workshop.
Orville released 4 recordings in the 1990's: The World According to Orville (1990) Blueprint for the Blues (1998) Slide & Joy (1999) an all-instrumental dobro tour de force and Kings of Mongrel Folk (1997) with Mark Graham. He also appeared on 4 discs with the File' Gumbo Zydeco Band and produced Whose World Is This (1997) for Jim Page and Inner Life (1999) for Mark Graham. In the 21st century, he has released Freehand, a new Kings of Mongrel Folk disc, Still Goin' Strong, and been featured in the soundtracks of PBS' Frontier House and the Peter Fonda flick The Wooly Boys as well as the compilation cd Legends of the Incredible Lap Steel Guitar.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Thank you. Will add these licks into my growing medley of "in the style of" licks learned from you, Eric, and especially Hawkeye. Johnson, Hurt, Lightning, Rev Davis, BBBrounzy, and now James' edgy style. Great distinctive riffs!
Mr. Johnson - I wanted to thank you for your lesson set but in particular for the lessons on Skip James' style. These are brilliant! I've looked for some time for a good lesson on Skip James and yours is by far the best I've found. Thank you!