American primitive guitar

Book excerpt: In this series for the intermediate guitarist, John Fahey teaches a wide variety of instrumental solos. Critics have called John's style American Primitive Guitar. The book includes tablature and notation with three compact discs featuring note-by-note, phrase-by-phrase instruction. LESSON ONE: A general discussion of pattern picking and the use of the alternate bass. In Christ There Is No East Or West, Take A Look At That Baby and Some Summer Day. LESSON TWO: One of John's most requested multi-sectioned composition is Indian Pacific Railroad Blues, also known as Beverley. This tune demonstrates how John composes in the fingerpicking idiom. Also taught is another very requested and imitated instrumental, John's The Last Steam Engine Train. LESSON THREE: When The Springtime Comes Again and The Approaching Of The Disco Void. A discussion of improvisational ideas in relationship to fingerstyle compositions concludes this lesson.