That's you backstage at Po' Monkey's. You and that beat up Kalamazoo KG-14 that never leaves your side. Miss Rita brought you a cold one 'cause she thinks you're cute. You go on in twenty. No rhythm section to play off of and no singer to hide behind - just you and the Kalamazoo. You travel by Greyhound, play for tips and carry everything you own in that guitar case, but you don't give no damn. You're a lone wolf and its the music that makes you rich.

Video Introduction

Click below for a sample video from the course

About the Guitar Lesson Plan

Interactive Video Guitar Instruction

David Blacker's Lone Wolf Blues examines the techniques and guitar stylings of early acoustic and country blues and explores their influence on the contemporary American Roots scene.

Blacker has invested thousands of hours studying and documenting American Roots guitar music. "Blues is the heart and soul of all great American music. Early blues music sparked an unprecedented individual spirit and distinctly American archetype. One lone voice singing a song and telling a uniquely personal story that connects to the collective heart and mind."

American Roots music is a broad category spanning folk, bluegrass, gospel, jug band, country and of course -- the blues. Lone Wolf Blues drills down on the early stylings of pioneers like Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Son House but also examines more contemporary lone wolf artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Johnny Cash. "There's no one particular sound to the Lone Wolf Blues. It's more of a vibe, feeling or an attitude. It has lots of history and deep roots but remains present and fresh."

In Lone Wolf Blues, Blacker demonstrates the key techniques that have been passed down from early blues players to modern day Americana songwriters. You'll learn right-hand picking techniques to keep a bass line going on the low strings while playing an independent melody line on the higher strings. You'll learn Travis Picking where you alternate a bass line between two of the low strings while playing through some complex higher string melody lines.

Blacker will show you the key chord shapes to perform a wide range of early and contemporary stylized pieces, and to fuel your own musical ideas. You'll also work with essential open tunings, from the perspective of a songwriter, to give you a whole new palette of options to work with as a solo guitarist and/or singer-songwriter.

You'll play your way through Lone Wolf Blues -- all of the techniques and fundamentals are taught in context through a series of 20 repertoire-building pieces that introduce you to the wide variety of sounds and styles of American Roots guitar. From down home country and delta blues to folk, bluegrass and even some of the more jazzy tonalities, you'll walk away with a solid bag of American Roots chops.

Everything is charted, tabbed, notated in PDF, Guitar Pro and Power Tab and Tux Guitar. You'll have full control over the video lessons and can loop and zoom to your heart's delight. All you'll need to do is bear down in the shed and get yourself one of those Kalamazoos.

About Your Instructor

David Blacker

David Blacker is a freelance composer, producer, and guitar instructor, based in New York City. His work has been featured on numerous albums, television commercials, and radio spots. His production company, is located in New York City's Soho District, and is part recording studio and part sound lab. There along with a close network of top notch players, composers, engineers and producers, David and company are continually producing original artists, albums, and commercial music.

David's guitar playing and approach to music is deeply influenced by different styles of American Roots of music, and the blues in particular. As a guitarist he is mostly self-taught, learning by ear, and following the roots of popular music backward to greats like Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and T-Bone Walker. He has also studied with one of Ornette Coleman's "Prime Time" guitarists, Chris Rosenberg. These days David teaches guitar out of his studio and tours with The BlackTails.