Modern Mississippi Slide

Interactive Video Masterclass for Slide Guitar

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Luther Dickinson

Educator

americana, blues, country blues

Genres

About this course

Influenced by classic Memphis guitar, experimental psychedelic rock music, and regional hill country blues, Luther Dickinson developed a style of electrified, fingerstyle slide guitar that he calls Modern Mississippi.

We’re thrilled to welcome Luther to the family with his first TrueFire course, Modern Mississippi Slide. You will likewise be thrilled as you play your way through the 18 performance studies that Luther presents across this highly informative, massively engaging curriculum!

Born in Memphis, Luther was heavily influenced by his father (famed singer, pianist and record producer Jim Dickinson) and the likes of Otha Turner, R. L. Burnside, and Junior Kimbrough. Luther toured and recorded with The Black Crowes, Southern Soul Assembly, and formed the North Mississippi Allstars with his brother Cody Dickinson, which went on to earn three Grammy nominations.

"Growing up in Memphis and North Mississippi exposed me to roots music of all sorts, especially RL Burnside, Fred McDowell, Junior Kimbrough and fife and drum music. Open tuning, fingerpicking, and slide have been integral aspects of the guitar ever since I was a small boy, banging out Bo Diddley on my first six string.

I’ve designed this course to inspire and encourage players of all levels - I hope to unlock the mystery of slide guitar, fingerpicking and open tunings and get people comfortable with the way I love to play the guitar. Hopefully, a beginner can see how simple and fun it can be and advanced players will find inspiration to do their thing! “

As you work through the course, Luther will share essential history, anecdotes, while revealing dozens of authentic and modern slide and fingerstyle techniques. For each of the 18 performance studies, Luther will first perform the study and then break it down emphasizing the techniques in play.

Luther will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for each of the performances. Plus, Luther includes all of the backing tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let’s shake 'em on down with Luther Dickinson!

What's included

69 lessons • 18 charts • 7 Jam Tracks

Modern Mississippi Slide

Hi, I'm Luther Dickinson. Welcome to Modern Mississippi Slide.

This course is designed to inspire and encourage players of all levels - I hope to unlock the mystery of slide guitar, fingerpicking and open tunings and get people comfortable with the way I love to play the guitar. Hopefully a beginner can see how simple and fun it can be and advanced players find inspiration to do their thing!

Open tuning, fingerpicking and slide have been integral aspects of the guitar ever since I was a small boy, banging out Bo Diddley on my first six string. Growing up in Memphis and North Mississippi exposed me to roots music of all sorts, especially RL Burnside, Fred McDowell, Junior Kimbrough and fife and drum music. Stories of all this music are teased in this freestyle, rambling telling of growing up with modern Mississippi guitar!

Ready to get started? Grab your guitar and let's shake 'em on down.

One String at a Time

Studying the guitar one string at a time is my advice to anyone looking to get intimate with their guitar and especially slide playing. Once you become comfortable with where the melody lies on one string horizontally, the guitar's fretboard unfolds as you become familiar and intimate with where the intervals reside on a string.

Slide guitar can emulate the human voice, playing a melody on one string horizontally uninterrupted really helps your melody take flight and sound soulful. I love to look at the guitar outside the box, and horizontal melody is a concept you can use for helping your slide sing. If you internalize where the notes are on any given string horizontally, you'll never get lost no matter what string, key or tuning you're playing in.

Single String Melody

This song has a simple melody that we'll use to demonstrate many modern Mississippi techniques. This song is kind to beginners, based in open C tuning and using horizontal melody.

Single String Melody

I'm fingerpicking and muting this open C piece, using the open low strings for the chord changes while I play horizontal melodies one string at a time.

Single String Melody

I'm fingerpicking and muting this open C piece, using the open low strings for the chord changes while I play horizontal melodies one string at a time. I utilize microtonal pitch to milk the blue notes in between the scale tones to emulate the human voice. I try to be expressive with my slide vibrato, varying the vibrato speed, depth and pitch.

More Rhythmic Approach

Playing rhythm guitar while accompanying the voice is a blast when fingerpicked in open tuning. I like to utilize the lower strings and their timbre while trying to stay in the groove always! Double stops are useful in open tuning.

More Rhythmic Approach

In this performance study, double stops are used. I use a staccato fingerpicking attack for extra funk.

+ 62 more lessons

Reviews

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kyushukev1

Verified buyer

11/19/23

One String at a Time

I love Luther's guitar playing. This was a bit pricey until TF placed a major discount on it and I couldn't refuse. He sometimes has a little difficulty trying to express himself, but when he lets his fingers do the talking, all is clear.

modoc

Verified buyer

12/30/22

Anything Luther does is going to be great! Need more Hill Country techniques videos! Thanks!!!

EbiMunich

Verified buyer

08/16/21

great slide lessons!

Great introduction to the blues slide guitar. Luther also is a good teacher!

Badabim65

Verified buyer

05/20/21

Beautiful dirt

A must if you want to be a blues guitarist.

Ben

12/22/19

Love Luther’s style!

I’ve been a huge fan of Luther’s since I saw him with The Black Crowes. Then started listen to his previous catalog with North Mississippi All-Stars. He’s got an amazing fluid style! This course gave me some awesome tips as a new slide player giving me that southern delta blues feel. So much fun!