The Hypnotic Sound of Hill Country Blues - A Guitar Lesson with a Guitar Teacher 

It was pure gold growing up around him and my grandfather! Cool to see the music where I'm from still living on!! Great video!

Well, I think you're right. I had the luck to play with R.L. Burnside for 12 years between 1982 - 1994 mostly harp, but some guitar with R.L. singing. It took me a long time to get his JUMPER ON THE LINE, POOR BOY groove down. I'm on 2 of R.L.'s CD'S, ACOUSTIC STORIES, and WELL...WELL...WELL... and there are quite a few things on RU-vid with us. Much of the time I used harp as a percussive instrument along with R.L.'s groove, along with fills, and soloing. Before I met R.L. in 81, first listening to him in 76 I was deep into Fred McDowell even visiting his wife in Como in 78. Also had the chance to play, and record with Junior Kimbrough at his home along with his band when I lived with R.L. A great guy, wonderful player. With R.L. bass players had problems, but it worked with a guitar player that knew what he was doing, or drummer. I just played with him so long I got the hang of it. With me R.L. never played in F. Always E, or Spanish Open G. But, I tuned the guitars to the harp true enough. R.L. played one song in standard A Ms. GLORY B. Well, very cool video showing your deep appreciation for these guy's music. No doubt because of it I'm sure to learn more guitar stuff about music I played to for years concentrating more on harp. But, just partly from being with R.L. as a duo, and some tours with Calvin Jackson, Cedric Burnside's Father, I'm grateful I learned somewhat the style of these 3 great Mississippi Bluesmen you're all about here. Thanks again. Jon Beckley Morris

Well done! Mississippi Fred, Jr, and RL are national treasures and are sorely missed. Thanks!

the alan lomax archive is some of the best music to be found on youtube, and a great initiative. and R.L. Burnside is a great inspiriation, a true blues man

RL is the GOAT... big fan over here in Scotland!

I knew an old school guy in the church I grew up I in. He would know when to throw in that percussive almost hypnotic rhythm with his thumb . He was emulating this style .😮Wow . What a revelation!

..absolutely terrific..you are fabulous..I’m 73 years old..I love that a young person like yourself is so well versed in this genre of Americana..and man, can you play!! Just sensational..! Thank you!..

I'm new here. I started playing guitar during covid. I lean right in to the blues naturally . This is brilliant👍👏👏👏💗

Been a long time fan of R.L. since late 90s.Found him thru Jon Spencer blues Explosion albums I bought theu the yrs.Then did more research on blues history and man I love these legendary players.🗽♥️

I highly recommend Fat Possum Records. RL. Burnside, Kimbrough etc. can be found there.

R.L.Burnside is something else. His 1984 session on YT is a masterclass, and R.L's version of Poor Black Mattie which kicks off the performance is sublime. For me it's one of my favorite songs and totally hypnotic...I think the 1984 version of Poor Black Mattie is up there with Robert Petway's Catfish Blues, which is absolutely my favorite arrangement Catfish Blues. Both of these Gentleman's aforementioned songs are my favorite Blues songs by some distance. They have an otherworldly quality to them.

These syncopated rhythms are really difficult to discern by oneself. Your channel is a God send. Your split screen and your manner of breaking it down is awesome. Thank you !

Can't beat music that comes directly from the human condition. It doesn't get more authentic. Man, that shot of his name out on the billboard of some joint ... thats good times there. Great video. Very inspiring 👏

I haven't scrolled the comments BUT "You See Me Laughin'" documentary introduced me to Hill Country Blues & these amazing men. So much goodness!

Hill country is where the boogie was really born!!! It’s one of the hardest style to play in my experience…good to finally see some vids on it…RL, Fred, and Junior…need some notariety…keep ‘em comin out…

I was in the studio at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle, 1971 when Fred did this session, I was a concert promoter for the Seattle Folklore Society. I was blessed to meet and learn from many of the great original country bluesmen. This is a good lesson, it calls for a lot of drive to play this stuff, and dynamics to vamp when you sing. When Fred played in open G, he played a C shape for his lV7 chord.

Thank you for doing this. More people should be aware of this amazing style. It is my favorite, by far. People need more real music in their lives.

I picked up on this stuff in the 90's, couldn't get enough of it - Fred, RL, Junior, T Model Ford, and the Fat Possum label... looks simple on paper but getting the groove takes some work...

Outstanding lesson. I particularly appreciate you bringing in some of the blues masters to put the music in context.

RL Burnside, no fancy elecrtronic, just his talent!!!! there are soi many blues musicians to discover!!!! great lesson and also great history review!!!!

I'm obsessed with this hill country blues. Thankyou

Robert Belfour is another guy, my personal favorite.

Around 6:45 with the Mississippi Fred McDowell pattern, start with an offbeat upstroke on the thumb to get the groove to get happen. I've played with Cam Kimbrough - he clued me in to that important detail...the thumb upstroke is essential. In other words, what makes the whole thing jump is that 16th note syncopation before the 1.

"My songs, they have just the one chord, there's none of that fancy stuff you hear now, with lots of chords in one song. If I find another chord I leave it for another song." Junior Kimbrough

The Black Keys sell out three nights at Madison Square Garden in 15 minutes and that wouldn’t have been possible without these gentlemen here, especially Junior.

Jumper on my line in my top 5 of all time same as all night long i have always loved this music love your enthusiasm for the awesome music thank you truly

Great,great video.your enthusiasm is infectious and I’ve got plenty of my own😊keep up the good work

Never new what that type of blues was called. Thank you for the excellent break down of the songs.

Fantastic video and lesson- wish I could play like that all night long- will be watching this again for your great playing tips.

Your an amazing teacher I’m learning so much from you Thank you God bless you always

I just now discovered this style and I'm in love. I really dig the percussive element and hypnotic effect. Way cool!

Thank you for explaining so well and making me understand the technic of hill country blues.

Thank you for keeping this style alive and enlightening someone like me that never knew this stuff existed.

Great video mate. Thanks for sharing and for the tutorial. Excellent

I've come back to this video so many times and it's so appreciated. I've learned a lot about the sound I'm trying to get from my guitar. Thank you Sir 😊

I discovered this music three years ago while learning guitar. Fantastic music. Haunting rhythms and full of attitude.

wonderfully done Fred McDowell is one of favorites....I am hooked on this stuff.! amen

Thank you for posting.. I always wanted to learn this technique since I saw the documentary. Thank you

That is a beauty guitar. F holes with flames of fire shooting out. Love it. Love the hypnotic boogie very much as well. Have a Yamaha acoustic. Had a Gibson G 62 reissue.

This is dope. Makes me excited to try this out. I dig your passion about it, man.

I got fascinated with this music when the deep blues documentary came out with that fella from eurythmics. I was just starting to play guitar at the time and I couldn’t figure this stuff out but I got it eventually. I’ve never actually met anyone that plays it but good on you for helping folk along with this. Greetings from sunny Scotland👋🏻

Great class , I always love this kind of percussive blues guitar , as a Brazilian I never knows exactly how to named that style . Thanks 🙏

Great breakdown and overview! Although I would say that to get close to RL's tone, using no pick and having the right hand placed so high near the neck is essential. Using bridge pickup instead might help as well.

I've seen the last clip and has been truly impressed. I didn't know anything about this style, though. Some of this stuff reminds me of desert blues, with it's hypnotic, repeating riffs.

This was an engaging video for the knowledge and history without actually taking this as a lesson. I might try to emulate this technique with bass.

Cool lesson! Would love to see more of these deep dives on very specific genres/styles

Wow so happy you made a video about this. Junior Kimbrough is such a legend

love the vintage guitars we got to see, thanks

I've loved this video so very much thank you for taking away some of the mystique of the sound.

Yeah i'm down with it, gonna explore this some.

Thanks for this tutorial. This is a good channel. Helped me get out of a rutt I was in

you cant immagine how much I enjoyed this lesson.. I am approching finger picking... please keep posting! Cheeers from italy!

Finally someone that gets this style.Thank you!!!

1st heard R.L. Burnside on a vans skate compilation cd as a teen in a remix of his let my baby ride song...loved him ever since

Really glad I stumbled on to your videos . You are excellent how you present this stuff . Time to go practice . Thanks .

Love this style playing

I really like what you're teaching here Definitely I'll be coming back!

Fred's "Shake em on down"...my favorite !

Great content some history and a great lesson. Can’t get enough

What an amazing video! I actually never realised this is different category than delta, I thought all that is called delta. Thanks it's great video!

I have a great appreciation for these men and their music. We are musical neighbors. I'm from "The Shoals" of Alabama and music has always been a huge part of this area since the beginning of time. I will never grow tired of the songs they sing and play because deep down these songs exist inside all of us.

A great big thank you from a guy who has loved hills country blues for a long time. Your videos are wounderful ! ! ! There are to few teachings out there on this style. And it is hard to find instruction like yours. I have to give a shout out to TheSpottyToad who has videos on this style I studied some years ago! Hope hes doing well also. Thanks again FGA this was great

I already love this after 20 seconds!

Hello from Poland 🇵🇱 Superfluous word !!! Respect ✊️

This is a great lesson! Thank you!

This is fantastic, thanks a bunch!

Great stuff. Eye opening

that recording of RL by Tav Falco of him playing that small set is my favorite piece of recording history. Have never been so in love with a recording

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar, god bless you👏👏👏🖖

What a terrific, informative video! Thanks so much.

Cool video, love the style of these players

So happy you talked about McDowell, he's a big inspiration on my slide playing.

Great Job, I recently got to hangout with RLs Grandson Cedric. Good stuff. Thanks.

This particular cultural and musical aspect of the blues has always fascinated me

Outstanding lesson. Thank you

You found the 'train'...very rare for a young guy. There's hope for the world yet. Well done lad.

Love how in-depth you went for this vid respect

Great video! Love these guys. Only learned about them a few years back... really groovy and hard not to move;) hound dog taylor even speeded it up.

Awesome video, best I've seen on this driving rhythm style

Awesome! More, more, more, please.

That was a cool vid, thanks, dig those techniques

Awesome lesson, thank you !

Thank you once again !

I was lucky enough to see R.L. Burnside twice. His live shows were incredible

Great video awesome info thanks

Absolutely brilliant video, subscribed!

Great stuff, this sound is so difficult to replicate, great job

Great Lesson! Real Blues stuff.

That was some good music for sure!

Thanks for this!!

Great video! Very useful

Excellent, thanks!

Thank you! Fantastic stuff!!!!!

Great three in one video! This lesson really sank in. Thanks bro!!

Cool you dig yourself in this stuff. By the way , I really love you're sound with your Gibson ; sooo authentic 👍👍👍

👍GREAT LESSON👍, very interesting and helpful ... THANK YOU VERY MUCH for sharing! 🎶

Sweet stuff thanks

Great video, thanks man

What a great lesson!! Very well done! Love how you include and comment on clips of the early masters 👏👏👏 This style reminds me a bit of Desert blues (Bombino Ter Hani).

Great Video! the first sound clip sounds like when the levee breaks.