Spirituals for Fingerstyle Guitar

Some time ago Cory began delving fairly deeply into the rich repertoire that is African-American Spirituals. Listening to the jubilee singers of yore, and some of the terrific recordings by Alan Lomax of vocal groups spurred him to find old hymnals and songbooks in order to arrange tunes for the guitar. Give Me Jesus is a soulful number that ended up being somewhat inspired by the playing of John Fahey, with down tempo strumming followed by more classic alternate bass picking. Roll De Chariot has a rollicking, syncopated feel that never really stays in one place, bouncing up and down the neck à la Revered Gary Davis.

Lift Every Voice and Sing, aka the Black National Anthem, has a beautiful, harmonically rich feel and the 6/8 tempo allows the guitarist a fair amount of room in which to maneuver. Also included is a spirited version of This Train, originally inspired by Big Bill Broonzy’s walking bass line, an arrangement of A Closer Walk With Thee that taps into the feel of a New Orleans brass band funeral procession, and a heavily swung and syncopated take on Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey’s heart-wrenching piece Precious Lord, Take My Hand.


Level 2/3 • 1 DVD (100 minutes) • Detailed tab/music PDF file on DVD. DVD is region 0 playable worldwide.