(Guitar Recorded Versions). 18 songs in note-for-note transcriptions with tab from the man who was considered the grandfather of instrumental acoustic fingerstyle guitar. Includes: America * Brenda's Blues * Desperate Man Blues * In Christ There Is No East or West * John Henry * Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home * Some Summer Day * Steamboat Gwine 'Round De Bend * Tell Her to Come Back Home * When the Springtime Comes Again * and more. Includes a biography and discography.

John Fahey hovers ghostlike in the sound of almost every acoustic guitarist who came after him. He was to the solo acoustic guitar what Hendrix was to the electric: the man whom all subsequent musicians had to listen to. Fahey made more than forty albums between 1959 and his death in 2001, fusing folk, blues, and experimental composition, taking familiar American sounds and making them new. Yet Fahey’s life and art remain largely unexamined. His memoir and liner notes were largely fiction. His real story has never been told—until now. Journalist Steve Lowenthal has spent years talking with Fahey’s producers, friends, peers, wives, business partners, and many others. He describes how Fahey introduced pre-war blues to a broader public; how his independent label, Takoma, set new standards; how he battled his demons, including stage fright, alcohol, and prescription pills; how he ended up homeless and mentally unbalanced; and how, despite his troubles, he managed to found a new record label, Revenant, that won Grammys and remains critically revered. This portrait of a troubled and troubling man in a constant state of creative flux is not only a biography, but also the compelling story of a great American outcast. Steve Lowenthal started and ran the music magazine Swingset; his writing has also been published in Fader, Spin, Vice, and the Village Voice. He lives in New York City. David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine.

John Fahey is feared and revered around the world as a guitar player and composer. His inventions for acoustic and electric strings are the stuff of legend. Known for his finger-picking finesse, Fahey's pen has the same world-gobbling ferocity as his guitar. Fahey's collection of short stories defy classification - part memoir, part personal essay, part fiction, part manifesto. It is a collection that makes an explosive selection of his work available for public consumption. What else is there to say, except 'Grab your ankles, dear readers. It's kingdom time!'

John Fahey transformed the world of acoustic flat-top steel-string guitar by bringing it to the concert stage as a respected, solo instrument. Blind Joe Death: Volume 1 looks at the important people and genres that shaped him as acomposer. This volume focuses on Side 1 of the original 1967 Blind Joe Death LP, a collection of mostly traditional music that was adapted for solo guitar. Hints of Fahey's early influences endured throughout his career as a composer, yet early on, and in Blind Joe Death, a unique voice is coming into focus-one that is not afraid to explore the avant-garde with journeys into collage and expressionism. Six extensively edited solos from Blind Joe Death are included in Volume 1: "On Doing an Evil Deed Blues," "St. Louis Blues," "Poor Boy a Long Ways from Home," "Uncloudy Day," "John Henry" and "In Christ There Is No East or West." Within these transcriptions, Andrew Lardner has provided admirers of John Fahey's body of work with the essential keys to launch their own journeys into replicating the sounds and style of Fahey's landmark solos from Blind Joe Death.

(Guitar Collection). Do you feel you've learned enough fingerstyle guitar technique to start playing some real tunes? If so, this is the book for you. 50 must-know songs, including: Blackbird * The Boxer * Dust in the Wind * Fire and Rain * Greensleeves * Hell Hound on My Trail * Is There Anybody Out There? * Julia * Puff the Magic Dragon * Road Trippin' * Shape of My Heart * Tears in Heaven * Time in a Bottle * Vincent (Starry Starry Night) * The Wind * and more.

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.

(Guitar Recorded Versions). 18 songs in note-for-note transcriptions with tab from the man who was considered the grandfather of instrumental acoustic fingerstyle guitar. Includes: America * Brenda's Blues * Desperate Man Blues * In Christ There Is No East or West * John Henry * Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home * Some Summer Day * Steamboat Gwine 'Round De Bend * Tell Her to Come Back Home * When the Springtime Comes Again * and more. Includes a biography and discography.