Blues For Dummies [With Contains Over an Hour of Blues Classics...]

by Lonnie Brooks and Cub Koda

Book Overview

Get your mojo working as you take a musical trip from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago's gritty South Side and points beyond with Blues For Dummies, an insightful, toe-tappin', music lovers' guide to the blues. Popular blues guitarist Lonnie Brooks serves as your tour guide through the life and times of the blues, from the acoustic mystique of Robert Johnson and Son House to the urban blues men and women of today: John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, B.B...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764550802
• ISBN13: 9780764550805
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

enthusiastic comprehensive coverage of blues music

I, too, was put off by the "Dummies" word. I should not have been. The book is a comprehensive, knowlegable and enthusiastic coverage of blues - the artists [today's and yesterday's], where to find the blues, recordings. Everyone - from newcomer to experienced blues musician will find interesting and insightful information here. (The authors are themselves accomplished blues players).I have only two very minor quibbles: - The title could be considered a mite misleading. Although it does include advice on guitars, amps and harmonicas it does not tell you how to start to PLAY the blues. It does tell you how to put a band together but, if you are ready to do that, you are definitely past the "Dummy" stage. - There is a nice CD included, but... One track is credited as "Walkin the boogie" by John Lee Hooker and is decribed as a re-write of his "Boogie Chillen". To me it sounds nothing like John Lee's hit (which I bought, as a kid, in France in 1960). The track sounds to me to be nothing other than Champion Jack Dupree's "Walkin the Blues". Also, the CD's version of Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters is a quietened-down (though very nice) version compared with the livelier version that most people are probably familiar with.

Excellent Primer

If you want to have fun with the Blues this is the Book of choice. This book is an excelent primer for those who want to know about BLUES and a reference guide for those who already know! it shows you what clubs to go to, festivals to hit, and what radio stations to listen to in or near your town. It recommends Cds to buy, guitars to play, Amps, Harps, etc. It tells you what organizations to join in your city to help keep the blues alive and kickin'. This book even tell you how to get your own blues band started and what to look out for when you do get it going. Blues Music is about healing whatever ails you. It's about making your Blues go away. Before I bought this book i had the wrong thought of blues. I thought Blues would make me feel low down and depressed. I seen how the people who wrote this book did this to show people how to have fun with Blues and then i BOUGHT it. So Check out the Cd in the back its worth the price of the book alone. Then Go out and party at your local blues joint and you'll see what I mean!

A great start for all Blues newbies.

Lonnie Brooks, along with son Wayne and Cub Koda have created the best primer for Blues music newbies and the not so new. The authors cover all the essential blues artists, give hints on how all to start a blues band, how to play the blues and even how to throw a "juke" party, all this, along with the enclosed CD, makes this book a must for all blues lovers.

Now I know the Blues!

I always was interested in the Blues, but not enough to actually figure out what made one kind of blues different from another or how they got that sound. It was also hard to know how to buy good blues records, because once you get beyond the obvious classics you basically have to rely on whatever the record store clerk personally thinks is good, unless you know someone who's really into the blues. And I've never seen a Blues book that came with a CD before, so you just had to imagine the songs they were describing. This book was a lot of fun to read, and with the CD, I really "got" what it was talking about. I'm getting it for Christmas for some people because it's really ideal for people who want to explore the blues but don't know where to start.

It's got it all

I always wanted to learn about the blues but never knew where to start, what records to buy. Some blues records that I heard I really liked, but others I didn't, and I was never sure whether it was the artist, or the song, or the blues themselves that I liked. This book explains all the different kinds of blues music, and it introduces all the artists. I found out a lot about the ones I already liked, got tips on who else I'd probably like (the CD was a big help), and also a complete overview of the history and development of the blues. My roommate has been trying to explain the blues to me for the last year, and now I UNDERSTAND! Even he likes it a lot, by the way, and he knows 9000 times more about the blues than I do.