Homespun

Rainer Brunn has delivered another beautifully detailed lesson that will thrill and inspire all fingerpicking players. This time, he teaches five songs in open D. As in all of Rainer’s lessons, his setlist of songs is nuanced and musically creative. In his hands, the open tuning brings ringing strings, rich textures and the always-powerful alternating bass rhythm.

Rainer starts off with the old dustbowl song, I’m Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, giving it new life with a complex harmonic arrangement and unexpected chord variations. 

Police Dog Blues is, according to Rainer, one of Blind Blake’s most popular songs, with its distinctive moving lines, harmonics, octaves and double-stops. 

Rainer says of Clifford Gibson’s Old Time Rider, “It’s pure fun,” as he contrasts up-the-neck blues licks against steady open-string bass notes. He follows it with Rev. Robert Wilkins’ widely popular and much-recorded That’s No Way To Get Along. The showpiece of the set, Mississippi Fred McDowell’s You Got To Move, is played with a slide, although Rainer shows you how to play it by fretting the notes as well.

This lesson will give learning players a deeper understanding of open D tuning and will solidify your alternating bass fingerpicking. Best of all, you’ll learn some compelling traditional tunes to add to your growing repertoire of traditional blues songs.