In this DVD lesson, Ray Benson teaches the essential techniques needed to master Western Swing Guitar. To anchor your rhythm playing, Ray dissects Eldon Shamblin's traveling bass lines and Freddie Green's comping and damping methods, then applies them to Bob Willis' famous ballad "Faded Love" and "Take Me Back To Tulsa". "Take off guitar" is key to swing's dynamic solos and Ray shows how he created the lead lines for "Red Wing", using embellishments such as raking, octave bounces, and arpeggios. "Roly Poly" becomes an in-depth lesson on double and triple parts. Finally, Ray features the blues-into-swing innovations of Junior Barnard, Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker in "Fat Boy Ray" and "Milk Cow Blues".
Ray Benson Plays "Red Wing"
As a genre of music, Western Swing is a unique blend of jazz, blues, cowboy, western, gospel and Spanish sounds. The repertory of any Western Swing band includes tunes associated with each of these schools of music, but a consistent style flows through every performance. Eldon Shamblin, whom Rolling Stone magazine once called the "World's Best Rhythm Guitarist" remains a cornerstone in his contributions to this genre. His sophisticated, swinging and moving chords forever impacted the music. Featuring Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, Art Greenhaw, Bob Kiser, Jim Boyd, Muriel "Zeke" Campbell, Benny Garcia, Cameron Hill, Jimmy Wyble and Junior Barnard. It includes rare black & white archival films from the 1940s to recent performances. Also featured is Tommy Morrell, a guitarist of a younger generation whose playing highlights not just the passing of a flame but new places the torch can be carried.