A Beginning Accordion Method for the Blind
CBM 693
Robert Young McMahan's course will teach persons of all ages, including those who read neither braille nor large type, to learn to play music of easy to moderate difficulty on the pianostradella accordion. Suitable for use with or without previous musical training, and with either casual or serious interest in music. Music learned includes "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore," "Dona, Dona," "When the Saints Come Marching In," "Oh, Susanna," "Joy to the World," "Ode to Joy" (theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony), and "Goin' Home" (theme from Dvorík's New World Symphony).

A Beginning Accordion Method for the Blind: Supplementary Repertoire
CBM 712
Additional compositions for each of the lessons in A Beginning Accordion Method for the Blind. Developed especially for the NLS program by Robert Young McMahon.

A Beginning Chromatic Freebass Accordion Method for the Blind
CBM 711
Uses familiar songs and themes to teach basic musical concepts and playing techniques. Developed especially for the NLS program by Robert Young McMahan.

Autoharp

Autoharp and Jew's Harp
CBM 373
Mike Seeger leads an informal discussion on the selection, tuning, care, and handling of the autoharp. Covers beginning techniques of picking and strumming as well as the styles of Maybelle Carter, Kilby Snow, Pop Stoneman, and Seeger. Instructions include a demonstration of playing techniques.

How to Play Autoharp
CBM 1606

How to Play Jewharp
CBM 1607

Banjo

Bluegrass Banjo, Lessons 1-6
CBM 414-419
Bill Keith introduces the traditional bluegrass sound as well as his own style of banjo picking. Teaches tuning, basic right hand patterns, scales and fiddle tunes, back-up rhythm, and lead techniques. Includes information about scales and chord theory helpful to the banjo student. Songs include "Cumberland Gap," "Cripple Creek," "Dill Pickle Rag," "Turkey in the Straw," and "Little Sadie."

5-String Banjo, Series 1, Lessons 1-6
CBM 426-431
Happy Traum introduces main techniques of folk and country banjo picking, including two-finger mountain style, up-picking, double-thumbing, hammering-on, pulling-off, and a variety of strums and chord positions. Teaches accompaniments and instrumental versions of nearly forty songs, including "Irene," "Jesse James," "I Never Will Marry," "Cripple Creek," "Banks of the Ohio," "Pretty Peggy-o," and "Shady Grove."

5-String Banjo, Series 2, Lessons 7-12
CBM 432-437
Happy Traum teaches folk and country banjo techniques such as frailing, clawhammer style, and three-finger (Scruggs style) bluegrass picking. Songs include "Sail Away, Ladies," "Pretty Polly," "Nine Hundred Miles," "The Water Is Wide," "Marching through Georgia," and "Wildwood Flower."

Keith [Banjo] Tuners
CBM 406
Bill Keith teaches use of tuning devices necessary for achieving a bluegrass banjo sound. Illustrated with several traditional banjo solos, including a version of "Auld Lang Syne" played entirely with the tuners.

Dobro

Backup and Fills for Dobro
CBM 1222
National dobro champion Dan Huckabee discusses and demonstrates how the dobro can be used most effectively in a band and how to play backup in any situation. Some of the topics covered are intros, fills, rhythm, solos, and endings. Includes "Wabash Cannonball," "On My Mind," and others.

Easy Dobro Solos
CBM 1276
Some knowledge of how to play the dobro is needed before undertaking this course by Dan Huckabee. Tunes included are "Cripple Creek," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," and "Steel Guitar Rag."

Dulcimer

Traditional Mountain Dulcimer
CBM 1324
Jean Ritchie gives a short history of the dulcimer, presents tunings for different modes, and gives a song for each tuning. Information about how to properly hold the dulcimer is also included for beginners.

Fiddle

Learning the Irish Fiddle
CBM 1306
This course is designed by Kevin Burke for those who already know how to play the fiddle and would like to learn some Irish tunes. Pieces are played slowly, a phrase at a time, so that they can be learned by ear. Includes hornpipes, jigs, and reels, and tells how to vary or ornament each piece.

Real Cajun Fiddle
CBM 1321
Six tapes on the Cajun fiddle playing style, including well-known waltzes, reels, two-steps, and stomps. On side one, each song is played at a slower-than-normal speed and broken into short phrases. On side two, the same songs are played with a guitar and second fiddle so that the student can play along. Some songs also include the accordion. Taught by Michael Doucet.

Guitar

Advanced Fingerpicking [Guitar] Techniques
CBM 479-484
Stefan Grossman presents complex guitar arrangements adapted from fiddle tunes, blues, and original pieces. Designed for the student who has Homespun Tapes Fingerpicking, Series 1 and 2, or the Blues Guitar Series. Songs include "Pigtown Fling," "Tryin' to Get Home," and "Roberta."

Beginning Rock Guitar
CBM 1714
Taught by Paul Lidel.

Bottleneck/Slide Guitar, Lessons 1-6
CBM 444-449
Arlen Roth introduces bottleneck/slide guitar techniques used by blues musicians such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, country musicians like Jimmie Rodgers, and rock groups like Cream. Teaches blues and country licks, turnarounds, fills, intros and endings, and solos in songs such as "Good Morning Blues," "Goin' Down Slow," "Dust My Broom," and "Rolling and Tumbling."

Contemporary Fingerpicking Guitar
CBM 1472-1474
Stephen Grossman discusses various topics about fingerpicking including: who's who in the fingerpicking world, how blues and ragtime styles relate to today's guitar playing, and what the American Primitive Guitar is.

Contemporary Ragtime Guitar, Lessons 1-6
CBM 456-461
Stefan Grossman discusses how to arrange classic piano rags for guitar and presents advanced fingerpicking techniques necessary for playing in ragtime style. Designed for those already fluent in a variety of fingerpicking styles. Presents four rags: "Georgia Camp Meeting," "Kinklet's Two Step" ("Hilarity Rag"), "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin, and "Red Pepper Rag."

Country Blues Gospel Guitar
CBM 1480-1482
Country blues and gospel music have always been intertwined. Many bluesmen have played religious tunes as well as "the devil's music!" Fingerstyle and bottleneck techniques have been traditionally used in both blues and gospel styles. In this three- cassette series, Dean Sires presents a detailed study of playing country blues gospel guitar. For the beginner to intermediate guitarist.

Country Blues Guitar
CBM 1495-1497
The music of Charley Patton, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Bill Broonzy, and others are presented and discussed. Each musician is spotlighted in his own segment in this series of 17 broadcasts by Stefan Grossman. It introduces the listener to the legendary names of country blues guitar and gives a clear picture of how blues styles and techniques developed.

Country Blues Guitar, Series 2
CBM 485-490
Stefan Grossman takes the student beyond the simple steady or alternating bass and into moving bass lines, counterpoint, classical arranging, and open tunings. Songs, in the styles of Elizabeth Cotten, the Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Sam McGee, include "Oh Papa," "Buck Dancer's Choice," "Stagolee," and "If You Don't Want Me, Don't You Have Me Anymore."

Country Blues Guitar, Series 3
CBM 491-496
Stefan Grossman presents complex arranging styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller, Frank Stokes, Tommy Johnson, and Willie Brown, including alternating bass styles, the Mississippi Delta sound, and the ragtime blues of North Carolina. Songs include "Spider, Spider," "It Won't Be Long," "M and O Blues," and "Careless Love."

Country Blues Guitar Styles and Techniques
CBM 1478/1479
This series of radio shows focuses on styles and techniques of country blues guitarists and uses old recordings combined with Stefan Grossman's playing to describe the techniques used.

Country Guitar Styles
CBM 1201-1203
Doc and Merle Watson cover finger picking, flat picking, Merle's slide, and Doc and Merle's "twin guitar" duets. Especially made for the intermediate to advanced player. Examples are played slowly as well as up to tempo for ease of learning by ear.

Designing Guitar Solos for Bluegrass Songs
CBM 1223
Chris Jones discusses how to embellish a guitar solo using a simple bluegrass melody. Some knowledge of flat picking is needed to benefit from these tapes. Included in the ten songs that Chris Jones analyzes and teaches are "Used to Be," "Rose of Old Kentucky," and "Your Love Is like a Flower."

Electric Blues and Rock Guitar
CBM 1483-488

Lesson One: Beginnings-the Roots of Electric Blues. Fred Solokow slows down and analyzes the licks, scales, and techniques of Lonnie Johnson, Scrapper Blackwell, Lightnin' Hopkins, and John Lee Hooker. Besides learning some great styles, you will have a foundation to build upon.
Lesson Two: Electric Slide Guitar. Using several sample tunes, Solokow teaches how to play electric slide guitar in the styles of the blues masters. Several tech- niques are covered as you learn the techniques of Tampa Red (open D), Muddy Waters (open G), Elmore James (open E), and Robert Nighthawk (standard tuning), and how to apply these techniques to rock progressions.
Lesson Three: Early Blues/Rock: Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. These two guitarists defined rock guitar in their day. The licks and styles they used, derived from blues players, are still an important part of every rock guitarist's repertoire. Lots of sample tunes plus lead and backup are included.
Lesson Four: Kings of Modern Blues: B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, and T. Bone Walker. By analyzing sample tunes, Solokow teaches how to play electric single-string blues licks. The listener will learn several scale positions and how to improvise with them, how to do the "blues vibrato," how to do fill-in licks, chords, and turn arounds. Instruction on how to apply these scales and licks to modern rock is also included.
Lesson Five: Modern Rock: English Blues and Heavy Metal. This lesson concentrates on the licks, scales, and playing styles of Eric Clapton, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, and Jimmy Page-guitarists whose playing directly derives from the blues masters. This lesson includes instruction in effects (distortion, vibrato bar, etc.), blues, and sliding scales and a special "speedy licks" exercise.
Lesson Six: Jazzy Electric Blues. The last lesson in the series illustrates how to jazz up the 12-bar blues progression, vary the blues scales with diminished scales a la Charlie Christian, apply blues scales to jazz tunes, "substitute scales," and the special techniques used by Wes Montgomery and George Benson.

The Electric Guitar
CBM 1204-1209
Amos Garrett teaches how to bend single and double notes in the first four lessons of this series. The last two lessons teach songs using string-bending techniques learned in earlier lessons. For intermediate to advanced players.

Fingerpicking Guitar Workshop
CBM 1475-1477
In this series of radio broadcasts Stefan Grossman adds guitar playing with talk and records to illustrate some of the ideas, approaches and concepts in fingerpicking guitar. Bottleneck styles and techniques in open G and D tunings, crossnote tuning, blues in E, raggin' the blues, blues from the Carolinas, the guitar of Rev. Gary Davis, sophisticated blues, Texas blues, and Atlanta blues are some of the areas discussed.

Fingerpicking [Styles for Guitar], Series 1
CBM 497-502
Happy Traum teaches basic fingerpicking in four common keys (C, G, D, and E), emphasizing ability to pick out syncopated melodies while maintaining a steady rhythmic bass pattern. Songs, in the styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Mike Seeger, Elizabeth Cotten, the Rev. Gary Davis, Merle Travis, and Dave Van Ronk, include "Spike Driver's Blues," "My Creole Belle," "Candy Man," and "Nine-Pound Hammer."

Fingerpicking [Styles for Guitar], Series 2
CBM 503-508
Happy Traum presents fingerpicking tech- niques appropriate for those who can already do basic picking but want to expand their technique through the use of difficult chord positions, open tunings, and counter-bass lines. Songs, in the styles of Doc Watson, Willie Brown, Dave Van Ronk, and Merle Travis, include "Sitting on Top of the World," "Deep River Blues," "Mississippi Blues," and "St. Louis Tickle."

Flatpick Country Guitar
CBM 473-478
Happy Traum introduces the listener to flatpicking styles used by the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Doc Watson, and Johnny Cash. Covers basic strums, bass runs, hammer-ons, pull-offs, twelve-bar blues, walking bass, bluegrass licks, breaks, improvised solos, and fiddle tunes. Songs include "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad," "Wildwood Flower," "Cripple Creek," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," and "Turkey in the Straw."

Guitar by Ear
CBM 1617
Taught by David Bates.

Guitar Method for the Blind
CBM 697
Don Hoffer offers an introduction to the guitar, with instructions for playing chords and chordal accompaniments to folk tunes. Contains instructions for learning jazz, blues, and flamenco guitar styles.

Honky Tonkin' Country Guitar Solos
CBM 1290
The ten solos on this cassette were written by Paul Kramer. They are played at a regular tempo and at a slower speed for ease in learning. The author stresses that this course is for intermediate to advanced players only and moves rather rapidly.

Improvising Bluegrass Guitar
CBM 1274
In this course for the more advanced player, Brad Davis teaches twenty-eight licks and how to use them to improvise, jam, and create your own original breaks. Examples are played two or three times with different licks to show various styles.

Intro to the Guitar for the Visually Impaired
CBM 1616
Learn the basics of guitar playing without any written or braille materials. A Bill Brown course.

Lead Guitar
CBM 462-467
Artie Traum introduces electric blues/rock lead guitar styles of B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and others, covering a wide variety of techniques in songs such as "St. James Infirmary," "House of the Rising Sun," "Tornado," and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere."

Lead Guitar
CBM 1320
A six-tape course by Arlen Roth, covering the basics for beginning lead guitar. Topics discussed include left-hand exercises, hammer-ons, slides, pull-offs, bending strings, and special licks.

Learn to Play Country Quickly
CBM 1212
Ray and Louis Howard teach this beginning course in guitar and discuss tuning, chords, songs, and how to transpose them. Songs included are "Down in the Valley," "You Are My Sunshine," "Beautiful Brown Eyes," and others.

Playing and Understanding Jazz Guitar
CBM 1489-1494
Lessons narrated by Fred Solokow.
Lesson One: Chords. The lesson starts with the building blocks of jazz, how to recognize and construct chords and when to use them. Included is instruction on several moveable positions for each chord type and background information on intervals and the major scale.
Lesson Two: Chord Progressions. When soloing, composing or with any jazz playing, you must know the basic types of chord movements: II-V-I, circle of fifths, "scalewise" progressions, blues and others. Moveable fretboard patterns for all these are taught.
Lesson Three: Chord Soloing and Chord Substitution. This lesson deals with comping (backup) or chord soloing, how to substitute chords and vary progressions in order to jazz up a tune.
Lesson Four: Basic Single Note Soloing. The student now learns to improvise solos using blues scales and moveable major scales, how to recognize and use "key centers"-the key to soloing. Instruction included in playing basic melody, stylized melody, and completely free improvisation.
Lesson Five: Fancier Single-Note Soloing. Building on lesson four, the student learns to use diminished and augmented scales to jazz up solos, plus lots of chord-based licks and double-note soloing techniques and tips on "scale substitution."
Lesson Six: Soloing Styles of the Greats. We now look closely at the playing styles of the influential guitarists Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, and Wes Montgomery. You will learn to solo "in the style of..." and study an analysis of the contributions made to guitar playing by these jazz giants.

Rippin' Lead Guitar
CBM 1715
Narrated by Paul Lidel.

Rock Guitar Soloing
CBM 1303
Arti Funaro teaches modern styles in this course, covering solos in the blues shuffle; funky blues of Albert King; heavy metal of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Eddie Van Halen; soul of Sam and Dave, James Brown, and Wilson Pickett; New Wave; and jazz/pop of George Benson.

Rock Rhythm Guitar
CBM 1716
Taught by Paul Lidel.

Tuning with Harmonics
CBM 1353
A method of tuning the guitar by using a tuning fork and playing harmonics.

Harmonica

Blues Harmonica
CBM 1280
Gary Primich begins with teaching the notes on the harmonica and ends with difficult blues licks. He also discusses the types of harmonicas and recordings of great harmonica players that should be heard.

Blues Harmonica
CBM 753-758
John Sebastian uses the harmonica in C to teach blowing single notes, playing harp in and harp out, and bending notes.

Blues Harp
CBM 680
Tony Glover offers an introduction to blues style playing using Marine Band ten-hole harmonica. Covers simple melo- dies and techniques such as bending notes, train effects, and cross harp. Gives information on selecting harps for and playing with different guitar tunings. Adapted from Folkways Records recording FM 8358 for use by blind and physically handicapped individuals with special permission of the copyright holder.

Mandolin

Bluegrass Mandolin
CBM 1281
In this course Dan Huckabee plays each song at full speed followed by a slow detailed lesson taught one phrase at a time. Some of the tunes included are "Gold Rush," "Big Mon," "Sugarfoot Rag," and "John Hardy."

Designing Mandolin Solos for Bluegrass Songs
CBM 1220
Paul Kramer discusses how to play background for singers and how to embellish the solo part when the mandolin plays it. Songs include "I'm Going Back to Old Kentucky," "Little Cabin on the Hill," and others.

Improvising Bluegrass Mandolin
CBM 1277
For the advanced musician who plays by ear; note names are not given. Standard licks and how to use them to improvise, jam, and create original breaks are presented by Brad Davis. Examples are played two or three times at different speeds and with different licks to show various styles.

Irish Dance Tunes for Mandolin
CBM 1275
Some knowledge of how to play the mandolin is needed to learn these reels, jigs, and hornpipes. Mark Bickford plays first up to tempo and then slowly phrase by phrase. Some of the pieces are "Scatter the Mud," "The Blue Angel," and "Tuttle's Reel."

Organ

Popular Organ Instruction, Levels 1-3
CBM 702
Bill Irwin's lessons include an introduction to manuals, pedals, and registration; sitting position; chord construction and transposition; and naming and spelling out left-hand chords as used in familiar songs.

Piano

Blues/Rock Piano
CBM 450-455
David Bennet Cohen teaches the basics of blues, barrelhouse, boogie-woogie, and rock piano styles. Begins with simple rhythms and introduces increasingly complex patterns. Each tape is supplemented with braille music. Designed for persons with elementary knowledge of piano keyboard and note reading.

Country Piano
CBM 1291
Taught by Ron Howard.

Key to the Keys for the Visually Handicapped
CBM 699
Beginning instruction for the piano. Does not require the use of braille or printed material. Taught by Gale Pederson.

Play by Ear and Improvise
CBM 1282
This course by Gale Pederson presents songs for the elementary piano player. Improvising techniques include broken chords, blocked chords, and octaves in the bass. Some of the songs are "Long, Long Ago," "Home on the Range," and "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Play Piano by Ear
CBM 1413
Daniel Abrams teaches familiar tunes, using a basic foundation of scales, chords, and intervals. He explains how to know what chords to use in harmonizing parti- cular melodies and demonstrates how to transpose them. Among the musical examples are Wagner's "Wedding March" ("Here Comes the Bride"), "Silent Night," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," and "When the Saints Go Marching In."

Put Your Hands on the Piano and Play
CBM 1409
Daniel Abrams has adapted his course for use by blind individuals. In this nontraditional approach to piano instruction, Abrams teaches chord structures and encourages students to improvise.

Ragtime Piano
CBM 420-425
David Cohen Bennett uses both traditional songs and composed works to illustrate rag style. Complete in six lessons, graded easy to difficult. Includes braille music for lessons 1, 2, and 3. Braille for lessons 4, 5, and 6 available on request.
Lesson 1: "St. James Infirmary" and "Careless Love"
Lesson 2: "Buddy Bolden's Blues"
Lesson 3: "Ragtime Pasmala" and "Alabama Hoedown"
Lesson 4: "Swipesy Cakewalk"
Lesson 5: "The Entertainer"
Lesson 6: "Maple Leaf Rag"

Recorder

Learning to Play Recorder, Alto and Bass, Levels 1-2
CBM 713
Sixteen cassettes which parallel the course for f-instruments in two levels. Taught by Jean Sell.

Learning to Play Recorder, Soprano and Tenor, Levels 1-2
CBM 640
Jean Sell teaches this beginning course for soprano and tenor recorders which is appropriate for people with and without previous musical experience. Folk songs, familiar tunes, and composed music especially appropriate for recorder are played as solos, in duets, and with guitar accompaniment. Emphasizes playing by ear and covers fundamentals of music, providing a solid music theory foundation for those who may want to read braille music later. Gives suggestions for choosing and caring for instruments.

Singing

Basic Vocal Technique
CBM 1301
Pop singer and composer Penny Nichols discusses relaxing the body and voice, projecting the voice, and singing intervals and ornaments. Each lesson begins with a new song to learn.

Bluegrass Harmony
CBM 1221, 1224-1225
Dan Huckabee discusses a number of bluegrass standards and gives hints to help the student figure out harmony parts to other songs with the aid of his guitar. Includes "Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone," "Old Home Place," and others.

Born to Sing
CBM 1527

Gospel Harmony
CBM 1227
Dan Huckabee sings and plays melody and harmony to some favorite gospel tunes. Also teaches the student how to figure out harmony with a guitar. Includes "Farther Along," "Put Your Hand in the Hand," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," and more.

How to Sing Pop Harmony
CBM 1226
Dan Huckabee teaches two- and three-part harmonizations for some popular songs. The melody and harmony parts are sung separately and together. Some songs included are "Danny's Song," "Muskrat Love," "Bye Bye Love," and others.

Learn to Yodel
CBM 1293
The first tape of this two-part series discusses the techniques of yodeling, finding the break in the voice, and the words and syllables used. The second tape deals with styles of individual singers and the way yodeling is used in songs. Taught by Cathy Fink.

Singing Country Harmony
CBM 1228
Dan Huckabee teaches how to sing two-, three-, and four-part harmony in this course. The melody parts are played separately and procedures are given for figuring out parts of songs. Includes "Red River Valley," "Take Me Back to Tulsa," "Cryin' Time," and others.

Singing Success Library
CBM 579 (high voice)
CBM 580 (low voice) A progressive series of lessons for students of high school age and older. Includes detailed, easily comprehensible description of singing techniques and tone production. Each tape includes appropriate exercises and instructions for a specific song plus suggestions for developing self-confidence and stage presence; each song is recorded by flute and piano. Taught by Macon Delayan.

Songwriting/Composing

The Avant-Garde Today, Parts 1-2
CBM 208-209
Scott Huston looks at the work of the "anti-music" composers and at musical composition, past and future. He predicts that traditional composition will soon become a dead art form.

Chance and Randomness in the Arts
CBM 305
Composer Murray Schafer describes the process by which aleatoric or chance music is "composed."

How to Write for the Musical Theater
CBM 1505/CBM 1506

Songwriters Workshop
CBM 1322
In six one-hour lectures, five distinguished songwriters and lyricists discuss using the guitar and drum machine as writing tools, developing new lyrics, using the piano for melodic development, developing ideas on electronic keyboards, and the business side of songwriting.

Synthesizer/Electronic Keyboard

The Complete Synthesist
CBM 1300
This course is primarily designed for the person who knows about or owns a synthesizer. Rob Zantay discusses basic synthesizer theory, how the synthesizer works, techniques of creating a sound, how to use a synthesizer in a recording studio, and how to set up a live, on-stage performance.

Electronic Keyboard Course
CBM 1408
Taught by Carol Klose.

Electronic Keyboards
CBM 1302
Vinnie Martucci discusses how to arrange music for synthesizers in a variety of styles. Concentrates on bass parts, rhythm sections, keyboard lead line parts, and overdubs. Teaches how to combine these different sounds to make the finished sounds of originally composed tunes or tunes written by others.

Tinwhistle

Irish Dance Tunes for Tinwhistle
CBM 1279
Dan Foster begins with the fingering of the tinwhistle on easy pieces, then proceeds to more difficult pieces and the teaching of ornamentation. Includes reels, jigs, and hornpipes. Some of the tunes are "Hunter's Purse," "The King's Jig," "The Banshee," and "George White's Favourite."

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Posted on 2004-10-20