GUITAR OF JOSEPH SPENCE
Taught by Elijah Wald
Joseph Spence was a virtuoso guitarist and master arranger in a style that was uniquely personal and yet caught the imagination of musicians around the world. He has been compared to the great blues masters, the African acoustic pioneers, and Thelonious Monk, and inspired such varied disciples as Ry Cooder (who has recorded four of his arrangements), Taj Mahal, John Renbourn, and David Lindley.
Born on the island of Andros in the Bahamas in 1910, Spence worked as a stone mason, playing mostly the religious songs he and his neighbors sang in church. His guitar arrangements capture the sound of these Bahaman gospel groups, with rhythms reflecting deep African roots and the roll of boats on the sea, and multi-part voicings in which bass and lead improvise independent, complementary lines.
As well as being a joy to play, Spences arrangements have valuable lessons for any curious guitarist. They are master classes in how to fingerpick in waltz time and capture the rolling Caribbean rhythms of Trinidad, Cuba or New Orleans. His separation of bass and treble, and the parallel voicings of his melody lines, teach interesting ways of harmonizing fingerstyle improvisations. And his unorthodox technique and brilliant improvisations break down old habits, and make one approach the guitar from a unique and fresh perspective.
Tunes taught include: Oh How I Love Jesus, Happy Meeting In Glory, Brownskin Girl, The Glory of Love, The Lord is My Shepherd, Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer.
Bonus Audio Tracks: 55 minutes of unreleased songs and interviews.
A detailed tab/music instructional booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.
Intermediate level.
Retail Price: $29.95
Online Sale Price: $26.96
Product Details: DVD, Guitar
80 Minutes
Product Code: GW970DVD
This item usually ships within 5 to 7 business days.
What Are NTSC and PAL?What are NTSC and PAL?
- NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) is a standard used in North America and Japan. It has the ability to display up to 525 lines of resolution on your television.
- PAL (Phase Alternating Line), a standard used almost everywhere else in the world, has the ability to display 625 lines of resolution on your television.
What DVD standard does my country use?
If you're in North America, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and parts of South America, you use NTSC. Most other areas of the world use PAL. Half of Brazil uses NTSC while the other half uses PAL-M. Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay use PAL-N. The rest of the world uses mainly PAL.
What Does This Mean?
What this means is that if you live in a country that uses NTSC, only this format will be compatible with your player. If you live in a country that uses PAL, most likely only this format will work for you. However, there are many players that will play both formats. The best bet is to check the manual for your DVD player before making a purchase.
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DVDs themselves are encoded for a specific region or indicated as 'all region.' On the back cover of many DVD packages, you will a find a region number (0 thru 6) placed inside an image of the Earth. This refers to which region the DVD is encoded for.
The geographical regions are as follows:
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The way this works is that DVDs encoded for regions other than Region 1 cannot be played on a region 1 DVD player. In addition, DVD players marketed for other regions cannot play region 1 DVDs. All region (region 0) DVDs may be played anywhere in the world.
The region system was designed to protect copyright and film distribution rights in the sense that movie studios can dictate who can watch what and when.
Please note that there are code free or Universal DVD players on the market that will play any disc from anywhere. Most Home DVD players are subject to region code restrictions, but most computer DVD players will play any DVD.
