Videos
Here is just a sampling of the many reviews in each issue of Dirty Linen.
To read them all, subscribe!

Get Started on Guitar
taught by Chet Atkins
Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop
SW 306 (2000); 60 min.,
w/80-page tab/music booklet
Chet Atkins has a very relaxed teaching style, and working with two students in this video, he passes on information more by playing and showing how to handle certain chords and licks rather than by a lot of verbal explanation. The trio progress from simple songs with just basic E and G chords up to ones where more complex chords and fingering can be used. Atkins' occasional tips about arranging and playing are insightful, and he's entirely believable when he says, "Practice the guitar a lot, and you'll learn to love it even more." This visual and aural approach to learning guitar would be a valuable addition to a basic or intermediate guitarist's toolbox. There's a lot of processing on the vocals when any of the three sing, and while this is a bit disconcerting at first, it does serve to help separate the voices from the notes of the strings. Songs include "Country Roads," "Jambalaya," and "Yesterday."
— Kerry Dexter (Tallahassee, FL)

Brad Leftwich
Learn to Play Old Time
Fiddle 2: Intermediate Level
Homespun Video VD-LEF-F102 (1999); $29.95, 70 min.
Advancing in technique and style from his first video on technique, oldtime fiddler Brad Leftwich teaches tips, tricks, and style along with the basics with songs including "Rocky Road to Dublin" and "Boll Weevil." The emphasis on this tape is on bowing technique as a way of interpreting tunes. In a straightforward teaching style, Leftwich first reviews the basics of bowing and then demonstrates bowing licks from Appalachian Melvin Wine, Tommy Jarrell, and Benton Flippen, passing on his own tricks for keeping time and showing how to use bowing patterns in a song. Leftwich is a relaxed yet challenging teacher, encouraging viewers to raise their fiddle skills a notch higher.
— Kerry Dexter (Tallahassee, FL)