Search - Happy Traum Teaches Seven Classic Bob Dylan Songs on DVD

My Favorite Teacher; My Favorite Artist

Peter Hyatt | Orrington, Maine | 04/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title pretty much sums it up for me: Happy Traum is my favorite guitar instructor; and teaching the songs of my favorite artist, Bob Dylan, is the perfect match for me.
Happy Traum is a gifted teacher. It is already a given that he is a gifted musician. I first learned of him when listening to the cuts he did with Dylan for the Greatest Hits II album where he backed Dylan with guitar and banjo. More recently, I have been purchasing just about everything Homespun (Traum's family business of music instruction on DVD) puts out. His fingerpicking, Christmas, and general instruction DVDs are wonderful. His catalog of DVDs are carefully put out in Levels, with some geared towards Level 1 (no experience necessary) and others having multiple DVDs going from Level 1 to Level 3 (intermediate player).

Happy is a Dylan fan and his enthusiasm comes across when teaching. He is like a kind gentleman who comes into your home to teach you. He has the abiliity to simplify material down to understandable breaks, and with the judicious use of the pause button, you really can get MONTHS of guitar lessons in a single DVD. His Homespun video productions (now DVDs) feature some of the best musicians alive today. The camera work is clear, focused, with excellent dual cameras so you can see close ups of the left hand and the right hand.

It is about as close as one can get to hiring one of our country's best musicians into your home for private lessons. To me, these are more valuable than anything I can get locally, in spite of having some good musicians offering lessons here. Here you have the opportunity to "hire" someone good enough to play with Dylan for an incredible bargain. Some of Happy's DVDs will take me months to finish.

My only complaint? I wish he had more songs for us...hopefully, in the future, he will!"