DESCRIPTION:
Guitar Lesson:
Learn how to play Poor Black Mattie & Long Haired Doney by R.L. Burnside.
Open G Tutorial - Play "Po' Black Mattie".
Play R.L. Burnside riffs & licks.

Nervous Niven presents a crash course guitar lesson on R.L. Burnside's "Poor Black Mattie" AKA "Po' Black Mattie" AKA "Poor Black Maddie". & "Long Haired Doney".

North Mississippi Hill Country licks played here on a 1959 Supro "Electric" and a 1970's Yamaha FG-150 acoustic flat-top guitar.

Being a huge fan of R.L. Burnside I've been obsessed with how to play "Poor Black Mattie" and close relatives for several years now. I'm a bit long in the tooth to be picking up new skills but I take encouragement from the fact that R.L. Burnside couldn't play a note till after he turned 22 when he picked up a guitar for the very first time.

My interpretation of how to play R.L. Burnside's Poor Black Mattie was worked out by ear, listening to as many R.L. Burnside recordings of Poor Black Mattie as I could find. I have so far located at least eight of his Poor Black Mattie solo releases no two of which are played quite the same way.

This video was put together as a hasty response to repeated requests; it is aimed at players who already have some picking experience. I still intend to upload a series of lessons aimed at beginners should I gain enough support from YouTube users...

If you want to see a more comprehensive breakdown of how to play "Poor Black Mattie" & "Long Haired Doney" then please show your support in the comments box below.