Ranger Doug Rides the Rhythm Range

Product Description

Swing rhythm never left, but it's getting harder to find someone to teach it! Noted swing rhythm guitarist Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky takes you step-by-step through the process of expanding your technique on swing rhythm. Whether you play in a swing band, a cowboy quartet like Riders in the Sky, or gypsy jazz, this DVD offers you an absolutely unique and up-close look at chord forms, patterns, right and left hand technique, and insider tips by a swing rhythm master who has been playing this style for over 30 years. In addition, two western classics, Wah Hoo and Tumbling Tumbleweed, are not only broken down and explained in detail, but are performed by 2-time Grammy winners Riders in the Sky in a mini-concert, so that the lesson on those two tunes is exemplified in live performance. Saddle up, saddle pal, and ride the Rhythm Range with Ranger Doug! Includes transcription booklet.

Customer Reviews:

A Delightful Look at Rhythm Guitar.......2007-02-04

Doug Green is more than a guy in a cowboy hat singing western songs, he is a man that is well versed in Cowboy music and who has studied its every nuance; in short, he is a perfectionist when it comes to his art. This DVD shows how he does it using the types of chord voicings authentic to this music.

It starts with a couple of Riders in the Sky numbers done live before the camera including a flubbed ad-lib of the lyrics by Too Slim. Just these performances by themselves are enough to make this DVD worth owning. Doug plays a beautiful natural-finished Stromberg guitar for these sequences and the sound he gets is outstanding.

Next, the instructional phase of the video where Doug shows you his tricks for getting the sound he does. Doug switches to a second Stromberg for this part, a reddish sunburst model that is to die for. The voicings he teaches are from the era of great rhythm players and he wisely shows how to use both 3 and 4 note voicings together when arranging a rhythm part. There is also a chord chart included with some sample passages in print so you can practice the material at your own pace. I've been playing for 40 years and I learned a couple of new tricks the first time through. Many times I've watched it just for the entertainment value and I've had copies shipped to two of my closest guitar-playing friends.

One last thing to mention is that Doug Green stays "in character" throughout the video as Ranger Doug, the idol of American youth. It only adds to the already abundant charm of this truly delightful presentation.

Useful but..........2006-10-11

Riders in the Sky has been one of my favorite bands for many years and Douglas Green (aka Ranger Doug) is one of my guitar heros. I've been trying to learn to play Western Swing style backup guitar for quite a while now. I was quite excited when I found and purchased this video.

The video is probably worth the cost just to see the Riders in the Sky perform the two songs that are featured, Wah-Hoo and Tumbling Tumbleweeds. After the mini-concert, RD give a short dissertation on the history of his style of guitar playing and some thoughts about right hand technique.

Next comes the meat of the video. He demonstrates a basic pattern in two key that he says constitutez about 80% of his playing. He then demonstrates how the patterns might work with small fragments of three songs, (Red River Valley, a miniscule fragment of Stardust and another miniscule fragment of a cowboy song that was pretty good but I didn't recognize). Finally, he explains in pretty good detail how he plays the two featured songs.

This DVD is not a lesson for beginners. It is also not a DVD about Western Swing. RD himself says on the DVD that if you want to learn Western Swing Backup you should buy Ray Benson's DVD. It is, however, a good exposition of RD's unigue backup style. He says, and I believe him, that he demonstrates everything he knows on the DVD.

My biggest complaint about the DVD is that I would have liked to seen more examples of how his basic pattern can be used in different songs.

Helpful instruction for neglected art of western swing guitar.......2006-07-27

Ranger Doug is one of the very few pure western swing guitarists out there. His style is a derivative of Freddie Green 4-to-a-bar big band swing guitar but his strumming style is slightly different than Freddie's jazz swing style or Django's Hot Club strumming style. It helps to watch his right hand and left hand work together to understand the muting techniques he employs. He accents certain beats as he strums which really clarifies the role of rhythm guitar in this style.

He was influenced by the acoustic guitarists in the Sons of the Pioneers, the first of western swing band to become famous. Riders in the Sky, Doug's band, has had a successful career and Doug and the band perform 2 songs. Doug shows the basic strums for each. It helps to see the band perform so you can see western swing guitar performed in the context of a band. The only thing lacking in this video is western swing lead guitar as that topic is not discussed and Doug suggests buying Ray Benson's western swing video for that topic. I suggest Brent Mason's Hot Licks DVD as well for western swing lead guitar.

Doug Green (aka Ranger Doug) has a new book out as well called Rhythm Guitar the Ranger Doug Way that expands on the material in the DVD. It also shows the actual chords Doug plays on jazz standards like How High The Moon. I suggest getting both the book and DVD and use both together to really master the style of western swing rhythm guitar.

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