Sleepy John Estes is known as one of the masters of Delta Blues, so when learning to play the blues, he's a good place to start with. In this video lesson, see how to play the song "Somday Baby" by Estes on your blues guitar in an Open G tuning with a slide.
Estes was born in either 1899 or 1904 to a family of sharecroppers. He cut his first record in 1929 in Memphis. With little musical success, John fell into obscurity.
Sleep John Estes was tracked down by folklorist Sam Charters in 1962. He was living in poverty and blind. His musical career was revitalized in a big way. He toured Europe, Japan, and resumed recording. Estes played at the Newport 1964 Folk Festival.
This song (Someday Baby) has been covered by many musicians, like the Allman Brothers and most recently Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan mentions Estes in the sleeve notes to Bringing It All Back Home (1965).
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Kevin Duggan's "Masters of Delta Blues Guitar" series is devoted to giving you free guitar lessons for blues songs from the greats.
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