School Of Ragtime

In the early 1960's guitar players from the cities started to tackle arranging classic rags onto the guitar. Prior to this period there was no recorded evidence of guitarists attempting to do this. At the turn of the centuryVess Ossman and Fred Van Eps successfully transcribed classic rags for the five-string banjo. But the role of the guitar was dormant until David Laibman and Dave Van Ronk started to experiment with these ideas.

This albumpresents ten Scott Joplin classic ragtime arrangements. They illustrate the fascinating approach that a guitar can take when playing ragtime. Plus they are great challenges for guitarists to master. In the world offingerpickingthese type of instrumentals are left for the 'advanced pickers.'