This is my #2 recommended Yodel course. Wylie keeps it simple and easy (and funny).
I’ve chosen Wylie Gustafson’s How To Yodel as my second best yodel course on cd. Here’s why.
Wylie is a superior cowboy yodeler and I've always enjoyed his sassy yodel sound. Wylie keeps things simple and provides both instructional yodels and sing along tracks so you can practice the songs once you learn the basics. He includes one lesson that other yodeling instructions often leave out. That is, how to find the break in your voice.
I like Wylie's technique for learning the voice break a lot and think it's one of the most effective tricks I've heard. It consists of "toggling" between your chest voice and your head voice. I think anyone could find the break if they use this technique.
I particularly enjoyed the little book that comes with the CD and it is very humorous. It contains some history and is a general reference guide for all things "yodel". I loved Robert Payne's very skillful and funny illustrations that permeate the pages of the book.
Wylie is up front about this being an introductory level effort and that his aim was to keep it simple. I found myself wishing for more though. But, I'm a more advanced amateur yodeler and pretty much have all of the Wylie's yodels covered. This isn't meant to detract from the very fun instructions that Wylie has provided and beginners should buy it right away.
I still favor Kerry Christensen's You 2 Can Yodel (but, I prefer alpine yodeling) as the best and most thorough yodeling instruction CD out there. Having said that, I highly recommend Wylie Gustafson's HOW TO YODEL as a terrific, fun, approach to learning the art of yodeling.
Wylie and The Wild West also have many recordings with lots of cowboy songs. Amazon, eBay! and iTunes are all good sources.
