I do believe that it was sometimes Mudcatter Frank Hamilton who taught Odetta how to pick and strum (some actual lessons)---with input from Bob Gibson.

When I first saw Odetta at a concert in 1959 at the Univ. of Illinois she just knocked my socks off---with her voice, surely, but her guitar playing was simply phenomenal. Dramatic chord changes and rhythms that added emotion to everything she sang.

It was a great era in which to be 18 years old, open to the music, and impressionable.

Art Thieme