Instructional videos thought.

Posted by Chris 14 Apr, 2008 

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I am definitely the sort of person that can pick up how to do almost anything very quickly if you show me. So you would think that I would love instructional guitar DVD's and be the worlds best guitarist. But alas no, and I'll explain why. The clip below is from the upcoming Robert Johnson DVD from Note4Note.

I just can't following it. When each note is played individually I get lost, musically, on where I am up to. For some reason with guitar I work best with the tab and the licks and phrases separated, rather than note for note. I get much more out of a lesson when I'm "why" something is played a certain way. See this clip below of the great Stevie ray Vaughan:

I get much more out of video like that. What about you?

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Viewing 8 Comments

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    I know what you mean, but some instructional videos are better than others. The ones that are all done in extreme slow motion with lots of talk of "Now put your third finger on the fourth fret of the sixth string" never fail to confuse me.

    On the other hand, I've been liking the ones from iVideoSongs - they do the song in short, manageable chunks, and they display the tab before they start showing you.

    I try to play it with the tab, then watch the video to get the subtleties (timing, bends, muting, etc) and it works pretty well.

    Those ones aren't free, of course. There are lots of free ones on Youtube and a few are good - but I do tend to learn with the tab and then watch the video to further my understanding...

    Thanks for the SRV video. Very very nice.
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    I totally agree without tab the lesson just gets lost in a series of numbers being called out!
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    I have to agree. However, maybe it's just because the Note4Note videos just aren't very good. The nice thing about books is that you can play at your own pace rather than watching a video that was targeted to the lowest common denominator. Sometimes, if I'm learning a new technique or want to watch a master, I'll check out a DVD, such as a Paul Gilbert DVD or an Eric Johnson DVD, but I rarely want to watch a third party give instruction about another player's technique on a video.
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    Hi Michael, you are right. The stuff on that is exactly how I like to learn. Are you a member at all. It looks like they have a limited selection there, or is there more to choose from when you sign up.
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    I disagree with your take on instructional videos. Personally, I have bought several of the note4note videos and they do exactly as they say they do. Each part is broken down into small sections. To me it is obvious that no one that has commented on these video actually owns any of them. That my two cents worth....
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    Hi Jason, thanks for stopping by. I don't think anyone here is saying they are bad products. i think the people who have responded so far just can't "learn" that way, just as I'm sure there are just as many people out there who do learn better that way. Everyone's learning styles are different.

    And just so you know, I have a Gary Moore DVD from another company that is note for note, and I personally found it useless. That was the inspriation for the post. I'm sure other people would have found it invaluable. Just not me.
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    I agree about learning in phrases. To me, this ctually applies to tab even more. Back when I used to transcribe songs for myself, instead of createing bar lines on the tab in the "proper" places, I put them at the end of each phrase. So something that was 20 bars in TAB I would have maybe 5 bar, for each long phrase, or some songs, like blues that are generaly shorter phrases, something that was 8 bars in tab was more like 15 the way I'd write it down, since I put the bars after each complete phrase. To me, that's MUCH easier to follow when listening to music.

    Some videos are better than others. I think the Lick Library series are pretty good. They also do the "put 1 finger here and than hit this chord" type of thing, but they play the phrase or section generally before and after so you can easily hear it in context and up to speed, which helps a lot.
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    Well, i feel that the videos can be helpful at some points, but its better if you have some book or written lessons as well as you can manage you own pace...

    I'm a beginner guitarist, and have just started to learn. There are some good lessons here:
    http://guitarheat.com/lessons/

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