Search - Beginning Rock Rhythm Guitar on DVD

Beginning? Hardly!

M. Ward | North of Utah, East of Montana, South of Alberta, | 01/30/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If I was really a beginner and paid my hard earned money for this DVD I would cry, and it wouldn't be tears of joy.

First I should say that I really enjoy Troy's books. Our students have been using them with great success for many years. They are some of the most well thought out guitar method books with realistic examples, songs and band tracks that are on the market. Sadly, I cannot say the same for this Beginners Rock Rhythm Guitar DVD.

CONS:
1. This is perhaps the biggest short coming of this DVD: No insert or supplemental tracks on the DVD to help you follow any of the examples beyond the on-screen chord charts! Honestly how hard would it have been to add these things? If Hot Licks, Hal Leonard and others can do it why didn't Stetina and Co.?

2. Not enough time spent on "beginning" type material. While all of the examples are VERY cool sounding they get pretty advanced awfully quick. And to make it worse he "talks" you through some pretty lengthy examples and since they didn't include an insert/supplemental tracks (mentioned above) to follow, you will be rewinding A LOT! Not good pedagogy.

3. Only one speed -- FAST. Yes you can probably slow the DVD down but again (sheez guys) just do two versions: first time slowly so a beginner can actually follow along, and then at regular speed.

4. Close-ups. There are some, mostly when Troy shows you how to finger a chord but not for many of the other techniques introduced.

PROS:
1. He does a pretty good (if not quick) overview of how to get clean, distorted and crunchy sounds from your amp. The guitar overview would have been even better if he had talked about volume/tone knobs etc....

2. The examples are creative, fun and realistic (like something you'd expect to hear real your favorite band play as opposed to those god awful MIDI-sounding rhythm tracks).

There's no doubt Troy is an accomplished guitarist. His playing is inspiring and his approach to the material is relaxed although very challenging for most true beginners. My 3 star rating is for those qualities. If you can hang in there long enough (or have a competent instructor help you through some of the trickier sections) this DVD will give you hours of material to work with. The shortcomings mentioned above kept me from giving this a more favorable rating. Unfortunately I don't yet have a better recommendation for a DVD covering this material.

Good Luck All!

Check out these lesson DVD's to see what kind of content makes a great DVD:
Bass method for the beginning Electric Bassist featuring Ed Friedland
Getting Started on Drums and Groove Essentials by Tommy Igoe"