Search - Phrase by Phrase Guitar Method: Classic Van Halen on DVD

Pretty sweet

E. L. Skelton | Coenville | 01/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This video is what it says it is a breakdown of the songs listed by Van Halen during the best (in my opinion) period of the band. It starts by showing you the settings (close enough) to what Eddie used on said song such as distortion, phase, tone, volume, mid's, etc..., then goes in to braking the song down into "phrases" or riffs if you will played super slow then at half speed. Most of the info could be obtained off youtube or some other fan site, the tabs could be bought and dissected personally - but to have it all in one place already done for you on a whopping 5hr dvd for 25 dollars isn't too bad really. It was worth the money for the time gained, Mark John Sternal (dude has serious hair not to be f'ed with!!) does a good job coping Eddie's tone just wish the tab's had been included. I mean their showed on screen in clear to read notation I just like hard copies (old fashioned). I'm really just holding out for a "hotlicks" type video with Eddie himself now that would be totally sweet!!"

Mildly disappointed!

H. Frick | Boulder, CO United States | 05/09/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"These are 3 stars at best, not trying to ding the author too badly.

I only listened through Eruption and parts of Panama so far. I'm not enticed right now to listend to anything else on the DVD. Here where the two star deduction comes from.

First of all, Mark's tone is pretty sucky. This does not sound like EVH at all. This DVD shamelessly pitches Carl Martin pedals, and unfortunately you would not want to buy any of those after hearing the DVD. First of all, you can't tell that there is any Phaser, Flanger or Chorus at all on the recording. Then, the distortion is totally tame and brittle, far from anything close to "brown" that EVH produced with his setup.

Second star deduction is from certain obvious inaccuracies in Mark's transcription (talking about Eruption now) and the lack of needed chops to pull off Eddie's stuff. I'm not saying I can do better, but c'mon, Mark, you are creating an instructional DVD, you better do some more woodshedding, man! If you (regular audience who is reading this) want to learn Eruption for example, buy the Guitar World March 2003 edition (no idea whether you can backorder), it has a fantastic transcription in which I only found a few "inaccuracies" (meaning my ears hear something slightly different than what's transcribed), and also buy the paramount Transcribe! slower-downer software by Seventh String (the best $25 I ever spent!). (I also have a Guitar One transcription of Eruption that is more of an approximation, don't recommend that one).

If you search on YouTube (most sucky video sharing web page you could ever nightmare of, with absolutely horrible streaming video technology and the most disgusting reader comments possible), you will find one guy who got an astoundingly close sound out of his Axe-Fx, and at least one guy who teaches you Eruption who sounds really close to the original.

Dude, that was a rant! Trying to kill off my back pain with beer ..."

Phrase by Phrase - but challenging

M. Nolan | 06/01/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a phrase-by-phrase breakdown of some great Van Halen songs from the David Lee Roth Era. Mark John Sternal is a likeable teacher. View some samples on his website or on youtube to get a feel for his style and make up your own mind. To nail or get close to nailing these songs you will spend a lot of time watching and reviewing the material, so be sure you feel comfortable with his style. Some of the techniques, such as tapping and whammy bar dives will take a good deal of patience if you have not approached them before."