Search - Beyond Basics: Fingerstyle Solo Guitar (DVD) on DVD

Pretty good

S. Martin | Park City, UT USA | 08/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Two months after picking up a guitar for the first time I finished Guitar for Dummies. A couple of weeks later I started on Beyond Basics: Fingerstyle Solo Guitar. I've been working on this DVD for about two months now, mostly on the first song: "Four per Bar", but have also finished the Travis picking in the appendices, and am a couple of weeks into "Key to the Kingdom". I've probably averaged one hour a day just on Four Per Bar for two months and I've probably another month until I can play it well.

There are a few disappointments in this DVD: The instructor gives just the facts and nothing more. He doesn't tell you why you should be prepared to spend six months or more learning his personal arrangements, which have pretty decent melodies, but not excellent. He doesn't give you any tips on how to play the song better, or anything about himself. There is no review of the goals of the DVD at the beginning or end, and seemingly no formal outline other than the DVD menu. I really liked the way Jon Chapel talked to you in Guitar for Dummies. He really understood his audience.

The DVD is copy protected so you can't have it on the hard-disk of your laptop or make a copy for your extra DVD player. You have to sit through the FBI warning and another Interpol warning every time it starts. When you put the DVD into your laptop an annoying advertisement pops up every time. And he is definitely marketing Taylor Guitars in this DVD, as he teaches his an entire song on a $300 Baby Taylor instead of his full sized $2000 Taylor.

This DVD may be a bit more than I was bargaining for at this stage of my learning but I am hooked and will not quit. I'm expecting it to take me another 6 months to finish, but at the end of that time I'll be a very good player for having less than a year of experience. Despite these few minor complaints I would definitely buy this DVD again.

"

Good stuff!

tely | LA United States | 12/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have 2 of Mark Hansons videos. I would consider them intermediate level. There are good players and good teachers, this guy is both. When I bought the first one I sat down and worked out one song at a time, this took hours but when I got up to speed it was very satisfing. A beginner would likely be challenged very much, try one video first! This could revolutionize your acoustic guitar skills as it has mine."