Instructionals that Have Improved Your Playing By Leaps and Bounds

[jsl2h90]

I'd like to think that I'm not alone in the regard that almost everything I've learned about guitar has come from a book or DVD. However I'm in kind of a dry spell/plateau and I'd be interested in what instructional methods are being used by other guitarists that would improve not just technical facility but also rhythm playing, composition and help foster some creativity in general. I'd prefer DVD recommendations since it seems there are so few of them out there that are as helpful as books; but when they are, the visual representation is a plus.

I'd like to know which instructional products/methods vastly increased your playing by leaps and bounds. For example I noticed a HUGE improvement in my overall technical ability when I worked through the "Speed Lives" DVD by MAB. That was years ago, but I'd like to experience that kind of growth again except this time I'm geared more towards a compositional/creative side of improvement in my playing.

I'll list a few that delivered satisfying results:
1. Speed Lives DVD (technical improvement)
2. Fretboard Autopsy DVD (modal knowledge and fretboard mapping helped a lot)
3. Music Theory by Tom Kolb (one of my many theory primers including fretboard logic)
4. Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino (see above and introduced me to the CAGED system which was a revelation)

If there was a "Speed Lives" equivalent for rhythm guitar technique that would be really great.

Finally, I'm looking towards actually applying everything I learn which is my major weakness. Basically I don't want any "learn this song note for note" products unless they are absolutely stellar. The genre of the method or instructor's background is also of little importance.

[Adari]

I can recommend Chop Builder and Acoustic Improvisation, both by Frank Gambale, which are both absolutely fantastic. The former will hone you technical ability and introduce you to new and unusual scales and arpeggios, while the latter teaches excellent improvisation techniques.

Don't be put off by how dated the Chop Builder video looks - it's the teaching that's important.

[Dayn]

Steve Vai. Little Black Dots. Read everything there.

It's not so much instructional for guitar, but instructional for one's whole approach to music. I found it ....ing amazing. After being told to play one single note with vibrato for an hour, I decided to bend a single note instead. In ten minutes I was bending it in so many different ways, my mind was blown at how almost limitlessly a single note can be expressed with just one technique. It really opens one mind up to the insane amount of possibilities.

And then I tried vibrato...

[Solodini]

Give my book a try. Free sample chapters in my sig. I wrote it with the intention of promoting creativity and immediate application to the instrument. The first wee bit is just familiarisation to the instrument for anyone who may use the book as their first experience in guitar but after that it'll increase rapidly, adapting what you've already learned to work differently, in different contexts so you can play music which you've written to sound good while being difficult but not necessarily shred technical.

[Adari]

Originally Posted by Solodini

Give my book a try. Free sample chapters in my sig. I wrote it with the intention of promoting creativity and immediate application to the instrument. The first wee bit is just familiarisation to the instrument for anyone who may use the book as their first experience in guitar but after that it'll increase rapidly, adapting what you've already learned to work differently, in different contexts so you can play music which you've written to sound good while being difficult but not necessarily shred technical.

The link to your sample chapters isn't working - just a heads-up for you.

[Solodini]

Cheers. I'll go take a look at that.

[Solodini]

Fixed. Thanks again.

[kung_fu]

I've tended to get the most out of more concept-based books and dvds as opposed to lick/exercise based ones. These are probably my big 4:

- Allan Holdsworth (REH) DVD (Allan Holdsworth)
- Jazz rock Mastery DVD (Scott Henderson)
- Jazz Guitar Method (Mel Bay), Book/CD (Kurt Schroedel)
- Guitar Mode Encyclopedia (Alfred) Book (Jody Fisher)

The only real books on technique that i've gotten anything out of are Troy Stetina's books, as well as John Petrucci's "Wild Stringdom" (Guitar World publishing). The rest of my technique i've arrived at via magazines and trial and error.

[CRaul87]

Paul Gilbert's Intense Rock vol. I and II - it is a MUST for any guitarist imo.

[crystalmt]

I use youtube:



It is free and there is enough on there to keep you busy for a long time. Lots of them provide links to audio files and tab for free. For example:



After playing jazz for years with no real instruction I hit a plateau and focused on other things. Metal got me back into guitar. I started by looking at Yngwie Malmsteen vids and found links to other things (Paul Gilbert, Rusty Cooley). Even if I am not aesthetically drawn to some of the shred on youtube, anything difficult will improve your playing permanently if you work through it slowly. Most of the ideas that have improved my playing are very simple, e.g. the Frank Gambale chop builder is great, but in my experience economy picking is not a hard concept requiring a long video, it just requires a lot of practice!

Trying to learn hard stuff will highlight weaknesses in your playing which can help you determine what to focus on in terms of specific technique (i.e. the speed picking video).

In terms of DVD's I've only used the lick library videos:Killer Rock and Metal, Shred in 6 Weeks and Steve Vai with Andy James, and Sweep picking with Stuart Bull. These are all great, and you will get something out of them. However I think a lot of the same knowledge can be found on youtube for free, and I'm not sure how much a sweep picking video will add to the few hundred hours of practice that you will need anyway.

Learning specific solos (you can find tab for Necrophagist for free on Songster) has also been big for me, because it forces you outside of ingrained patterns and habits in your playing.

Jazz is another matter, because a) there is less material on youtube which, IMO, is of high quality, and b) the theory involved is more complex, making the need for instructional materials a little more pressing. I have used two DVD's that I think are fantastic: Lary Coryell's Jazz Guitar and John Mclaughlin's This is How I do It. I say this having a background in music theory prior to finding these DVD's. Both of them had things that were very specific (use of harmonic minor for LC, half-whole diminished for Mclaughlin) and were breakthroughs for me: They opened up sounds that I'd been hearing in jazz but didn't really understand or know how to create myself. Mc's is very very in depth but I have gone through it methodically up to the 6th lesson or so, and it has already done a lot for my playing. Best -J

[Adari]

Originally Posted by crystalmt

Frank Gambale chop builder is great, but in my experience economy picking is not a hard concept requiring a long video, it just requires a lot of practice!

It covers so much more than that though: co-ordination, alt. picking, scales, arpeggios, triads, rhythmic divisions etc. Obviously the amount of help one gets from any video or book varies immensely, but I found this one to be really excellent.

[stuglue]

For technique I found Paul Gilbert's Intense Rock video to be one of the best out there.
Perfect for working on your alternate picking, hammer ons and pull off and some useful sweep picking exercises.
In terms of more theoretical stuff, the Scott Henderson video is really useful, he targets phrasing and explains the scales used and the thinking behind it. For blues stuff the Robben Ford discs are worth a watch, its great to see the I IV V progression analysed and what can be used to get an outside sound.
One area I have yet to see any video or magazine teach is voice leading, its definitely helped me in my understanding of how to voice chords in a more natural musical way.
Also I've yet to see a video that teaches you how to practice. Sounds stupid but how many actually show you how to work with a metronome rather than just saying "always play to a metronome" - i've taught students who would put the metronome on but couldn't count in sync with the click yet they could play to it. Also understanding rhythms, its kind of taken for granted on instructional dvd's but a lot of players can feel rhythms but they can't read them

[crystalmt]

Originally Posted by Adari

It covers so much more than that though: co-ordination, alt. picking, scales, arpeggios, triads, rhythmic divisions etc. Obviously the amount of help one gets from any video or book varies immensely, but I found this one to be really excellent.

Absolutely, and I should mention that I only saw an excerpt on youtube. My point is not that the video is not worth one's time. My point (not very well stated) is that hours and hours of practice time have been spent on the material from the five minute clip I saw on economy picking! I.e. sometimes a very little bit of knowledge goes a very long way in terms of technique. Also, any Frank Gambale vid is worth watching just for his outfits, leather pants, tweety-bird shirt etc.

[yingmin]

Very surprised nobody's mentioned John Petrucci's Rock Discipline. It's maybe the single best guitar instructional material I've seen. It's great because it's not just "I'm going to teach you how to play prog metal" or "here's how to play some of my songs", but "this is how to become a better guitarist, no matter what you play".

I'd also reiterate Paul Gilbert. He and JP are two of the very few exceptional guitarists who are also very good teachers.

[JPMike]

Originally Posted by yingmin

Very surprised nobody's mentioned John Petrucci's Rock Discipline. It's maybe the single best guitar instructional material I've seen. It's great because it's not just "I'm going to teach you how to play prog metal" or "here's how to play some of my songs", but "this is how to become a better guitarist, no matter what you play".

I'd also reiterate Paul Gilbert. He and JP are two of the very few exceptional guitarists who are also very good teachers.

+1 on JP, I was going to mention it.

Rock Discipline and Paul's stuff, were playing for hours on my VHS for days, trying to play mostly the licks PG was throwing.

Rock Discipline was more like of a practise routine.

Also, I found great, Richie Kotzen's "Rock Chops".

Another great one, is Shawn Lane's "Power Licks" and "Power Solos". Not your ordinary approach to technique.

[StratoJazz]

I'd probably say that the advancing guitarist has greatly helped me in understanding different aspects of the guitar. Particularly with fretboard concepts.

[Overtone]

I dont think any video has helped me improve leaps and bounds, but now and then ive found some great concepts that became part of my playing and i kept developing them beyond the video. For example, tapping extended arpeggios on multiple strings from romeos guitar chapter, and chord melody and open triads from kiko lourieros rock house dvd. I tend to get nothing from vids like rock discipline or gilbert because they are far too focused on teaching you technique routines that will make you super clean and fast. Not to say there is no benefit to it, but for me there has to be a little more fun!

[jsl2h90]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been tempted to get paul gilberts intense rock dvd's, but I've worked with Rock Discipline and I don't want it to be a rehash of that, ie a bunch of exercises. My economy picking is pretty stale (the first "tempting time" solo was quite a pain for about a month) so I may pick up some gambale stuff. I've also used Wild Stringdom but I'm not huge on JP and I preferred Rock Discipline anyways.

Now I may be blind but the reason I started this thread is because I couldn't find any section on the site that actually reviews guitar books/DVD's; the review section seems to be only for guitars, amps, etc. Am I missing something? If not that would be a cool thing to add to the site, especially considering how many dud instructionals there are out there.

[Overtone]

Thats interesting... I am thinking of starting a blog ish site w reviews and many other things. There is also fiveeightforums which has a reviews section for music where i am sure it would be cool to post guitar video lesson reviews... In fact i may have once. But that part of the site is not super active, its mostly music discussion and internet bs

[shanejohnson02]

In no particular order:

1) Fretboard Autopsy
2) Rock Discipline
3) Intense Rock
4) Mastering Fretboard Harmony
5) Random Paul Gilbert vids I find on youtube

[Soopahmahn]

Troy Stetina series.

[Pooluke41]

Guthrie Govans books,

I love the little jokes he puts in.

And some of the Spelling mistakes, haha

[jsl2h90]

I'm actually working on Creative Guitar 1 at the moment. How's the 2nd book?
Seems like the most helpful part of the book is the first chapter of advice, he brings up a lot of good points and I agree the humor is a plus.

[Pooluke41]

Originally Posted by jsl2h90

I'm actually working on Creative Guitar 1 at the moment. How's the 2nd book?
Seems like the most helpful part of the book is the first chapter of advice, he brings up a lot of good points and I agree the humor is a plus.

The 2nd book is also good but much more Technique related.

[jsl2h90]

Tosin Abasi needs to release an REH style video. I signed up for jamplay to learn some double thumping and song excerpts which was a pretty good purchase but I'd be down for a couple of DVD's with a little more structure for sure.

Anyone know of instructionals that cover how to practice with a metronome? It's easy to practice anything in a 4/4 time signature but I don't know how to approach it from any other angles.