Guitar videos and books reviewed by EricV

[loveguitar]

hi Eric V (and others who have came across the following materials),

I wish to develop my ability to play faster guitar
and your reviews in ibreathemusic.com looks interesting.

I am looking at PG's Intense Rock1, John Petrucci's Rock Discipline and the Rock Fusion. Can you help?

1) Are these materials all in audio CD/VCD/DVD format? I don't want a video tape to be delivered to me because I don't have a VCR player.

2) What's the overall difference in content and style for PG and John Petrucci's lessons?

Thanks!

[tom_hogan]

i used to work in a music shop and i watched and studied john peticuchis rock dicipline in my lunch break every week

to be honest i didnt find it usefull as his playing on it is very uninspiring and at times frankly boring, it has lot of technical stuff on there for economic picking and so forth but it doesnt explain feel and tone at all also he talks in monotone

my advise to you to really get fast is to get the modes and learn them note for note in your favorite key ( e minor probs) then learn these in legato style all over the neck then try picking the first tso notes on each string then move onto three building it up with a metranome

thats how i got fast anyway only really too 6 months of 2 hours a day and i got all the speed i would ever need

just remember not to prgress untill you have compltely nailed the lick

[DanF]

Petrucci's video is available on DVD...

I also found it pretty uninspiring, although I'm not really a prog-rock kind of guy (nor am I much of a shredder in general). So I figured I'd just tighten up some of my techniques but I got bored pretty quick, not to mention he and I don't see eye to eye on some picking stuff (Hmm...he can play flight of the bumblebee at 200bpm....I can play a major scale at about 130bpm...Hmmm)

Heheh, well I'm convinced I can do it my way (Not surprising that a jazzer would quote Sinatra I guess).

-Dan

[forgottenking2]

I think Rock discipline by John Petrucci DOES have some useful advice, specially on the practicing end of it, true it is NOT a lick video, but it offers advice on practicing the tecnical excercises he features there are useful for guitarist of all technical levels. I am still using it (and I got it about 3 years ago). So give it a try, it may not give you killer licks but it'll help you develop your own.

[snufeldin]

I think it is very useful... it gives wonderful technical advice and ideas. For me it made practicing technique less boring b/c I followed is advice and didn't do the same thing over and over,but switched it around a bit.

Anyway the name says it all: "Rock Discipline" I don't think you could expect licks from that title.

Plus the second book goes into more about licks and feeling... and actually application.

[tom_hogan]

Originally posted by forgottenking2
I think Rock discipline by John Petrucci DOES have some useful advice, specially on the practicing end of it, true it is NOT a lick video, but it offers advice on practicing the tecnical excercises he features there are useful for guitarist of all technical levels. I am still using it (and I got it about 3 years ago). So give it a try, it may not give you killer licks but it'll help you develop your own.

i have tryed it but not over 3 years,whilst i should have been workin so my review isnt exactly comprehensive lol

i watched it a few times and worked out some of the licks hey it just didnt work for me but i can see how it would make you a beter player(technically) but its just soo boring man i mean he doesnt rock out in the whole of the video:(

the yngwie malmsteem one is much better i watched that and i found that it had a dramtic effect on my playing even if that dramatical effect ment only playing melodic minors for 3 months!

i cant remember what its called tho lol

[loveguitar]

oops, it seems like it's good for some and not good for some.

[forgottenking2]

True, an instructional video, a book, a cd, a song an artist a movie... can be good or bad deppending on what you're looking for in it, and your personal taste, maybe for instance Tom is a player that would rather work on "the real stuff" (licks and techniques applied to songs and progressions) rather than sitting down working on boring mechanical chromatic excercises (which is absolutely fine if that works for him) there are some others that play the guitar like a work out (kinda like going to the gym every day) not worrying much about music itself until they reach a certain level, and there are others that use both approaches... and I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with a new one... kinda like Eric says in his articles, use what works for you (Thanks Eric I specially liked the ones on alternate picking, you got me back from working on sextuplets at 120 bpm <with a not-so-perfect technique> to working on 8th notes at 60 bpm, I really want to get the economy of motion going on, I had heard of the supportive fingering before and I even read about it some years ago but I didn't really considered it important... I know, I'm rambling) ANYWAYS, my point is, try it, if you like it keep it, if not drop it; besides, a video like that won't be wasted money 'cause even if you find it uninspiring right now you may get back to it and find it interesting later, I'm sure you'll get something out of it, one way or another... ok this is getting too long so I'll sign off now.

Ta ta

[DanF]

try it, if you like it keep it, if not drop it;

Actually that is kind of the difficult thing. If you buy it on DVD it will cost you $50 (!!!) now if you don't like it, you can't return it (afterall, how do they know you didn't just burn a copy and are trying to get your money back). Best case scenario maybe you could sell it on here or eBay for 1/2 of what you paid for it (which is OUTRAGEOUS for a DVD).

I'd think really hard about this one. If you can't play anything interesting right now what good will playing faster do? I asked myself this same question about getting an amp recently "God I really want an amp, it would make me sound much cooler" - "Well...if I don't sound so hot now, why would I want to make that louder?" Still, if you like prog rock and can make it through a Jane Fonda video you may just love this one.

-Dan

[flathead]

I've seen bits and pieces of Paul Gilberts intense rock II. I think it was II (**cough** kazaa ** cough) I found it useful. It was entertaining to watch as well. Paul is very funny guy. The parts that I saw he was talking about dynamics and then he showed a few fast licks first played slow and then fast.

[snufeldin]

I recommend buying the Rock Discipline book... you can also download the video on kazaa probably

[Wyll_Watts]

hey guys,
a few words on Petrucci's video and book..

personally I'd recommend the book over the video since it is much cheaper and you get almost the same content..

I found the most useful sections to be the ones on scale fragments and the chord voicings at the end..

with the other exercises (especially all those chromatic and symetric patterns.. ).. most people either love them or hate them right away.. but they are one of those things that really require a huge investment of time and patience to see the payoff... also, if you find them a but dry.. try moving the notes into a standard scale or mode but still using the overall string and picking patterns.. you can get some interesting stuff this way (some of it very similar to weird Shawn Lane stuff..)..

I think this book is really good at taking your mechanics to another level once you are already fairly good.. but eveyone is different... Overall, I'd recommend Stetina's Speed Mechanics book first, and after one has a good grasp on alot of that stuff move on to the Petrucci book or attempt to find some Shawn Lane instructional materials...

anyways, just some rambling..
Later,
Wyll