Dude, I signed up for Netflix and ordered a bunch of guitar related DVD's.

The Jazz & Fusion Guitar DVD featuring Clay Moore is a very good one. He explains everything and and is an excellent guitarist. You can sense he listens to Pat Metheny when he presents his examples of how to take off with particular scales in the context of various chords.

Al Di Meola's DVD is like, "OMG those passages are totally impossible to play." :p But still it is fun to watch and he gives some decent insight into how he approaches scales in the context of various chords. He is pretty particular about developing super fast wrist movement for alternate picking since he feels hammer-ons and sweep-picking is inarticulate. He generally likes to play around on the Lydian mode of the major scales, and since he is so fast, he likes to change the scale on each chord change instead of just staying in the root scale no matter what the chord progression, and he uses out notes on occasion to add color. He also visualizes all the 3rds and 7ths on the fretboard when a certain chord is played. 3rds and 7ths or even 5ths and other intervals function as targets for the improvisation. 4ths and 6ths are to be avoided at the end of a passage; the idea is to end on a strong note.

For the Eric Johnson: Total Electric Guitar DVD, the Netflix queue says "short wait." :(

I got some performance DVD's coming also like G3: Live in Denver and Niacin: Live in Tokyo.

Netflix seems pretty good so far. $18/month for unlimited DVD borrowings but only 3 at a time out.

The Niacin DVD featured the amazingly flashy bassist, Billy Sheehan was at a House of Blues in Tokyo. The keyboardist was excellent, but there is just something missing without a guitarist. :(

http://www.billysheehan.com/

Just got the Eric Johnson DVD. :)

Got the Famous Rock Guitar Riffs and Solos: Signature Licks DVD. It features Tom Kolb playing some classics however he does not fully explain the chord and scale relationships and he does the main Smoke On the Water riff incorrectly.

Also got a the House of Blues Level 2 Blues Guitar DVD featuring John McCarthy. It is pretty boring, but good for a beginner just learning 12 bar blues. Some of the sections such as the one on call and response using minor pentatonics and major pentatonics is useful.

And finally, the G3 Live in Denver DVD featuring Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. Nice photography and excellent guitar music. :nice:

The Netflix mailings have had a few anomolies so far. In one case, the returned DVD took quite a while to arrive with them and in another case it took quite a while to arrive in my mailbox.

I'll be doing one to be released on early '07.

What is your approach going to be and to what level of musician are you targeting?

I have found so far that Clay Moore's http://www.claymoore.com/ is really the best in explaining and applying the underlying scales and chord relationships for people with a solid background in musical theory. The ones that demostrate ridiculously incredible talent like Al Di Meola's are good for inspiration, but with him, a prerequisite is knowing where every single note is on the fretboard; no using shapes like blues boxes as short cuts; and of course superhuman speed and accuracy. The ones that demonstrate how to do classic songs are kind of useless since good tablature is all that is needed there really. John McCarthy did a nice job with some blues improv when he yelled out what scale he was doing during particular riffage as he he was actually playing them.

Okay. :confused:

Anyway, I got the Herb Ellis DVD in the Netflix queue. I should get it after The Toxic Avenger, Psychomania and a Pat Metheny concert.

What is your approach going to be and to what level of musician are you targeting?
It's mostly for experienced players - I'm definitely not the best person to explain the basics to beginners or intermediate players.

It'll just cover things like my approach to country rock, identifiable aspects of my playing like chicken pickin', using alternative picking surfaces to get different tones, etc., my approach to chords & effects & that kind of stuff.

I'm actually writing the script now.

As far as real instructional DVDs go, I highly recommend John McLaughlin's improvisation series, if you're interested in jazz improv. It's a bit expensive, but it puts Dimeola to shame. :nice:

I'll be doing one to be released on early '07.

:nice: Do you still tour/record?

I'm on the road right now.

Also got a the House of Blues Level 2 Blues Guitar DVD featuring John McCarthy. It is pretty boring, but good for a beginner just learning 12 bar blues. Some of the sections such as the one on call and response using minor pentatonics and major pentatonics is useful.

Never heard of him. Son House and Albert King probably could teach the most important things about the Blues better than anybody else, too bad they aren't alive to do such DVD.

a prerequisite is knowing where every single note is on the fretboard;

Good guitar players usually know it, even if they don't know music theory at all, they still know the sound of every note.

no using shapes like blues boxes as short cuts;

Well, there's nothing as beautiful as a Blues scale, but it is not a good idea to be limited to "boxes", and it's usually a better to move around.

and of course superhuman speed

It is one of the least important things about being a great guitar player. It doesn't matter if you are "superhuman fast" when you got no soul and play a lot of notes that don't sound good together, and on the other hand, you can play only one or two notes, and sound better than most guitarists.

That's one of the reasons why most music fans (and ever profesionals) would rather listen to B.B. King and George Harrison than to Michael Angelo and Joe Satriani.


It'll just cover things like my approach to country rock, identifiable aspects of my playing like chicken pickin', using alternative picking surfaces to get different tones, etc., my approach to chords & effects & that kind of stuff.

Sounds interesting:nice: Are you influenced by James Burton?


As far as real instructional DVDs go, I highly recommend John McLaughlin's improvisation series, if you're interested in jazz improv. It's a bit expensive, but it puts Dimeola to shame.

McLaughlin is a much better guitarist than Dimeola, so I'm sure that's true.

I learned some of Burton's stuff with Ricky Nelson when I was a kid, so I guess you could say so. Liked Scotty Moore's playing with Elvis, & Link Wray too.

I enjoy McLaughlin's playing far more, but I actually dig many of Dimeola's compositions like "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Racing with the Devil on the Spanish Highway."

The stuff on his albums isn't all noodling - they're balanced compositions.

I'm on the road right now.

Are you playing anywhere in Virginia by any chance?

I learned some of Burton's stuff with Ricky Nelson when I was a kid, so I guess you could say so. Liked Scotty Moore's playing with Elvis, & Link Wray too.

:nice: I would say that his guitar work with Elvis in the 1970's (especially live) was even better. I listen to Ricky Nelson mostly because of the lead guitar anyways, I think he was overrated and not nearly as great as other 1950's artists, like Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry or Fats Domino, but the guitar playing was always great. I did see Burton with Jerry Lee Lewis in 1999, and he was still great then.

Scotty Moore was/is? one of the greatests guitarists as well, however, it's too bad that he hasn't been doing much since Elvis.

I enjoy McLaughlin's playing far more, but I actually dig many of Dimeola's compositions like "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Racing with the Devil on the Spanish Highway."

I agree, but the thing is, he's much more limited than McLaughlin in terms of styles and doesn't have as much soul in his playing.

I'm on the road right now.

Are you playing anywhere in Virginia by any chance?

I'd be quite upset if he came through here and didn't tell me!!! :(


edited to add: And you know perfectly well I'm not talking about after the fact, CP! :p :mad:

Sorry, folks - not 'til at least next fall. :(

OK, that gives me a bit of notice in advance.

*blocks 4 months of 2006 calendar completely* ;)

It'll just cover things like my approach to country rock, identifiable aspects of my playing like chicken pickin', using alternative picking surfaces to get different tones, etc., my approach to chords & effects & that kind of stuff.

For what it is worth, the most boring parts of some of the videos I have seen are over-explanations of picking techique.

As far as real instructional DVDs go, I highly recommend John McLaughlin's improvisation series, if you're interested in jazz improv. It's a bit expensive, but it puts Dimeola to shame.

As much as I like McLaughlin, and having seen both him and Di Meola play live and on video, I don't think John cannot quite reach Al's incredible dexterity and improvisational mastery.

Never heard of him.

Yeah, that happens a lot with you. But hey, you're are young. In a few decades you might approach my level of knowledge. :p

Son House and Albert King probably could teach the most important things about the Blues better than anybody else, too bad they aren't alive to do such DVD.

How do you know? Ever seen the Buddy Guy instruction video? :p Totally worthless.

Well, there's nothing as beautiful as a Blues scale.

Right. :p Since the flattened 5th of a blues scale is not a target tone you want to begin or end on, you could really get by fine just using a minor pentatonic.

It is one of the least important things about being a great guitar player. It doesn't matter if you are "superhuman fast" when you got no soul and play a lot of notes that don't sound good together, and on the other hand, you can play only one or two notes, and sound better than most guitarists.

The "soul" you are referring to is hitting the wrong note and then bending it to try to make it sound right. If you can't play as well as someone else, you can always claim you got "soul." :p

That's one of the reasons why most music fans (and ever profesionals) would rather listen to B.B. King and George Harrison than to Michael Angelo and Joe Satriani.

:rofl: You are crazy, but you are consistently crazy. :p

McLaughlin is a much better guitarist than Dimeola, so I'm sure that's true.

:rofl: You are crazy, but you are consistently crazy. :p

For what it is worth, the most boring parts of some of the videos I have seen are over-explanations of picking techique.
Hopefully, my lessons on how to get cool sounds & unusual tones by picking with strange objects won't be a total snoozefest.
As much as I like McLaughlin, and having seen both him and Di Meola play live and on video, I don't think John cannot quite reach Al's incredible dexterity and improvisational mastery.
By Dimeola's own admission, McLaughlin is far better at the latter, & his picking speed can't be topped.

However, in some technical senses, I'll agree with you - McLaughlin just doesn't do rock stuff as well as Dimeola. He sounds stiff, while Dimeola can be pretty convincing.
Yeah, that happens a lot with you. But hey, you're are young. In a few decades you might approach my level of knowledge. :p
And in a few decades, YOU might approach my level of knowledge. :jk:
:rofl: You are crazy, but you are consistently crazy. :p
Roughly, you two represent both sides of an ongoing debate amongst electric guitarists.

Strangely, Ganja's taking the old school approach, while Snouter, who I imagine is my age bracket, appears to be down with what's usually the voice of the younger generation. :shrug:

I can sympathize with elements of both.

Sorry, folks - not 'til at least next fall.

I'd go see you in concert:nice:

For what it is worth, the most boring parts of some of the videos I have seen are over-explanations of picking techique.

Oh c'mon, just because you can't do it, doesn't make it "boring":p

As much as I like McLaughlin, and having seen both him and Di Meola play live and on video, I don't think John cannot quite reach Al's incredible dexterity and improvisational mastery.

Oh, he's much better. Most Jazz guitarists will agree on that.

Yeah, that happens a lot with you. But hey, you're are young. In a few decades you might approach my level of knowledge.

Hey, I might be young, but I probably know about the music that you like more than you do, while you are quite ignorant about what I listen to. Every "hero" that you have, I probably heard most of their albums, while you definately can't say the same about the music that I listen to.

Oh yeah, and I'm gonna be majoring in Music this year...I'd like to know about your musical education...:p

Also, when was your last show at, and how much money did you get for it? Do I need to bring "musical experience" into the arguement?:cool:


How do you know?

1. Son House? He taught Robert Johnson. Enough said.

2. Albert King? SRV's mentor, and every great Blues-Rock guitarist (including Clapton and Hendrix) coppied his riffs one after another. Enough said.

Ever seen the Buddy Guy instruction video?

No, from some reason I doubt that he's a great teacher. He's among the best five or ten Blues guitarists ever, but that's mostly because of things that cannot be taught. His style is MUCH more complicated than fast scales that are done in the same exact tone, which could be played exactly without problems as long as you can move your fingers around. It takes MUCH more than that to play like Buddy Guy, and I doubt even he knows how to explain what he does, so the video might not be good for teaching people unless you REALLY understand the Blues.

Totally worthless.


Ohhhh, you wish you could play 1% as good, and you know it, let's not pretend here, ok.:p You ain't got The Blues just admit it, of course you wouldn't be able to understand what Buddy Guy is talking about.:D

Right. Since the flattened 5th of a blues scale is not a target tone you want to begin or end on, you could really get by fine just using a minor pentatonic.


Not really, the flattened 5th is excellent especially when it comes to slow Blues and Rock'a'billy, and I think that playing simple minor and major scales during solos is extremely borring and they sound much better with more notes added to them.

The "soul" you are referring to is hitting the wrong note and then bending it to try to make it sound right.

That's a very good style you're talking about, and in fact I like to use it a lot, but no, that's not "soul", just a small subset of what I'm talking about basically.

Such technique is not really used by B.B. King, George Harrison, Robert Johnson, Albert King, Freddy King, Eric Clapton, T-Bone Walker and many others, since I haven't heard them actually ever hit wrong notes (with a few exceptions), but all of them still have more soul than most guitarists. If you don't understand the concept of "playing with soul, feelings and emotions", you will never understand what I'm talking about.

If you can't play as well as someone else, you can always claim you got "soul."

Yeah, but one thing I still don't understand is how you can play better than somebody the first place without having more soul?:confused: Please tell me, I'd like to know.:p

Why does B.B. King still sound better than Steve Vai even when he plays 2 notes for every 200 that Vai plays? Why do most music fans and musicians still admire King and guitarists like him more? Why? I mean, me being crazy is one thing, but EVERYBODY is crazy??:confused: :p

You are crazy, but you are consistently crazy.

And by your judgement, so are most pro-musicians and music fans.:)

By Dimeola's own admission, McLaughlin is far better at the latter, & his picking speed can't be topped.

However, in some technical senses, I'll agree with you - McLaughlin just doesn't do rock stuff as well as Dimeola. He sounds stiff, while Dimeola can be pretty convincing.

Most Jazz musicians would say that Dimeola is more of a rock guitarist, and he's (at least technically) not anywhere on McLaughlin's level. In some ways I like him more, but he's definately more limited.

And in a few decades, YOU might approach my level of knowledge.

Ohhh, I don't think so:p He doesn't even approach my level of knowledge (or musical experience) and I'm only 21:D .



Roughly, you two represent both sides of an ongoing debate amongst electric guitarists

Yes, the educated one and the "ohhh he moves his fingers so fast and it's so cool, look at this" one. Snouter doesn't really judge beyond the speed of the fingers, while I look at everything else and make an OVERALL judgement, inspired by my knowledge of music history too. You can dissagree with my opinions all you want, but you must admit that they are educated and I do explain them very well too. At least unlike Snouter I don't judge music like I'm 10 years old:p


Strangely, Ganja's taking the old school approach,

Yeah, because most great music was arguably recorded during 1955-1975, and the guitar styles that represent that time are usually my favorites. I'm all about what sounds better:D And of course The Blues is what really makes up what I like the most about guitar playing. But then again, I like LOTS of different styles...rockabilly, jazz, country, bluegrass, psychodelic, early hard rock...and others.


while Snouter, who I imagine is my age bracket, appears to be down with what's usually the voice of the younger generation.


Ummm, it's not the 1980's anymore either:p .

Also, guitarists from the newer generations don't play nearly as good, so there:D There's always people like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Bonamassa, Jonny Lang or Trey Anastasio, but they worship "old school playing" as much as I do.:D

I can sympathize with elements of both.

So can I, and I used to feel about music the way Snouter does in many ways when I was a kid (I didn't go to that extreme though:p ), I always believed that Clapton, Hendrix and Beck were better than Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, but I still ranked them right after them, and above Harrison, Berry, King, Richards and the rest. As my musicianship and knowledge improved, I started looking better at things...

dont you guys ever get tired of beating up on each other and arguing about which of you is a better guitar player? :P

Here.. I'll tell ya what.. you are both better than me.
rejoice in your new found common ground!

dont you guys ever get tired of beating up on each other and arguing about which of you is a better guitar player? :P

Frankly, I've been thinking the same thing! :rolleyes:

Too bad there isn't a way we could see them both live - in the same place at the same time. I'd take pics!!! :D

dont you guys ever get tired of beating up on each other and arguing about which of you is a better guitar player?


I NEVER said I was a better guitarist than anybody. I've only been playing pro for about a year, I don't think I'm all that good. A few people (including pro-musicians and even a few celebrities) disagree with that opinion that I have, and the fact that they disagree is why I make $ playing music:D , however it still doesn't mean that I think I'm good or better than somebody...I only do my best and let the people decide:)

I'm also reasonable enough here to understand that every famous guitarist that was discussed here is probably better than me, even the ones that I claim are NOT that great.

Here.. I'll tell ya what.. you are both better than me.

I don't know that either. I would never think about it that way.

From Netflix, I just checked out The Ultimate Beginner Serious: Guitar Theory Basics made in 1996. It is very basic as the name implies, but it is not a waste of time to revisit the concept of basic chord construction, construction their arpeggios, and some basic scale construction. The coolest thing about this one is that there is a little bonus clip of Frank Gambale explaining the Dorian mode. The example he gives is has the incredible technical precision of Al Di Meola, though not the superhuman speed, but Frank sounds even better in his note selection. Al does sometimes sound too Spanish in his note selection. Frank's extensive background in guitar education and teaching shined through his little presentation. I have to request that Netflix get some Frank Gambale DVD's.

Agree with the kudos on that one, but as an aside, what the hell happened to Frank???

I can't believe it's the same guy. :eek3:

Not sure what you mean other than the shaved head thing and a few extra pounds. I hope he comes out with the DVD on how to Gambale Guitar Nouveau Tuning system soon.

That's exactly what I was referring to, without meaning to be catty. :D

He looks like Leslie West as a skinhead.

Bill Dickens: The Collection.

Just started watching this one. This guy is a master of the funk bass. He is a very nice guy and provides some inspiration to kick your bass playing up a few notches. The neat innovation of this DVD is the bass-mounted camera that helps show his thumb slap and finger pull work. It doesn't help that much when he is going full speed though. :p But when he slows it down, it can help give the feel of that advanced funk style.

Herb Ellis: Swing Jazz: Soloing & Comping

You have got to have respect for a hard working, old time pro like Herb, but this was a bit of a disappointment. To improvise over a simple blues progression in G for example, the scale he presented was the chromatic scale. The ridiculousness of that of course is that the chromatic scale is not even really a scale, it is simple every possible note. He mentions the idea of singing along with doing lead, singing what you play. I think Steve Vai has mentioned that also as a way to express oneself a little more consciously and personally via guitar or any instrument. Though that is an interesting exercise, the limitations on doing that are pretty huge though since the voice can't do things musical instruments can. He played a 1953 Gibson ES-175.

You have got to have respect for a hard working, old time pro like Herb, but this was a bit of a disappointment.

??:confused: He's a great guitarist, at least he used to be.

To improvise over a simple blues progression in G for example, the scale he presented was the chromatic scale.

Interesting idea, although in my opinion, Bebop scale works even better as far as Jazz-Blues is concerned.

For more information: http://www.jazzguitar.be/bebopscale.html

The ridiculousness of that of course is that the chromatic scale is not even really a scale, it is simple every possible note.

Of course it's a scale, lol:p .

"a scale is a set of musical notes in order by pitch, either ascending or descending." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_(music)

It can be used in all kinds of styles, from classical to jazz to blues to bluegrass to heavy metal, and it often adds a lot to the music.

He mentions the idea of singing along with doing lead, singing what you play.

It's not so easy to do that well. I do that sometimes, but I'm limited because my voice doesn't have that big of a range, however my bandmate (who is a MUCH MUCH better singer) can do it very well.

think Steve Vai has mentioned that also as a way to express oneself a little more consciously and personally via guitar or any instrument. Though that is an interesting exercise, the limitations on doing that are pretty huge though since the voice can't do things musical instruments can.

Well, for many people, voice is a musical instrument actually.

And while usually you need to be a very good singer to do this (and a very good guitarist with a great ear as well), the people who did it best on guitar were probably Jimi Hendrix and Albert Collins, although they weren't technically great singers at all. As far as other instruments are concerned, I think Ray Charles did it best on piano on some of his bluesy Jazz tunes.

I guess the only comment worth addressing is GanjaFreebird's apparent confusion regarding scales. Referring to the chromatic scale as a scale to act as a guide for playing notes that sound good in the context of a particular chord or solo melody is like saying the alphabet is a guide for writting words. Obviously that means the chromatic scale does not provide any guidelines for playing lead notes appropriate for the chords. But then again, a lot of jazz oftentimes sounds like wrong notes are being played, so play any note you want. http://www.world-of-smilies.com/html/images/smilies/alien/00000528.gif

As an exercise, instead of playing relevent scales, we can play the chromatic scale (any note you want) keeping in mind that certain notes will definitely sound wrong when played against certain chords. We can call it "reverse polarity" scale theory.

In order to do this, any note is up for grabs except...

* A 4th over any major chord (unless it is an 11th or sus 4)
* A major 3rd on a minor chord
* A minor 3rd (#9th) or minor 7th on a major 7th chord
* A root note as a sustained note over a major 7th chord
* A b9th on a major 7 or minor chord
* A b6th on a major 7 or minor chord
* A major 7th on a minor 7th or (dominant) 7th chord

GanjaFreebird's apparent confusion regarding scales.

How many music theory classes did you ever take and what were your grades?:p

Referring to the chromatic scale as a scale to act as a guide for playing notes that sound good in the context of a particular chord or solo melody is like saying the alphabet is a guide for writting words.

And yet, sometimes it works very well, in all kinds of music styles;) .

But then again, a lot of jazz oftentimes sounds like wrong notes are being played, so play any note you want.

Yes, you can mix "wrong notes" into the music and still make it sound great, as long as you know how to do it:) .

However, the fact that you seem to care about note selections here is very weird, since you are such a big fan of people like Shawn Lane, Michael-Angelo, Satriani or even Dimeola...all of them sound as if they were using the wrong notes 80% of the times (and unlike Hendrix they do not have the bending ability to make it sound right either), although sometimes it works well for them. Lane, although he could play very very fast, couldn't tell a good note/scale/riff from a bad one to save his life, that's why sometimes he would sound GREAT for 5 seconds and in the next 5 seconds he would sound like a 5 year old with very fast fingers.

If you cared about having the best note selections within a certain context, your favorite guitarists would be George Harrison, Scottie Moore, James Burton, B.B. King, Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins, Albert King...

In order to do this, any note is up for grabs except...

LOL, you might as well go back to the pre-Bach music theory where you can't even have parallel octaves or 5ths:p .

To quote Lee Ritenour, whose opinion is worth contemplating, "There are no bad note choices, only bad resolutions."

Al Petteway: Celtic Blues & Beyond

Wow, amazing guitar player, like a junior Adrian Legg, and Celtic music is amazing in its power and emotion. So far in this he performs the songs and then reviews the various techniques. This is very heavy on the fingerpicking. His preferred alternate tuning for the celtic music is DADGAG.

Damnit, that should be DADGAD.