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DVDs, CDs, Online Lessons
DVDs, CDs, Online Lessons
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ChrisDowning
5 posts
Apr 30, 2008
7:12 AM
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With so much material around now, like DVDs, CDs and online courses, does anyone have ideas or pointers to the best? OK guys - as well as Rich's materials - that's a given.
Personally I've started to work through a lot of DVDs by renting them rather than buying. A bit tricky as most of these are supposed to have booklets - which the renters don't give you. (The only fix is where they have a PDF file on the DVD). I'm beginning to tire of watching some pretty mediocre stuff - not all players are good communicators. In fact it's a bit of a rarity. But I do like Fred Sokolow, Jimmy Bruno, Larry Coryell, Steve Kaufman. Considering there are thousands of DVDs out there my list is still ultra short, so there must be loads of students out there wasting their money. None of my students seem to learn much from them as well - guess they are used to one on one lessons?
On the CD front, the best present I was given last year was an iPod - all my course books that students use have CDs and these are all on the iPod. I can access anything they are listening to, wherever I am. (And all my Guitar College CDs are on it as well.) This is a brilliant way to access huge amounts of recorded material and of course there's all the music you want to keep close as well - you want to get a student to listen to 30 seconds of Chuck Berry, or Satriani - click on the track and listen now! If you hook up your MP3 player to the amp, you're set. I use a Fender G-DEC so I have preset sounds in the amp, a metronome in there as well, some backing tracks on the amp and then the iPod connected up for all the other materials. I've gotten so used to this setup I'd feel lonely without it.
Lastly I found some brilliant course syllabuses (or is it Syllabi?) on Berklee the other day - for guitar and bass. These are the descriptions and a schedules of 12 weeks of work for each of their online modules. It's a big reminder for us teachers - we should all have our work with students laid out like that - 6 or 12 sessions, the contents aims and objects written down, the supporting materials and players' styles all identified and prepared, and lesson outcomes defined at the outset. If one session takes three weeks and another a few days, we're still on the routemap. I think we sometimes get too responsive and do lessons that are totally driven by their low level view of what they want - and not what they actually need. Anyway, take a look at the Berklee site - syllabuses like these are fairly rare to find for the guitar. Also see what these courses cost - (I'll let you find out, but I was surprised). I don't think face to face lessons and home study courses will be getting less popular any time soon.
Last Edited by on Apr 30, 2008 7:19 AM
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Eric E
5 posts
May 03, 2008
7:41 AM
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Hi Chris,
Yeah, I have a few lesson videos/DVDs too (I wish there was a place to rent them from around here). I’m not sure what it is about books and videos, but many of my students work better one on one in a lesson than on their own. They will buy the videos, but won’t sit and learn from them. I think they like to watch them as entertainment rather than sit and work through the material. But I find that to be true with quite a few of my students as far as practicing in general. They like their lesson time, but do very little work at home on their own.
As far as good videos and lesson material: I still go back to my Guitar College Jazz books all the time for ideas. I do like Jimmy Bruno and Robert Conti’s material too: Jimmy for technical and picking ideas and Robert for licks and solo ideas. Those are probably my favorites.
I’ll check out Berklee’s web site. The syllabus idea is good. I think having a plan and goals for what we expect a student to learn is a great idea. I have too many students who want me to figure out a complicated solo for them when they have only been playing for a couple of months. While it’s always good to make the material fun and work on songs, I want my students to learn to be solid, well rounded musicians too.
--Eric E.
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ChrisDowning
7 posts
May 13, 2008
11:15 PM
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Hi Eric
Well I thought the same here in the UK, "I wish I could rent DVDs on guitar and bass". But I checked out the biggest who operate in the UK and what do you know - they all stocked about 50% of everything available. You'll need to check out which comapanies do what in the USA.
In the end, if you like a DVD and find it useful you are going to want to own it and use over a long time. That's why swapping ideas and recommendations here might be so useful. (Also, once I started to get into GC syllabus, there are some DVDs that help, and some that don't. Sometimes you don't need more analysis and ideas about a subject; you need to apply what you have learnt and play.)
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Al
1 post
Jun 20, 2008
4:57 PM
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Hi Chris and Eric, I haven't posted anything on the discussion board in a very long time. I'm going to agree with Eric in that books are only effective in the hands of a student with a Type A personality.
I always see a book as the best that a teacher has to offer because of the amount of planning that has gone into it, assuming it's good to begin with. I have found books on a teaching level to be most effective for my learning style. That is not to say that I don't find video and MP3's helpful, because all of these tools are crucial for my development.
I have literally read and worked through 700 or so books on the western music system, jazz harmony, guitar technique, and fingerboard navigation. Plus I own an embarrassing amount of videos and MP3's on my Apple computers and iPod's. I have come to two conclusions:
1. Western music is really not that difficult assuming you have the primers offered through a methodology of harmony such as Guitar College, the first two years of music school or what have you.
2. The more you read, the better off you are. You are not going to get everything in one place, in fact, the more teachers you have, the more experience you're going to learn from.
Hal Leonard has a couple of my favorite series within their publishing catalog: Musician's Institute Press (MI Press) and Berklee Press. I began reading MI Press years ago, what I have found is that all of the authors present a methodology that is identical in Guitar College; sometimes Guitar College will cover something a little more in depth and vice versa but the consistency is there. I am currently studying at Berklee through their online school. Everything I've learned from Guitar College and MI applies, understanding how music works so to speak and the fingerboard (the primers) really help.
When I read the Guitar College methodology the FIRST time, I realized that Rich occasionally wrote or said something that didn't register mentally, and I later realized that I just wasn't ready to hear it. On the flip side, there have been occasions where other teachers have said something that Rich just explained better. That's the nature of that process I suppose.
I want to be clear, reading all of the books, the first two years of college level music theory, and Berklee has vindicated my faith in Rich's system, it is excellent because it is the same system that has produced thousand great players at MI. I'm not sure if Rich feels that he can say that, but I can say it because I have intensely studied MI's curriculum.
Over time I have seen all the pieces of curriculum become one, but this took the decision to immerse myself into learning music first and then learning how to apply it on my guitar.
Another thing, I think third party videos have unfair expectations placed upon them. They are usually topical and rarely, if never systematic. If it's a celebrity video, it's going to be more autobiographical in a sense. I always determined to learn something that I didn't know. I don't consider any tool a waste if I can get something out of it.
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2008 12:19 PM
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ChrisDowning
13 posts
Jul 10, 2008
11:31 AM
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I think you've got that right Al - it's about havign a systematic approach and videos are often just the thoughts of a famous player just fetched in for the day. I'm sure they give it some thought before they arrive, but being famous and in demand, I doubt they are doing much teaching. I always feel they are what you would discuss if you bumped into them in a store and asked for a few pointers.
I agree that Rich's teaching is very good and progressive. It doesn't seem to conflict with MI materials at all - but generally it's at a higher level. And with all the CD commentary it's far more in depth than anything produced for the mass market. Rich knows his market is the better player and serious musician.
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