Product Details

• Actors: Mat Gurman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hal Leonard Corp
• DVD Release Date: August 1, 2003
• Run Time: 59 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000A1HU9
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,854 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

In the Hal Leonard 50 Licks Blues Style DVD, ace session guitarist Mat Gurman teaches budding blues-masters 50 terrific phrases. Gurman demonstrates licks for dominant and minor blues progressions, turnarounds, intro licks, ending licks, stop time licks and many more. He also shows players the classic techniques used in blues guitar such as bends, pull-offs, hammer-ons, slides, slurs, vibrato, muted string raking and more! Each guitar lick is played in context, then demonstrated slowly with full explanations of every playing technique used. Includes an instructional booklet. 59 minutes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not For The Beginner Guitarist, But Some COOL Licks!, August 21, 2007

By 

Thomas G. Sopchak "themainmusicman" (Williston, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 50 Licks Blues Style - DVD (DVD)

My Background:
In order to level set you as to my comments here is a little about me. I have been playing pretty consistently for about 1.5 years. I still consider myself a novice guitar player. I know 1/2 dozen cords, a few songs, some typical beginner licks and have been practicing the A major and A minor pentatonic scales both in the first position. I am pretty good with those two scales. I have no problem reading most guitar tablature.

What You Need To Know
This is just my opinion. It is key that you can read guitar tablature. Also, it would be VERY helpful if you knew many (more than I do) of the pentatonic scales and several of the positions for each (there are 5 positions for each scale). Mat (the instructor) only shows you one scale and in a single position (A Major "Blues" scale). He does this very quickly at the start of the DVD. It would also be very helpful if you are proficient at bends, hammer ons, pull offs and slides. You will also do better if you have some skill in a few different strumming techniques, including muted tones. Clearly all of these are key elements of blues guitar (actually any guitar work) and he uses them in abundance.

The Instruction and Licks:
As I mentioned he does show one of the scales he calls the "A" blues scale. However he is all over the place on the fret board (uses far more than just this one scale) and if you don't have some degree of proficiency in playing scales you will not get much from this DVD. He also shows you quickly how to tune a guitar. However I'm guessing that anyone who would remotely be able to use this DVD would already know how to do that.

The licks he shows are very cool and if you can learn some of them they can be strung together to really jam. They range widely in level of complexity. There are a few that could be played by a beginner who has little experience (although they are the exception). Any beginner trying to learn these licks would have to be highly motivated and determined. Mat does include the tablature for each of the licks which is very good. In most places on the DVD he shows both of his hands so you can see the fret work as well and the picking. He does slow his playing down and for the most part you can figure out what he is doing. However he is so versed in what he is doing that he does sometimes make assumptions that you understand what he just did or what he is telling you. This is where it will be difficult for beginners.

Bottom Line:
Pretty cool DVD. With my current skill level I will be able to make some use out of it but by in large it is a little beyond me still. That said I am still very happy I bought it because I am sick of just practicing scales up and down, up and down, without doing anything cool. You can not even get 30 minutes of live guitar lessons for $10. The DVD is done well enough such that if you have some ability to play and want to check out some cool licks it is well worth the money.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a Blues Guitar DVD with some MEAT!, July 30, 2005

By 

Magellan "Scarpetti" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 50 Licks Blues Style - DVD (DVD)

Mat and would not hit it off. Instant personality clash for sure. Then again I didn't buy this DVD to make friends. I bought it to learn blues. 50 good usable licks presented in a way that you can actually learn them. Good camera angles, the sound is fair. Tab could be onscreen but I guess the booklet works just fine. Just the thing for the early intermediate player.

This DVD spends a lot of time in my player!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get rhythm!, September 24, 2007

By 

S. White (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 50 Licks Blues Style - DVD (DVD)

I am a professional musician with over 17 years experience on guitar alone and this is the second DVD in this series I have bought now as I was so impressed with the first which was the Country licks. At the outset it should be said that these DVD's are not for beginners, sorry but that's just the facts. This isn't to say that a beginner cannot glean inspiration and work up to certain licks slowly but I would suggest this really suiting the intermediate player to advanced on some techniques.

With my many years of playing I was already familiar with the techniques being employed on this DVD and found myself ripping some awesome licks in just a couple of hours after sitting down and viewing it. Even for an old dog like me I was learning how to lay down certain phrases I was always curious about but never got around to ... such as some of the faster flourishes.

The sound and presentation are simple and yet excellent with both right and left hand views on screen at the same time. Mat Gurman does a fine job of breaking down the phrases and is technically excellent in his own right. I have had no issues with the Tab that comes with this DVD NOT matching up with what is being played ... every note was where it ought to be.

A final note ... don't be put off by the return to menu feature, I have found this to be a smart addition to this series since it allows you to stay with that lick until you got it locked in before moving on without having the DVD race away from you while you are working things out. This also makes each lick easy to find and return to rather than having to scroll through to locate it!

For this kind of value I plan on getting the Jazz and Rock DVD's in this series - my vocabulary has really expanded in the time I have spent with this product and I am already an advanced player. If like me you are an experienced guitarist you may find you only need 10 or more of these licks but I'd be learning them all because they can often transform into other licks you create yourself.

Killer series!