Customer Reviews

Andy Summers: Guitar (DVD / Booklet)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a guitar playing songwriter, I was never the one to be attracted to instructional guitar videos figuring it could somehow point me in a direction of un-originality, but this DVD proved me all wrong. I bought it on a whim along with Andy's autobiography and his aproach to songs and chords is eye-opening.

To me, it turns out, he was secretly the coolest of The Police members which makes it fun to hang out and see him talk about and teach the parts he played with them. It's a great way to learn new chords that will stretch your hands and get you away from your normal patterns.

It's a little funny when he calls the triad based major chords "boring," but his whole point is to find new colors and not do the cookie cutter thing (which helped his band become the biggest band in the world).

It's got a slow-down section (which is not all that important with the control that comes from DVDs these days).
It's got him playing a bunch of Police songs with a band.
It's got him playing a bunch of originals with a band (they can get out there, but they are cool).

I'd say, if you like The Police, you will love this video. If you aren't a Police fan but are looking to get out of old habits and approach your instrument by way of an original minded instructor, you will love this video.

If you're looking to shred solos, look elsewhere. If you're looking to learn blues licks, look elsewhere. If you are a total beginner, look elsewhere.

If you're looking to open your eyes and ears and see that the pop/rock music that most people love has guitar playing a supporting role augmenting the impact of the SONG and want to witness a guy who worked that role to perfection, this is the video for you.

Overall, a great set - a long (2 hours plus) session with Mr. Andrew Summers himself, with an extensive accompanying booklet.

Summers give lessons and explanations on all the facets of his style, as well as extensive demonstrations of his best material in the Police. But don't buy this just to boost your cover band's repetoire; Summers covers much, much more, including practical advice on playing over changes, fingerpicking, and extended chord voicings.

Overall, a good buy, one that is thoughtful enough to provide slow motion, pitch corrected versions of ALL of the examples presented, with extensive closeups. It's a must have for anyone looking to play challenging material.

When I was 16 in 1968 I saw a band called soft machine with a kid playing guitar named Andy Summers. Later in the mid 70's I was in a liquor store on Sunset and La Brea and there he was again. A&M was across the street and he said he was working on a great album with his new band The Police. Well the difference between the fusion/jazz influenced soft machine and the Sting driven nuanced pop fusion was not that great and much of this is from the master guitar work of Andy Summers. So if you are a intermediate guitar player that knows your pentatonic scales and some basic bares and open chords get ready to take your guitar playing to the next level. Andy is such a great instructor! He really knows how to deconstruct the sounds that come from the guitar and to get you seeing why you make the shapes you do on the fretboard. He carries the credentials of the police but he is so much more than that music which is featured here. This is a must if you are serious about expanding your guitar knowledge! Thanks Andy!

I have watched a number of these guitar instructional DVD's so far. For the most part I have enjoyed all of them to one extent or another. But this one really stands out, and it does so for a number of reasons. Andy Summers has a very good point to make regarding "interesting" chords and chord progressions -- with a "twist of lemon" as he likes to say. In talking about his Jazz background he mentions the quick tempo chord changes that don't always let one fully appreciate the character of the more complex harmonies that there are to be heard. The entire first section is dedicated to a chord library that has numerous variations on harmonies that most guitarists have probably never considered. It is doubtful that anyone will use all of these. But it is likely that any guitarist, even a lazy hack like myself, will be interested enough to pick up a guitar a learn a few of these and find a use for. Many of the chords are finger exercises in themselves, which also makes them useful.

There is a section devoted to his years with the Police. Though most of us probably managed to learn the Police standards when growing up it is worth while listening to him talk about his approach to the songs. I was interested to hear him talk about how few guitarists can really play a straight 4 by themselves. It's also quite interesting to hear him talk about his years with the Police. He almost sounds like he's apologizing for them. Which is interesting because he appeared, in 1997 when this was shot, to be something of a British schoolmaster behind a green hollow-body electric guitar speaking cautiously, and almost hesitantly about the songs being what he used to do. All this was well before the Police went on reunion tour in 2006 -- go figure.

There are also several of Summers' solo works which are worth listening to. In both sections he alternates explanations with a studio band performance, that's usually quite good. Most of the time he is playing a Gibson 335 and the tone is superb.

Fan of Summers or not, this is one to check out. Enjoy

I've been slaving over Andy's DVD for few months; I can tell you that nothing is like learning it from the Icon himself. I know just a few simple chords and not even good at them to be honest, know no scales. I like music writings and I wish I could read them but I can't. Anyhow, I started with "Message in the bottle", (so, I identified with), picked it up quick as novice as I was. "It was in the air" and went right into my head, I slaved over it more, as painful as it was to my fingers, wrist and arm, it was enjoyable to me, hearing what I was playing. In the meantime, I started on "Roxanne" (another so, I identified with), I can tell you, now, I play that too, at least most of it. I admit I got room for improvent and it's been great with his DVD. Now, I am working on "Every breath you take", another classic song. It's not easy, not a walk in a park by a long shot for a semi beginner like me, but, like Andy said, "You either got it or you don't", and I feel like I do. So I bought an old no name electric guitar with a very old Peavey amp for a $100 at a flea market, that's all I could afford. My advice to anyone especially if you're a beginner is, do not get disappointed by the long stretches, like Andy said it is a good practice for your fingers. It strengthens your digits, wrist and arm muscles and tendons, you just got to be patient and resilient like I was as a beginner or novice.
Oh yes, I did buy his book, more on that later. For $5 more it is definately worth it, also makes your purchase over $25 and shipping will be free. Just a suggestion!

"EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE" - Ok here's what I began to understand from the triads in every breath you take intro. It's covering a stretch of 5 frets with three fingers, keeping two fingers on the same frets while alternating a third finger to form a transition from triad to diad and back depending on the beat (INDEX FINGER MAY FUZZ A LITTLE IN THE BEGINNING BUT IT'LL EVENTUALLY PASS WITH PRACTICE). I still can't tell the notes but sure it's nice plan.more on this later.

I bought this because I'm a big Police fan. Most any mortal would be impressed by Andy's monstrous music knowledge, but, unfortunately, on this DVD, Andy kinda downplays the Police and instead made an ultra advanced jazz clinic.

PROS:
* Talks about/illustrates his unorthodox approach to chords within the pop genre
* Teaches the progressions to a few police hits (probably the ones he contributed to most, since we know Sting developed most of Police's core song ideas) and even plays cool live segments of them with his most recent trio

CONS:
* Most of the material is extremely advanced jazz and discussed as if he were talking to advanced players
* Andy's guitar has no dots/fret markers, so watching him play on-screen is relatively useless (fortunately, a booklet is included)
* He also has an annoying habit of monotone grunting while he plays...fine for stage, but not good for close proximity instruction

Finally, the answers to the question "How did he do that??"
Straight from the man himself, you'll learn the intriguing chord voicings, rhythms and compositional concepts behind our beloved Police classics. Also, Andy shares some refreshing ideas about how to think about chords, melody and composition in general, and shares interesting and often funny tidbits of information regarding the genesis of some of the Police tunes and his years in the band. There are some nice segments where he plays Police and other tunes in a trio setting to drive home the musical discussion points.

You'll enjoy this video. It's like sitting down with a very gifted guitar instructor who has a deep understanding of music and is just letting it flow. In other words, keep the pause button handy. When he goes through chords he like they just keep rolling with little chance to grab one before he hit another. Of course that's what the diagrams in the booklet are for. Andy's presentation is pretty "low key" with that dry British sense of humor. If you enjoy that it's even more fun to learn from him.

I actually bought this by accident. I quickly picked a few books online and this turned out to be a DVD instead. It turned out to be a great purchase and a much better way to learn the material and learn tricks and tips from Andy than trying to decipher the songs out of a book.

This is a nicely organized selection of lessons and information from Andy Summers with some Police stuff and some of his other work. It offers great insight into what makes Andy tick and offers a lot of info and tips beyond just learning to play a few songs.

It starts out with learning some chords and helpful info. Then for each of the songs on the DVD Andy shows how he plays each part of the song, after which he plays it with his band. It's really a great structure. Work through the pieces of the song, then watch the whole song played and play along. The DVD works on my PC but is better on my DVD player hooked up to my TV due to bigger picture, better sound and the remote control to zap back and forth through the lessons.

The DVD also comes with a book in the DVD jacket. Each lesson has documentation but due to the size of the booklet, the entire lessons and songs are not documented. Considering the limitations of the size of the book, you can't expect too much more, however.

I will be buying more of the Hot Licks DVDs and I hope all of them are as good as this one.

Highly recomended for learning chord "colors." What a huge difference they make on songs and in composition.