Customer Reviews

Brent Mason: Nashville Chops And Western Swing Guitar

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

 

 

Brent is one of the best! There's no doubt about it. He's not that great of a teacher though, so he kinda' rips through some of these cool (but tough!) licks without much explanation. When an instructional video requires the slow down feature for just about every lick --and believe me, many are like that!-- I get to thinking "how does this beat just transcribing this stuff by ear?"

So, in short, if you're already a competent player who's a Brent fan, you have to have this and do what you can to learn all the licks. But if you're new to the country guitar genre or a relatively inexperienced player, you'd do better to get one of the vids by Johnny Hiland or Arlen Roth since those guys are really good teachers as well as great players.

No doubt this guy can play but DVD provides almost nothing in the way of 'instruction'. There is a distinct lack of 1/2 speed and slow passage runs. Almost all exercises are played at full break neck speed which very frustrating to the learner. The info on Brent's guitar and gear is interesting but this is not what an instructional DVD is all about.

Brent Mason is an amazing guitar player and in this video, you get that. But he's not a very good teacher. He seems disorganized, he doesn't really explain much -- he's kind of a typical blue collar guy, about as charismatic as a shop teacher. I enjoyed watching this video, but I couldn't honestly say I learned a lot from it, which is a shame because I would like to understand how he does what he does, but frankly, I'm not even sure he knows.

This is my 2nd Hot Licks Video(James Burton was #1), and is my favorite out of the two. The quality is really decent considering that these were all created on VHS first, and the new menu's with the Pitch-Correct Slo-Motion feature is AWESOME and is definitely necessary with this guy! I would not suggest this if you are a beginner though! Not unless you just want to spend all you time learning Brent's licks and nothing else. And having everything actually written down (staff and tabs) really helps out alot! But, add the slow motion AND the written part, and you can't beat this!!! Just totally awesome!!!

I'd never heard of Brent Mason before buying this DVD, but wanted something to help improve my playing, 'Nashville chops & western swing' - sounded perfect. The big problem is Mason has all the charisma of old brown shoe. Listening to him bleat is pure hell

'I think I used errr... this lick on the road with the errrr... Bobby Daniel's band, in uuummmm... 78 or was it '79 and when we got in the studio I remembered it again and thought, hey maybe I'll use errrrr.... that, and I uuummm... used it. So, if you're looking to errr.. put some, errrr.. style, or bop, errr in your playing'

JESUS CHRIST MAN! Even typing out something that sounds vaguely like this chump makes me want to smash my keyword over my head, pull a plastic shard out the side and cut my throat to escape his endless, pointless, errrr, stories which have nothing to do with playing the god damn guitar! There are some sweet licks and riffs on here, but Senior Mason clearly doesn't realise that people at home are rewinding and playing through sections of this again and again to learn what he's 'teaching'. Unfortunately this means you have to listen to bits of his inane jibber jabber again and again. It's worse than water boarding! The guy rips it up on the guitar, but you gotta thank god he's not a front man, as his banter in-between songs would be enough to start a riot or mass suicide. Buy this at your own peril! Just writing the review has made me want to go out and cleanse the streets.

This program will be fun to watch for anyone because of Mason's incredible talent and spectacular playing. I am an amateur guitarist. But I suspect that only very, very good musicians will get much out of it in terms of playing tips. Even with the slow-mo replays, I still can't really understand what he's doing or begin to emulate it. I'm glad I bought the disk, but I'm not any better at playing for having watched it.

Brent is an amazing player, but not a great teacher. I'm a pretty decent player but this stuff is difficult and not accessible.

If you already are a great player and are ready, by all means get it.

If you're trying to just get a handle on "country" this isn't the place to start.

The guy is an amazing player, but he is not a teacher. I caught on right at the beginning that he had great difficulty slowing his own licks down. If you want to get a closer more direct look at his licks (at full speed) then this video is for you. If you were expecting more of a teaching session that broke down his playing and licks, this is not for you. The video could have really used a good teacher sitting with him pulling out details like I have seen done in other videos (like Steve Wariner's DVD).

I tend to disagree with most of the reviews on here. To be sure, it is a video for the advancing/advanced guitarist, but Brent explains himself well and there is a good transcription booklet included with the DVD.
Frankly, this is THE video for those who want to learn the idiomatic nuances that make modern country guitar soloing what it is. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that I think the bit on Western Swing guitar is a useless diversion, and frankly, I don't believe that's why people want to buy a Bren Mason DVD.

A lot of great tips and licks are included in this DVD. Brent Mason has such a great demeanor in his teaching style.

I was able to greatly beef up my version of, 'The Last Steam Engine Train', after watching this DVD and learning a few of the licks.