Customer Reviews

Essential Guitar Practice Routines: Sweep Picking

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

 

 

Andy James absolutely creates a brilliant and insightful DVD on the use of sweep picking in the release. No doubt any player with a few years of experience could benefit from this tutorial.

But.......

This DVD is over an hour long. It is divided into 3 sections or exercises ( beginner, intermediate, advanced). Each section concludes with a 2 to 3 minute etude that is the culmination of all the bits Andy shows. The unbelievable issue for me is that there is no tab or notation included. It will take you hours to actually just play each chapter and notate them which makes zero sense to me. The whole DVD could be made 100% more user friendly but giving the examples in standard notation or tablature. Without the tab you are forced to watch each chapter over and over and over just trying to figure out what Andy is playing.

This DVD would be 5 stars if it was not so user unfriendly. I am not lazy and do not mind putting in the time but I refuse to spend countless hours tabbing out the exercises when this should have been done by Lick Library. Even worse, most of the Lick Library series is like this ( I have a Joe Satriani DVD by Danny Gill and a Tapping DVD also by Andy James ). I absolutely would never purchase or recommend anymore Lick Library practice routines until this massive problem is corrected.

Horrifically disappointing.

Generally, I don't like the licklibrary DVDs. I have 3 of them and I think this will be the last I get from this company. Before I start, let me say that I've been playing guitar for a couple decades and I know my scales and chords and quite a bit when it comes to the almighty 6 string. I chose this DVD to help me bring in some new techniques into my playing, mainly sweeping.

I'm giving this item 1 star. I'd give it less if I could and here's why.

1. There is no tab included. Tab would have given this DVD some life; otherwise, you'll get a headache and eye strain attempting to pick out what the instructor is attempting to show you. You know, it would be great to have the DVD as a demo and then take a booklet with you and practice wherever you need to practice.

2. The instructor is holding a black guitar against a black background and many times the guitar itself, especially the strings, become difficult to see.

3. The instructor is playing a 7 string guitar. Add this with the black guitar, black background, and what looks to be an ebony fingerboard, and you get lost in what he is trying to do. With a 7 string guitar, when your mind thinks he's on the 5th string, he's actually on the 6th string. Half the time you can't tell if what fret this guy is on. Would it have been a big deal to play a 6 string guitar with a maple fingerboard for a clearer picture? At least a lighter background. The instructor is cool and mysterious, we get it.

4. The title of this DVD is Essential Guitar Practice Routines, Sweep picking. Lots of the examples have no sweep picking at all and instead you see lots of alternate picking and hammer ons, and some slides. The routines are more like licks and not really geared towards practice sessions. The instructor seems to be more interesting in showing you how well he sweeps as opposed to actually teaching you something useful.

I already know many arpeggios. What I needed was an instructional DVD with ways to practice sweeping. Essentially, picking hand technique, which there is little of, and less concentration on arpeggios and the fretting hand.

This DVD reminds me of a Monty Python skit: "How to play the flute. Well here we are. You blow there and you move your fingers up and down here."

Too bad. I had high hopes for this one.

You guys have to be kidding about the tab! Yes, it's true... there is no tab for this video.... but Andy tells you very slowly and simply what fret to play on what string before he "SLOWLY" plays it..... if you have a problem catching on to something as simple as that.... I don't know what to say. This dvd really kicks some serious ass! It seems like all of the other lessons that I've seen for Sweeping elsewhere always show the same two arpeggios..... This one goes very far out of that "box" and shows you some very interesting stuff! I thought that I was an intermediate player for sweeping until I watched this video...... and now realize that I am in between beginner and intermediate.... There is still a lot to learn, and this is the perfect front for me to learn from. Thank you Andy for making a bad ass dvd!!!!!