Customer Reviews

GUITAR DVD Total Scales Techniques and Applications

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

 

 

This DVD is amazing. The teacher starts at the beginning and assumes you know nothing about the guitar - nothing is taken for granted. There are years of instruction/application on this DVD. The quality of the DVD is very good and the attention to detail is superb. You would spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars to get the same amount of information from a private instructor. Efficient, concise, generous amount of info. Simply the best visual guitar instruction to-date at a rediculously low price.

I believe that the "Total scales and Techniques" DVD is the single best learning resource that the beginning or advanced guitarist can find. Mark John Sternal has created the "complete toolbox" of the really useful tools that you need to learn the fretboard, playing techniques, and other really cool stuff. From start to finish, each section is explained and demonstrated very well. This is by far the most comprehensive help I've ever had toward reaching my own learning goals with the guitar. Thank you!

I have been working with the guitar for five years which includes, music, music theory and applying both to the guitar. I purchased this DVD shortly after beginning and was so intimidated and overwhelmed I set it aside.
After five years of learning songs and having gained an understanding of the layout of the fretboard and music theory I revisited this DVD. I still find it to be terrible.
For me this DVD is so disjointed I don't know how anyone could make useful sense out of any of it.

After reading the other reviews I guess I don't have a clue.
If another beginner can get anything out of this DVD, other than total confusion, they should be well on their way.

I would not recommend this video to beginners. I've been playing guitar for over 12 years and I was still pretty bored with this video - not because I knew everything being taught, but just because it was presented in such a boring way. But I guess if you can push through the monotony and learn what is being taught, you'll be a very skilled player.

75% of this DVD is him playing guitar exercises. Different patterns of scales in different speeds where you're supposed to be playing with him. There is only a little bit of actual informative DVD but a lot of that is very basic knowledge. He focuses mainly on the major scale leaving other important scales in the dark (he does skim over the pentatonic). The music in the DVD is very dry, he might have played 3 or 4 interesting licks in the whole DVD. He doesn't give examples of how to apply the scale creatively. This is a pure theory DVD. In my opinion this DVD just tells you what the scales are, gives you practice exercises, but you have to figure out how to creatively use the scales yourself.