Product Details

• Actors: Curt Mitchell
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Stereo)
• 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: Music. Video Prod.
• DVD Release Date: December 16, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000ZMHAG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,714 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hey Jude, don't buy this video..., January 25, 2004

By 

Mj "I'm another kind of green..." (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guitar Method: In the Style of Beatles (DVD)

This DVD is terrible. Audio and Video quality are extremely poor, the production quality is below amateurish, and it's under 20 minutes long. The "instructor" is neither a gifted speaker or teacher, he's just some verbally challenged guy who hurries through demonstrating 56 one or two measure long segments from Beatles song. The songs are not referred to by name, they are known only as Riff 1 to 56. The "instructor" will play the "riff" once, then play it again slower, and move on to the next one. No instruction is given on how to play what he is playing, so this is not useful for a beginner. As for intermediate to advanced players, you will also learn nothing. (Save for the fact that you could probably make a much better video than this in a Saturday afternoon with your HandyCam...) There is no insight given into George, John or Paul's styles, technique, how they achieved certain sounds or effects, etc. However, the instructor does give you his thoughts on the Beatles body of work after the collection of riffs has been played. Unfortunately, he has no real thoughts, and just babbles inanely for a few minutes. (This actually is my favorite part of the video because it's like a scene out of "Spinal Tap". Sadly, it's not funny enough to be worth the purchase price.)

If you are a serious musician, or want to be, don't buy this. Warner markets a series of videos on the Beatles guitar style that you should check into instead. Although I have not seen them, I feel quite confident that they would at least be better than this.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars THE WORST OF THE BUNCH!, March 5, 2006

By 

W. Crook - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guitar Method: In the Style of Beatles (DVD)

I have bought literally hundreds of dollars worth of guitar instructional books, CD's and DVD's, and I can confidently say that this DVD is not only the worst of the bunch, but it is absolutely worthless. I would have given it "0" stars if I could have, to indicate it's true worth. How can you learn anything from watching some guy play songs on the guitar, even slowly, when he is such a terrible teacher that he can't provide any valuable instruction on what he is playing? You would be better off downloading the free tab, or even paying for it, and listening to the original music. And Curt Mitchell has the audacity to state the Beatles, the most famous rock group ever, weren't very good guitarists. Well, if they weren't good guitarists, why is Curt teaching their style? Why doesn't he teach the style of some "whipping" guitarists like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen or Eric Johnson? Why did he leave out the best of the Beatles' guitar playing ("Taxman" and "And Your Bird Can Sing")? The fact is that the Beatles' guitar playing perfectly FITS THEIR STYLE OF MUSIC, and I believe is one reason the Beatles' music sounds so great. Could anyone imagine Satriani playing lead for the Beatles? Of course not. They didn't become the most popular band on the planet with bad guitar playing. Why Mitchell doesn't understand this I don't know.
I e-mailed mvp three times and asked them where the full band and rhythm tracks are that they promised on the cover, and I never received a response.
If you want QUALITY Beatle's guitar instruction by someone who is EXTREMELY knowledgeable and articulate-I would even go above articulate and say eloquent-get the three books written by Wolf Marshall: "Best of the Beatles on Acoustic Guitar," "The Beatles Hits," and "The Beatles Favorites." The three books cover 68 songs, break each one down into sections, give an in-depth analysis of each section, and include CD tracks at normal and slow speed. Marshall's writing shows his appreciation for the innovative and creative geniuses that the Beatles were. He puts all of his musical knowledge into describing the nuances of the Beatles' unique style, and does so amazingly well. No two books cover the same song. (You'll need to do the search on the title of the books and not the author on Amazon.) And you don't have to pay for a worthless DVD!
No, I'm not related to Marshall-I just own several of his books. As a further testament to the Beatles' unique style, Ricky Rooksby, in his book, "How to Write Songs on Guitar," frequently mentions chord changes in Beatles' songs because of their uniqueness and instructional value (and they don't sound too bad either!). In the introduction of this book, Rooksby writes (page 8), "The Beatles are well represented, not only because they were outstanding but because most people are familiar with their work. A copy of "The Beatles Complete Chordbook" (Wise, 2000) is invaluable from a songwriting point of view." (sic-the correct title of that last book is "The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook").
I hope this helps in your decision-making.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well.......It's....., November 12, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Guitar Method: In the Style of Beatles (DVD)

I bought this DVD hoping it would be decent. I LOVE The Beatles and everything about them, and I thought, "This better be good!" for the price. I watched it, and, not being very advanced in guitar playing (I have a black Ibanez acoustic, but still love it) I, or even my mom, who is really good, could not follow along one bit! The instructor mumbled a lot, was very boring and kept looking over to the side nervously. Let's talk about the few good things about the video, shall we?

The actual guitar playing was pretty good.

Yes. I hate to say it, but that is the only real good thing about the video. Now the bad things:

The instructor was very boring.
He did not say the names of the songs he was playing! (really bothered me!)
The video was very low-quality, probably a home-video thing.
He went through the songs WAYYYY too fast, even the slow versions were much too fast for most people to follow along with!
I doubt anyone can see exactly WHERE his fingers are on the fretboard, so what's the use?
The tabs and notation that comes with the DVD are (obviously)confusing for new guitarists.
After the 56 riffs and licks (I like saying that!) are over, he talks about the Beatles' overall music. In this, he says that they 'were not the "whippinest" guitarists'. WHAT? What about GEORGE?! He rocked!! He was one of the whippinest guitarists of all time!! (Sorry. I am a huge George H. fan and defend him on all accounts. *Sigh* What has the world come to?)
He doesn't even mention George's techniques like the cover said they would!
They are missing some of the greatest songs: Taxman (awesome riff by Paul), And Your Bird Can Sing (Awesome riff by George) and, of course, Here Comes The Sun! (George with some pretty, fancy, complicated, awesome fingerpicking riffs!) HOW COULD THEY?!
It does not seem that the instructor even KNOWS much about the Beatles. He says, before playing an extremely fast riff from Bungalow Bill, that he 'doesn't think The Beatles could play this fast'. Paul probably could! Maybe George!
Also, he says stuff about the Beatles that seem to be more his opinion than plain facts!
This was something I noticed: At the beggining and at the very end, they play the riff of "Dear Prudence", except they use the melody of "Lucy In The Sky" as the main part! (Yes, I do pay attention to all these details.) I guess it's because the riffs sound alike.

Ok. Well, there you have it. A collection of Beatles songs, missing a few ingredients and being presented by some boring guy that, apparently, not very many people know. At least the guitar playing is ok. Maybe in 15 years of watching this video, after I get my dream electric guitar (Epiphone Casino or Gibson SG), I will actually be able to play 10 or 12 of these crazy riffs.

- A very disappointed George Harrison fan