Customer Reviews

Learning Guitar for Dummies [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was the first DVD I ever bought on the subject. I ordered I even before I bought my first guitar, so I was a real beginner.

The pace is very slow, but as a beginner, I liked it that way. It helped me to feel like I had the potential to keep up. This was very important to me so that I wouldn't give up.

Some may feel the pace of this DVD is too slow, but if you are interested in starting slowly... this may be just the right pace for you.

Eventually, I started collecting Guitar DVDs and I now have over 20, but this was the one that held my interest long enough to make it past the training wheel stages.

This DVD is great for people who have little or no experience with playing guitar and want to begin without investing in private lessons (private lessons are a good idea if you can afford them). The DVD contains basics such as posture, hand position, a few basic chords, and strumming. It even has a very basic introduction to fingerstyle (playing with your fingers instead of a pick).

I had taken a very basic class a few years ago, then taught myself barre chords and a few scales. I recently invested in a good mid-range guitar (Martin DC-16 GTE), so I picked up this dvd as a refresher. I found myself skipping to chapter 8 before I came to anything I hadn't learned yet. So the title "Learning Guitar for Dummies" is apt. It is great for beginners as a SUPPLEMENT to private lessons. For intermediate players who are looking to build such skills as fingerstyle, barre chords, scales and improvisation, etc, you'll need something a bit more advanced than this. I found myself more bored and drooling over the Taylor 814 CE he was playing than focusing on the really basic concepts he was presenting.

Other drawbacks of the video: 1) his singing is terrible 2) he doesn't go over such basics as selecting and changing strings or some accessories that are helpful even for the novice (i.e. string winders, supplies for cleaning and maintaining the instrument- like a lint free cloth, a humidifier, etc). 3) in the video he does not always follow the suggested fingering shown in the chart on the screen (i.e. on a few of the songs he plays a G chord with the 1,2, and 4 fingers instead of the 1,2,3 as shown in the chart- I also prefer the 1,2,4 fingering, but this may be confusing to some beginners). Other than that it is a good introductory video for the beginner.

I used to take guitar lessons when I was about 15 years old. Learned some basic cords and could play a few songs. I had not picked up the guitar in many years. My 12 year old Daughter decided to learn to play the guitar so I got my old guitars out and started playing again. I ordered this DVD Learning Guitar for Dummies, by Jon Chappell and found it to be an excellent first lesson for the beginner guitar player. Not only did I learn some thing's I did not know but my daughter sat through the whole DVD with her guitar. Jon has a great way of explaining things slowly and easily. I would recommend this DVD for any beginner guitar player. Even if you know nothing about the guitar, you will by the end of this DVD. I had also ordered another Guitar learning DVD and found it to be not nearly as good as this one. Two Thumbs up to this DVD! The only thing I was disappointed about was I could not find any other DVD's put out by Jon Chappell.

At my request, my wife bought me a guitar about a year ago. It sat, collecting dust, until I finally had a little time to spend with it. What I needed was a very basic DVD that would show a beginner (like me) the ins and outs of playing a guitar. I think that is exactly what this DVD does. It is probably the equivalent to 4 or 5 lessons for beginners. You learn a little bit about the different types of guitars, the parts of a guitar, some chords a little about strumming and you even practice a couple songs. The DVD seems like you are being instructed by your high school band teacher so it doesn't have the cool factor of watching an aging rocker with over processed hair. That is just fine with me. It is clear that a lot of thought went into the selections of the songs and lessons so as to cover a lot of the beginner's basics. Yes, Mr. C can't sing, but who cares, the DVD isn't singing for dummies. I think that the DVD is great for someone like me who wants to get a little familiar with a guitar, but doesn't have the time to go out to weekly lesion. The DVD is a first step, it is not intended for someone who is already an accomplished player.

Let me preface this review with this statement - I have been playing guitar for over 25 years. I wish this tape had been around then...

Last summer, I helped my sister pick out a guitar for my brother-in-law as a birthday gift. While visting them last month, Suzanne (my sister) told me of a tape Fred (my bro-in-law) had picked up to help boost his floundering attempt at kick starting his Rock Star career at the tender age of 46. It was very good, she said; the guy mixed humour with very easy to understand instruction for the novice and even tone deaf. Cool, thought I. Perhaps I should check it out sometime...

Well, as fate would have it, I woke up in advance of everyone else the next morning, and in leu of watching their broadcast selection of local television programming, I decicided to pop in "Guitar Playing for Dummies". Wow. Chapel's easy going manner without talking down to the guit-picking virgin is just what the doctor ordered. We walks you through the basic chords, simple strumming and picking patterns, all to some decent pop standards. You will come out of this believing...no...knowing that you can become at the very least, a pretty compitent player. If only this had been available back in 1976.

My 18 year-old just got the bug after his best friend started playing the bass. So I ordered him a copy...

What annoyed me the most is when Jon switches to the G chord and uses a different fingering method than the one he says the student should us. When I first watched the video, I thought "Which chord is he ^$@%^$@ playing?! It's supposed to be G but its not G according to the fingers hes using!" and then I realized what it was.....

This was my first video I watched and really followed along properly since the last time I picked up my guitar was approximately 2 - 3 years ago. When I first started off, I felt horrible since I could barely keep up with the basic C chord and the first few songs... I wasn't used to the idea of having to stop the video, practice for maybe even a few days, and then continue the video. However, when I mastered every song in the video, it felt good and I felt confident that I could go to sometihng else. However, I don't feel ready for anything intermediate as I feeel like all I can do is strum chords and a bit of finger picking... no powerchords were taught, how do I practice to get best results? Nothing from this video.

The bottom line is, if you're new to guitar, this is a worthy video to build that confidence if you can play through it. If you can strum chords, or have been playing for say a year or so, forget this video.

After watching a borrowed copy of this video, I decided to buy it. Overall, I think this is a good video for beginning guitarists. I like John Chappell's teaching method. However, upon careful scrutiny I noticed that when he plays some of the songs (such as "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and "Sloop John B.") he uses different fingerings for some chords (like G and Dm) than the fingerings he told the viewer to use. The alternate fingerings (using the pinkie finger, which is difficult for beginners) allow the instructor to make quick chord changes during the song. But a viewer using the recommended fingerings will be struggling to keep up and may become frustrated.

In addition to this video, I recommend the eMedia Guitar Method software. It is a very complete teaching system, well paced for the novice guitarist.

An excellent begginer instructional DVD. I had purchased a different instructional guitar DVD prior to this and this one far surpasses it. Starts off slow and builds on what you've learned. Excellent product.

This DVD does an amazing job of understanding the pace of a beginner. The presenter has balanced very well the task of teaching the basics and at the same time teaching how to play simple songs. It gave me the visible rewards that were necesary to keep me continuosly motivated to learn more. I totally recommend this DVD to every beginner.

I had barely picked up a guitar before I bought one. I've been wanting to learn to play for a long time. So I bought this tape -and - although I have nothing to compare it to - it is really, really great. Simple, non-threatening, easy to understand. I am actually playing chords easily in just a few days. I'm very grateful to this guy and look forward to more of his stuff.