Customer Reviews

Rippin Lead Guitar with Paul Lidel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First things first. If you haven't bought "Fender Presents: Getting Started on Electric Guitar with Keith Wyatt" then go get that one. I bought a slew of these instructional DVDs, and if what you are looking for is a great first step to learning electric guitar, the Fender Keith Wyatt DVD is superior to every one I have seen. But that DVD, as good as it is, only takes you so far.

"Rippin Lead" is a great companion for the Fender DVD. It contains 10 solos of increasing difficulty that go far beyond the Fender DVD in sophistication. Paul explains the techniques well, and demonstrates each solo fast and slow. If you can play these, you're ready to rock.

These two DVDs are very different. The Fender DVD has a professional, positive tone, and the DVD navigation is easier. The lessons are more friendly and encouraging. This makes learning easy. I think the student's enthusiasm and attitude is directly related to the teacher's, and Wyatt is simply more inspiring. "Rippin" is a little bit of a diamond in the rough. Paul Lidel is not unfriendly, but his demeanor is serious, almost sullen. He has a "deer-in-the-headlights" stiffness, which makes the video slightly uncomfortable to watch. Paul only smiles once, when he says goodbye. I'm just saying that you should start with the friendly, encouraging Keith Wyatt, and when you're ready, move on to the serious, skilled Paul Lidel.

There are plenty of other refinements that would improve this DVD, such as getting rid of the constant amp hum while Paul talks, and using a real, live drummer instead of a drum machine, and looping the solos for easy practice. But even though it lacks the polish of the Fender DVD, this DVD will challenge you and improve your electric guitar soloing.

Five stars. The negatives that annoyed me might not annoy you. And they certainly don't negate the core content - 10 well-designed solos that teach you to play like a pro.

I played by ear for years pretty well, but now I want more out of it. I got the Learn to Play Ripping Leads by Paul Liddel. I tell you this guy is a good teacher, he cuts to the chase and shows you all the elements and teaches the pentatonic minor, majors, blues and transplanting. His cut the chase teaching covers complex things very quickly and removes the mystery, and simplifies it for you. You can play the lesson over and over until you have it down.

He even explains tapping with your fingers to the pentatonic shapes which make it sound good.

There are ten solos to learn, the first one incorporates about five left hand elements (vibreto, bend, roll, climb and support) to soloing, and each solo bleeds into the next solo. I know by the time I memorize all 10 solos I will be a much better player than I am today in that I will know where to play when I am jumping around the neck while just thinking about my own grooves at that point.

I think his leads are good, but he is really trying to teach you where and how to play not just how to memorize his 10 lessons, but the lessons are designed to teach you a fret hand style and then where to go on the neck for a given key.

The format on this DVD is great. Unlike other instructional DVDs, Paul Lidel goes over all the fundalmentals from which each solo is built (left hand technique, scales, picking). Understanding the building block scales to each solo makes you a better guitarist. This I find sorely lacking in many instructional DVDs that focus on solos. I also found other DVDs to be either way too advanced or too beginner for me, even the ones that say intermediate. This DVD is right in the middle, perfect for the intermediate player wanting to add some blues riffs to their repetoire. The DVD may start out a little slow for the intermediate player, but it is fundamental stuff that doesn't hurt to go over again. All of the solos in this DVD are pentatonic or blues scale, so for those that want to learn solo styles other than blues you may want to consider something else. For those that criticize Paul Lidel's camera personality. Alright, he's not the most charismatic person, in fact he's flat out lobotomized in this DVD. But I do think he is an effective teacher. He performs every solo standing absolutely still so that you can easily follow every movement. His technique is clear and easy to follow. And lastly, he is thorough.

this dvd is perfect for the guitar player who's only played rhythem or basically needs the basics of guitar playing. paul shows many neccesary scales as well as octive changes. right away youll be playing somewhat basic lead guitar on the first day, after watching this dvd. you might not be great but with practice youll be good. he gives you the basic scales to improvise your leads if you stay in key with the rhythem youll sound decent. this is a good dvd for the player who doesnt know the basics of scales and octive changes.

I found this DVD to be the perfect start for playing lead guitar. It was exactly what I was looking for. It has clear step by step instructions on how to play 10 separate tabbed solos. Paul Lidel demonstrates each technique and how each solo should sound while you have a clear view of his hands, which is very helpful. This DVD was done very well. It would have been nice to also have a background track with no lead guitar track for each solo to practice to. I definitely recommend this DVD!!!

This DVD looks like a VHS tape that was transferred to DVD. It does not use DVD features that could have added to the experience. There are no jam tracks. The tablature should be included on a track on the DVD, not just as a paper copy in the sleeve. It would be nice to have the ability to switch on screen between tablature and the video of Paul Lidel playing the leads.

I've been playing guitar for many years and I'm almost totally self-taught (folk, classical, a tiny bit of jazz and some rock). I picked up this DVD just for kicks to see what I could learn. Turns out I'm learning a lot. Working through the DVD is strengthening the other playing that I do.

Features I especially like: songs all written by to demonstrate the techniques he's teaching, some variety in song style, some basic theory taught between the songs, songs played at both full speed and slower speed, split screen showing both left and right hands on the slower version, printed notes that go along with the ten songs.

Criticisms: too much volume difference between Paul's speaking voice and his guitar - get it right for his voice and the guitar's too loud. Also, I would have like to see his picking marked on the written notes.

I am currently working on songs 3 - 5. The level of difficulty between these doesn't seem to great. The last 3 songs look much harder so the difficulty level must jump quite a bit in the second half of the DVD.

I plan to keep on until song #10 and hopefully I'll be "riping" more than I am now. Then I want to contact Paul and ask him to do a second DVD which picks up where this one left off with ten more songs of increasing difficulty.

Despite the good reviews this DVD received, I was apprehensive about buying it. I hadn't heard anything about Paul Lidel and there are so many guitar instructional tapes and DVDs that are just plain junk. Well, I'm a believer now! In one sitting Paul Lidel has become my favorite DVD guitar instructor. This guy is a guitar master and he knows how to rock! No more sitting through boring repititions of "Mary had a Little Lamb." I can actually learn lead guitar concepts by playing the music I like to play - rock/blues!

I know that most of the credit goes to Lidel for his awesome tone, but I have to say that this DVD also made me a believer in the Peavey products that he uses. His EVH Wolfgang and the Classic 30s that he plays through sounds absolutely fanstastic! I highly recommend this DVD for a rockin' good time while your learning how to play lead guitar.

Very well constructed DVD. I love the way the Solos all blend into the concepts being taught. While they do seem hard at first, watching and watching Paul play is inspiring and makes you wanna keep practicing till you can get them right. I really can't wait to pop this DVD in every afternoon for a practice session at soloing. Having an instructer to show you how to play as good as he does is like being in Guitar heaven! He sounds awesome playing them and I'm sure with enough practice I'll be playing them that way too. It's very surprising after watching him play so good and then struggling with them myself how I do get better and better everyday with it.
He's a very good teacher and shows all the little nuisances and tricks that alot of other teachers will overlook on their learn to play guitar DVDS, making this DVD a really good choice for beginning soloists. This guy rocks!

The only suggestion I would offer is that on the next DVD they include the TABS onscreen which could help to follow along, though the printed tabs work just fine. I have to frown at their using readers reviews from here on Amazon.com as part of their advertising (on the back of the DVD) which is kinda funny and maybe i'll be on there next but it really is an excellent DVD and well worth the price when comparing it to the popular SongXpress DVDS which although costing more don't teach as much and aren't nearly as inspiring as Paul Lidel's is.

This dvd is for those who WANTS to have that spotlight moments known as guitar solo. Paul Lidel is a straight foward instructor that gives you the keys and tricks that'll lead you on your way to doing your own guitar solo. I'm happy with this purchase, but it's best to have some form of idea of how to play a guitar before you take his lessons.