Customer Reviews

Terrifying Technique for Guitar

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i have been through numerous method and technique books and this one is by far the best. The books starts off with some good chromatic exercises. The next section contains 37 linear scalar sequences that can be applied to any style of music, especially hard rock. From there, Carl introduces some three-note-per string patterns including major 2nd, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and 6ths intervals. There are several indepth pentatonic sequences as well as some alternate arpeggios. Carl goes over in detail the correct way to apply sweep picking arpeggios into your musical ideas. Hybrid picking, legato, one handed arpeggios, tapping and bending are also covered in this extensive guide to building chops. There are over 200 exercises that are all on the CD that comes with the book. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to improve their technical facility and overcome physical barriers.

This is the book all shredders dream off. It is well written and organised with an accompanying CD that demonstrates every exercise clearly without leaving you wondering what it is supposed to sound like.

The books will teach you how to build up your chops. Starts off with basic chromatic exercises and goes on to sweep picking, tapping and various other coveted shreddign techniques. I would highly recommend it for someone who is a fairly adept guitarist who wants to take his playing to the next level.

I've also had the opportunity to take lessons with Carl and believe me, this book couldn't have been written by a more accomplished guitarist. Imagine Van halen and Malmsteen rolled into one and you start to get the picture..

Carl is also a professional transcriber and has done tons of authorised guitar transcriptions for Hal Leonard, Warner Bros. and Cherry Lane.

Well done Carl on writing the perfect solo'ists guide and thanks for all your help.
Cheers.

The book itself will tell you this information, and its clearly in the title-this is all about technique, theory gets the boot.If thats what your looking for then from what Ive already got out of this book I can say you will enjoy this.

The early chapters will tread some familiar ground if you know some scales and basic finger strengthening exercises.But even early on t has some interesting ideas that might make you improve your dexterity so dont skip by them. The chapter on sweep picking is one Im currently working on and has some ways of picking that seem unlike what others would teach, and work very well for making you think in a different way.

Theres also chapters on linear scale movement, chicken picken,alternate picking arpeggios, tapping,bending and legato.Thats a great variety, and if I had been at a slightly lower level of playing, would have found this to be an even greater deal.I plan on going through the whole book regardless, it simply cant hurt.Right now Im just filling in the gaps of my technique.

Problems I encounter with this book include the cd and how its tracks are arranged.There are too many exercises per track- there are hundreds of exercises crammed into 18 tracks.If you are jumping back into the book and happen to be in the middle of a chapter, its a bit annoying to scan by ten or more tracks to get to what you need. Some of the exercises arent organized well either.One pattern is sometimes broken down into three different sections, which are the same pattern just repeated on tab for one or more bars.It seems like a waste of space when it could have simply said"now, repeat this bar".But thats just me nitpicking.

If any of the above mentioned skills are something you need help in,get the book.For the price you can grab it easily, and as long as you go at a good pace I cant see you not improving.

As the title reads "Terrifying Techique" it delivers. This is a great book to add to your daily guitar studies. I have noticed steady improvement in my playing in a short amount of time. There are some cool chromatic, picking, and arpeggio exercises. Sweeps are simplified and broken into smaller patterns, which I have found helpful in building clean technique. This is a good guild for strengthening chops.

If you are looking for lots of ideas on how to build chops then this book rates at 5 stars. It is really fantastic.

What is not good is the CD for all of the reasons already mentioned, especially how several excerises are put into a single track. This means you have to use the fast forward of your CD player to get to the right location. CD player's fast forward features are bad.

The playing on the CD is not good. Whoever is playing guitar makes too many mistakes to count. There is even playing where extra notes on other strings are hit by mistake. Almost every excercise from 60 and on has some sort of buzzed or mis-picked note. Very sloppy. Sorry to say that whoever is playing here needs to spend more time practicing.

I've bought quite a few books over the years, I would have to say this is one of the least useful. I'm pretty sure just about anyone could come up with the exercises in this book. Also, the CD examples are anything but terrifying, I was able to play well beyond those examples, which sort of left me not particularly satisfied. I think a better, way more comprehensive, and much better audio tracks version of this book is the Creative Guitar, Guthrie Govan books, there is absolutely no comparison, none at all. Everything in this book is better explained, and better played. I normally wouldn't write a review, but I feel a little mislead with the other reviews on here, and wanted to chime in.

I won't go into too much detail on the specific content of this book, you can find that looking through the other reviews and the description. Instead, I'll talk about the best way to use the book. I have been playing for about 4 years and have certainly gotten better, however like thousands of other guitarists I often struggle with HOW to practice. I've recently purchased fretboard logic, to understand some of the theory behind the guitar. It has certainly helped my playing as I understand where I am going on the fretboard....and I can relate that to real songs when I practice, but practicing real songs and studying theory only goes so far. Ive been looking for specific physical exercises to practice in order to get faster and more coordinated. Thats where this book comes in.

Its literally just a large book of exercises utilizing a full spectrum of techniques. When I started playing the exercises I was amazed at how little left hand coordination I really had. The first 100 examples were like tongue twisters for your fingers. Just from practicing the chromatic exercises and some of the linear exercises I have improved my attempts at soloing drastically (and combining with some theory/scales, I am gaining the ability to write my own licks). Its teaching my fingers to move in more ways than just linear motion down a scale. I can't wait to get to the rest of the exercises, but its going to take awhile and a lot of practice!!! This book is a great guide to follow.

This book is everything it promises to be. The sequences and exercises will really build dexterity, speed and accuracy over time with lots of practice. I read the raving reviews but I was worried that the section on hybrid picking was one on the use of this technique to play intervals or double-stops( which has little to do with speed picking). I was happy however when I bought the book and found out that it actually meant chicken picking, a country music speed picking technique using the pick and the rest of the right hand fingers. Excellent!!

There are multiple exercises per audio track. This makes it extremely difficult to get exercises up to speed as you cannot repeat exercises and have to constantly put down the guitar and rewind the CD. This negates the entire purpose of the book. Avoid at all cost!

I have had this book for about a month now, and i have done nothing but improve my coordination and skill level on my guitar. Great buy!