Product Details

• Actors: Mark John Sternal
• Directors: Mark John Sternal
• Format: NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Studio: MJS Music & Entertainment, LLC
• DVD Release Date: November 14, 2007
• Run Time: 240 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000YYWO8I
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,903 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...pure playing with basic scales and also tons of cool exotic scales that intermediate and advanced players will really enjoy ...tons of cool guitar techniques ...a rare resource that you'll use far more than you might anticipate. --Guitar Digest Magazine

Product Description

This complete course starts with a bonus beginner section to insure that any guitarist at any level can use this video. It quickly progresses to intermediate then advanced levels of playing.

First begin with universal shapes found in every key of music to expertly play scales and leads on the entire fretboard. Don t worry about memorizing these positions! Memory will come naturally when Mark John Sternal demonstrates how to use these scales musically. Tasty licks, tricks and techniques like hammer ons, pull offs, picking patterns, vibrato, string bending, two hand tapping. Plus techniques exclusive to electric guitar including tremolo bar, string bending, and electronic control tricks. In addition you ll learn a ton of applications to make your lead guitar and melody lines stand out, and make learning your favorite songs a breeze: increment patterns, string skipping, double note patterns (harmony), two handed tapping, harmonics. All of this and more is introduced in a song context, giving thorough examples of how these scales, techniques and applications can be used with chords and song structure.

To wrap up this amazing instructional DVD, Mark teaches you all of the modes, key changes, plus 50 exotic and cultural scales all on the entire fretboard!

You ll be amazed at how expertly Mark John Sternal has simplified the art of understanding and using the guitar fretboard.

New Features Include
- Pick and fretboard hand close ups
- Note charts in addition to traditional notation and TAB
- Music and song examples
- Two speed examples (slow and fast, progressively increased)
- Bonus beginner section
- Ascending and descending scales, techniques and applications
- Examples for all popular styles of music: Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country, Metal

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than I Ever Could Have Imagined!, April 24, 2008

By	ESVK "SVK" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any guitarist, beginner to expert!, December 3, 2007

By	Greg H. (Farmington, NM) - See all my reviews

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!

3.0 out of 5 stars The Guitar Exercises Are a Waste of DVD, July 17, 2009

By	T. J. Morrison (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.