Guitar Video Reviews:

09/28/99

Party Tunes for Guitar Vol. 1

• La Bamba BEGINNER
• Louie, Louie BEGINNER
• Shout BEGINNER
• Twist and Shout BEGINNER

One of the videos in the Song Xpress series, Party Tunes Vol. 1 offers a great choice of songs that novice guitarists can learn and sound competent with quickly. Instructor Tommy Anthony is in charge for this edition of the series, and slowly walks viewers through playing four classic guitar songs. The pace throughout is appropriately slow, which is perfect for more inexperienced guitarists, who shouldn't have to stop the tape too often to catch up. The only drawback of Party Tunes Vol. 1 is Anthony's failure to explain the strumming pattern for Twist and Shout (and a few of the other tunes' strumming patterns are explained only briefly). This might not be so important with some of the more advanced tapes in the series, but since Party Tunes Vol. 1 is aimed at beginners, including strumming patterns is an absolute neccessity. If you think you can learn the patterns on your own, though, then I reccomend Song Xpress' Party Tunes Vol. 1 as a great resource for starting to learn tunes on your guitar.

Party Tunes Vol. 1

Carlos Santana Influences

Featuring:
Wes Montgomery
Gabor Szabo
Bola Sete

Created in association with Guitar Player magazine, Influences spotlights the three guitarists Carlos Santana has been most inspired by. Although about half of the video's one hour running time is spent in conversation with Santana, the stunning footage of each of the guitarists in question is the real highlight of this video. The Bola Sete footage in particular is awe-inspiring; and makes one wonder why this Brazillian guitarist hasn't ever been more highly regarded. The video is divided into three distinct segments, each devoted to one of the three guitarists. Each segment includes extensive video footage of the relevant guitarist, along with Santana's commentary on how they influenced his playing (which he sometimes demonstrates on his guitar) or musical perception, and how they influenced guitarists as a whole. The video is bookended by in-studio Santana performances of "Apache" and "Stripped Me Naked". Influences, designed to be a video for those with a historical interest, rather than as an instructional video, is absolutely fascinating and inspiring throughout, and I highly reccomend this one for fans with an appreciation of guitar's past masters.

Carlos Santana Influences

Classic Blues Vol.1

• All Your Love INTERMEDIATE
• Born Under A Bad Sign INTERMEDIATE
• Crossroads INTERMEDIATE
• The Thrill is Gone INTERMEDIATE

Another entry in the SongXpress series, Classic Blues Vol. 1 is a really strong guitar video, presided over by instructor Dan Warner. Guitarists who want to learn to play blues are well-advised to check out Classic Blues Vol.1, not as a means to learn how to play the blues (no solos are included), but to learn how to play a few of the classic blues tunes that get played so often at jam sessions. Warner is quite thorough in his explanations of each tune, and intermediate level guitarists should have no problems in learning these classics of the blues genre. If you're an aspiring blues guitarist, then this entry in the SongXpress series is the video for you.

Classic Blues Vol. 1
$9.95 (list)

Getting the Sounds: Classic Blues Guitar

This video is one in a series from Warner Bros. Video, which concentrates on several things; how to get the "classic blues" sound of different guitar/amp combinations, and also how to emulate some of the licks of blues giants like BB King, Albert King, Gatemouth Brown, and more. The video is hosted by Keith Wyatt, who also spends time explaining how guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan used their gear to achieve the guitar tone they did. The one hour video also includes quite a bit of good studio footage featuring Wyatt playing various styles of blues guitar with his band. Getting the Sounds: Classic Blues Guitar is a video that would be helpful to those trying to tweak their tone, or for guitarists who would like to learn the basics of how many of the blues guitar masters approach improvising. I certainly learned some things from the video, and think that watching it would yield similar results for most guitarists.

Getting the Sounds: Classic Blues Guitar

Modern Rock for Guitar Vol.2

• Barely Breathing INTERMEDIATE
• Gel INTERMEDIATE
• How's It Going to Be INTERMEDIATE
• I'll Be INTERMEDIATE

Song Xpress teacher Tommy Anthony walks viewers through the process of learning tunes by several newer bands like Duncan Sheik and Collective Soul on Modern Rock Vol. 2. The time is split between three songs on acoustic guitar, and one on electric. The performance explanations are, as is usually the case with SongXpress videos, quite thorough and impressive. The only flaw is the same one that pops up occasionally on several videos in this series; some of the strumming patterns are inadequately explained. On "I'll Be", the strumming is ignored, and on "How's it Going to Be", a rather complicated strum is glossed over too quickly. Having said that, perhaps, since the video is too tough for most beginners, it can be assumed that viewers will pick up the strumming patterns naturally. This minor quibble aside, if you enjoy the songs on Modern Rock Vol.2, then this video is for you.

Want to know more about the new series of instructional SongXpress Videos? Check out this previous feature on Guitar at About.com

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