Learning on your own: Books or DVDs?

[SkipBone]

continuing on my quest to figure out the most expeditious route to being the best guitarist I can be, I'm curious as to what you good peoples have to say in regards to books versus dvds for at home, independant study?

Personally I'm torn. I love me a good visual demonstration of how to play but there's something about a book, being able to look at the tab, seeing the patterns emerge, having it all written down, etc, that really appeals to me. I find books generally easier to work with than DVDs but I really rely on the DVDs for certain things.

Perhaps the answer is that neither is "better" than the other, just suited to different needs at different times. Regardless, what is *your* preference and why?

 

Super Duper Bonus Additional Question:

 

Name one specific instructional book (please be as spec as possible) or DVD that you have personally benefitted from the most. If you're super cool then you can also share with us what aspect of your playing the product improved and what style it's suitable to, such as fingerstyle, bluegrass, jazz, or "all".

 

You folks rock. Thanks for participating.

 

Oh, yeah, my answers - If I were to recommend a place to start for aspiring fingerstyle acoustic players I would recommend either of the following products:

 

DVD - Buster B. Jones Fingerstyle Guitar From the Ground Up Volume 1 and 2 -- this will give you wicked bad right hand if you practice it daily. The exersizes are fun and challenging and musical. You develop dexterity quickly as well as foundation of right hand rolls and assorted other stuff. Vol 1 may be a bit basic but I'd start there anyway, esp. if I were a beginner (and we were all beginners once) and work from there. Volume 2, well, if you can honestly complete it, you're a very good fingerstyle guitarist.

You learn songs on both DVDs as well.

 

Book - Mark Hanson's The Contemporary Travis Picking -- This gives the fingerstyle guitarist a solid foundation in the most fundamental aspect of the techniques necessary to make her a good player. Despite the fact that the text is somewhat difficult to read (not a great font and poor spacing) the exersizes in the book are great for developing or even seasoned players. Really good book. Again, if you complete it thoroughly and without skipping stuff, you're a pretty fine player.

[totamus]

I would recommend DVDs. I have seen individuals that learn by tab in a book and it seems that they get good at sight reading tab, but cant play without the tab in front of them. When they do memorize the tab, they can only play the notes exactly as transcribed and have difficulty improvising.

 

The DVDs show you and you hear how it should sound and how to both pick and finger. When you turn the DVD off to try what you just saw, you only have your guitar and your memory to go on. So instead of learning to sight read, you internalize the music and it becomes part of you.

 

I never try to learn the song note for note. Instead I use the DVD to get a general idea of how the instructor/artist does it and then try adapt it into my own style/comfort zone.

 

If I was recommending a way to learn, I would recommend a DVD, and possibly a book of scales. Just the DVDs aren't enough as you need to pick up some music theory along the way. Scales are good way to start discovering theory and they also benefit by providing you with known "riffs" that you can improvise into various songs.

 

Two dvds I would recommend are the Doc Watson DVD and the one that Merle Travis's son (Thom Bresh) put out. Both are incredible. Neither are for beginners...

[Freeman Keller]

I will jump on this one (and your previous question about self taught vs instructions). I've been playing around for over 35 years, almost completely self taught. In the early days all that was available were books and watching someone play (live, we didn't have videos). I read music a tiny bit, just enough to really screw things up. So I fumbled around and learned a lot of folkie stuff - Puff the Magic Dragon and Blowin' in the Wind.

 

The only things I have ever been able to learn from a book or tab is something that I already knew how it sounded - the better I knew it the easier it was to learn. You simply cannot represent the subtle inflections of rhythym and syncopation and all the other little colors of fingerstyle guitar playing with tab. Of course some of the timing can be represented by standard music notation - but most of us don't read music well enough. But from a book I learned Freight Train and Alice's Resturant.

 

The revelation for me was cassette, then video, and now dvd lessons and let me tell you I have a box of them. I have from time to time taken a private lesson or a small seminar - I got more out of two hours sitting in Mark Hanson's basement than I got from two months of looking at a book (I wanted to learn two songs - Ashokan Fairwell and Kottke's Tennessee Toad and Mark taught them in that time period).

 

The best book on the market, I agree, is Hanson's on Travis picking, altho I've also learned from several of his others (Kottke transcription, Fingerstyle Noel, etc). But again, I learn the most if there is a cd or cassette included.

 

For video lessons I would have to say the Stefan Grossman's series on country blues have been one of my foundations, and in the box are Kelly Joe Phelps and Bob Brozman and Keb Moe and John Fahey and a bunch of others. But the best are the latest ones I've been working with - Scott Ainsley's and Rory Block's on Robert Johnson - different approaches to the same material - both killer.

 

btw - you can do a lot worse the Blindboy's free YouTube stuff if you like the blues. And sitting in a seminar with Buster "Machine Gun" Jones was, ah, humbling.....

[JerseyGuy]

Tom Rush's Homespun DVD, How I Play Some Of My Favorite Songs. I hadn't played in a while, saw him at a local concert last year and he was selling and signing this DVD in the lobby. I wore out a vinyl of his The Circle Game in college. So I took the DVD home and it turned out to be rather easy to play all the songs (including a bonus track of Remember, see it on YouTube, very funny song.) I'm not that great a player, either. The real gift was learning about open tunings for all his Joni Mitchell covers and a couple of instrumentals. It really opened the guitar up for me and got me playing again.

[pharmboyjoe]

I learned and still learn by playing with as many people and as many styles as I can. Nothing better than sitting 3 feet from someone to learn the song, etc.

[pk1fan]

I learned and still learn by playing with as many people and as many styles as I can. Nothing better than sitting 3 feet from someone to learn the song, etc.

+1 , I like to go to concerts and watch very closely and it has paid off:).

[Bernie P.]

I think all 3 have their merits but I agree with FK on having to know how the tune sounds if you just have the tab/notation.One thing I like about book/cd combos is you tend to get more bang for the bucks.

[Greymuzzle]

Open eyes.

Open ears.

Open mind.

Access All Areas.

 

and today I booked a course of lessons...

 

somethin' is bound to work sometime...

[CountryBlues]

I am a big fan of DVD. I spent years taking in-person private lessons to get a firm foundation on my fingerstyle guitar playing, and would recommend in-person lessons, especially for beginners or someone wanting to learn an unfamiliar style. But for learning songs or just getting better you can't beat a DVD. I have done okay with Book/CD when I already know something about the material, but it hasn't worked for me on totally new stuff. I am working on my 4th set of Stefan Grossman DVDs on country blues and would highly recommend those. I have also learned some great stuff on bottleneck blues from Bob Brozman's DVDs. Not all DVDs are great, but I have gotten a lot out of this method of learning.

[ZigZagWanderer]

I vote for books. Actually, I can't ever remember trying to learn something from a DVD.

 

An example of an instruction book that I have personally benefited from would be any of Stefan Grossman's 'Masters of Country Blues', especially the Rev. Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller ones. There's no way I could have figured that stuff out on my own.

 

One thing I wish I had paid more attention to when I first started playing is learning by ear. I thought books (and I mean the note-for-note tab books) would be a short cut, especially since I already knew my way around a written score from piano lessons. In some ways they were a short cut, but there's no substitute for learning how to listen to something. I still have a hard time with that. My advice would be to advance on all fronts--have a few things that you are trying to learn from sheet music, a few things by ear, and maybe even a few things from a DVD or whatever. And while persistence is important, I don't have a problem giving up on something if I know it's not happening. I actually find it helpful to put something aside for a while and then come back to it.

[Tony Burns]

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1666356

 

give this post a try for more answers i asked a simalar question way back when !

[Broadus]

Would Mark Hanson's Fingerstyle Guitar serve as a good intro for a fingerstyle novice?

 

Bill

[ESL94]

 

I learned and still learn by playing with as many people and as many styles as I can. Nothing better than sitting 3 feet from someone to learn the song, etc.

 

 

This is a great way to learn. Learn how to play a song, play with others, get a feel for the music, etc...

 

These DVD's have been helpful for me:

Frank Gambale: Modes - No Mystery & Monster Licks & Speed Picking

[Johnny66]

I went for books. Even if it is TAB, you'll develop your ear by learning the intricacies of trying to play exactly what you hear from CD, etc.

 

But anything goes: When I was 13, I puzzled out most of Zeppelin's live version of 'Dazed and Confused' (including bow solo!) from listening damn hard and having a ready finger on the video 'pause' button!