Great DVD for Beginner to Intermediate players
Edward Park | Dallas, TX United States | 04/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Save your money.
K. Scott | 07/27/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I own a lot of guitar books and videos. My Favorite is John Petrucci Rock Disipline. With Rippin Lead Guitar, it's more blues solos than anything. Paul has the personality of a tree. He stands there and looks unsure of himself. The solos are not melodic at all. If you want a great guitar DVD, I reccomend John Petrucci Rock Disipline or any of the Frank Gambale DVDs (Modes, No more Mystery). Also, MI Guitar Fretboard Workbook is awesome book. Best of luck."
Good for beginners and those with some experience
Randall J. Roth | Des Moines, IA | 10/12/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."