STEELY DAN (Vol-1)
Steely-style Guitar
GENERAL SERIES INFO:
This DVD contains a series of lessons from a regular
guy who is also a guitar teacher
with 30 years experience playing. The goal is a no-frills
instructional video teaching rhythm and lead lines to some of
the worlds greatest classic rock tunes. This series of DVD's personalizes the
process and uses a simple easy to follow method and covers each
song completely. Learn by demonstrations, explanation
and close up views of the fingerings. You progress at your own pace -
playing easier parts first and picking up more each time you play it!
This DVD series includes lessons that are designed to benefit a wide ranges of ages and abilities. Good basic guitar abilities are a prerequisite of this series and it is gear toward a range within the intermediate category. Early intermediate students can find months of material to work on in each DVD - starting on easier songs and working up to the more difficult. The more experienced players may still find surprises in the easier material or just move more quickly to the more advanced details of the chords, riffs and leads. This series does NOT include any TAB or written material - its designed to teach thru visual and audio instruction and demonstration. By watching and playing along with guitar in hand, the student is also training his ear with the ultimate goal of being able to pick out songs on their own. (The series focus is on the fingering hand, while picking hand shots are included when deemed necessary, most basic strumming and individual note picking is understood at this level.)
NOTES ON STEELY DAN DVD:
Yes, it may sound tame, but look 'under the hood' and this isn't your simple
3 chord classic rock and roll:
I consider these to be a bit outside the normal classic guitar rock found on
most of this series. While many know Steely Dan as a POP band with catchy
melodies and hooks, many guitarists and musicians know them as musical monsters.
There is no 1 single guitarist in Steely Dan and while the core of the group is
considered to be guitarist Walter Becker and Donald Fagen on Vocals/Keys. Early
on the band included Guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff Skunk Baxter but later on
they Becker/Fagen went it alone and just brought in the best studio musicians in
the world to play on their records. There are stories of droves of
top studio guitarists being called in to 'take a shot' at a solo allowing the
guys to choose what they wanted from the best of the best. To even try to
do this justice I had to spend some time on each song going over very difficult
solos many times so there was no way to get these 6 songs or so on just 1 DVD.
Being a rocker at heart I love the early albums with one foot still in rock&roll. The first DVD I put on the early rock stuff with some of my favorite songs and solos like My Old School, Reelin' and Black Friday. Then I touched on some of the really harder stuff on DVD 2 with Peg and Bodhisattva. Peg has jazz chords throughout and and a very cool solo that sounds easier than it plays. Bodhisattva solo #1 done by Denny Diaz is probably the hardest solo I've ever attempted to play. I really consider it to be way too advanced for these DVD's but I think there can be a lot to be learned by examining a solo filled with jazz riffs played at breakneck speed over a rock tune. Each piece of that solo can be studied and learned from regardless of if you can do the entire thing at full speed without tripping over you own fingers like I do.
The guitar parts do use a number of chords, techniques and musical concepts that are not normally found is standard rock and unless one has some knowledge of Jazz chord voicing it can be a bit foreign and more difficult. Therefore I recommend this more for intermediate + up level players or those who want to get a taste of something different and will do what they can without getting frustrated at the more complex jazz riffs and solos. If never previously exposed to playing them, some players should be prepared to do some additional research and/or practice in basic theory or the use of extended chord forms (Major/Minor 7th, 9th, 13th chords) that some associate more with Jazz than rock. If you dig Steely Dan's music or guitar playing, its well worth it and might find yourself up for even more challenging things than you can get in a rock series. (Sometimes this can break one out of a rut developed by sticking only in the playing 'comfort zone'.)
As always its recommended to do what you can easily, then work on the more difficult parts over time - this DVD may be useful to some over a considerable period, going back to more difficult changes and leads periodically as their ability advances. (Creating a DVD backup for long term personal storage & use is permitted and encouraged.)
STEELY DAN v1!
Learn songs and riffs from one great 3 piece group and the style of an incredible group of great guitarists. You get 1 DVD that includes lessons with instructional demos (25-35 min each) for each of the songs listed below.
Songs / Lessons on this DVD: Check out some brief clips from DVD (Win Media file .wmv)
Intro / Josie Intro
(12m)
Black Friday (25m)
My Old School (45m)
Reelin' In The Years (45m)
___________________
(over 2 full hours of guitar songs study)
Purchasing the original recordings is encouraged if its not already owned, to play along with once you learn the songs - they are great songs and have been re-mastered and re-released on digital CD from their original analog format.
This instructional series is NOT designed for BEGINNERS w/o basic abilities of electric guitar technique or very ADVANCED players wanting the whole DVD spent on detailed/advanced lead work - it is geared toward beg-adv intermediate players who want to learn the complete songs w/ techniques and leads made popular by these artists.
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO DISCLAIMER &
COPYRIGHT
Copyright AJ Multimedia Services @2006