Guitar Instructional Videos

I was just thinking..I have watched a bunch of guitar videos over time, from Brian May to the Keith Wyatt series when I started out to Tom Kolbe, Arlen Roth, Curt Mitchell, Eric Johnson, Zakk Wylde, Joe Stump, Steve Lukather, George Lynch, Steve Vai, Jason Becker, Michael Angelo, Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Vivian Campbell, Yngwie Malmsteen, Andy Aledort, Rowan Robertson, Nuno Bettencourt, Robin Trower, Robben Ford, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, the whole John Petrucci series, Andy Summers, Scott Henderson, Shawn Lane, Richie Kotzen, Frank Gambale...

Watched them all as the lessons they were...and one thing just stands out above all of them..

Jason Becker.

Had a scene where the band goes off stage, and he is left on there and starts his guitar solo...starts blazing with one hand only doing these full fingered hammer on/pull offs thing that dusted most two handed shredders...and then he did something that was too cool.

He pulled out a Yo-Yo and started twirling it with his right hand as he kept on playing with his left...all the while having this MASSIVE sound coming out...and I mean the dude was RIPPING fast with one hand..and then the Yo-Yo thing...

Just wanted to bring that up... he was just brilliant and its a damn shame what LG Disease has done to him..he *is* still alive..right?

You can read Jason's news and views at www.jasonbecker.com I haven't seen his instructional video yet, it sounds great and is on my list.

One I have just bought is Brian Setzer's Hotlicks DVD which I happened upon in a music store. I'm still on the first exercise - although I've learned a lot of fingerstyle over the years I'm finding this quite demanding, maybe because it's years since I really applied myself to learning new tunes, or maybe because it doesn't have the 'simple repeating patterns' of the playing i'm used to, I have to take a lot more care jumping around the bass strings, but it'll click into place with practice.

The DVD is enjoyable in its own right just to hear Brian playing, there are several full songs played, and he looks like he had a fun time doing it. He does all the 'cool bigsby stuff' which I was hoping for - all I need now is a guitar with a whammy bar (could never afford a Gretsch, but maybe an Epiphone Wildkat some time..) to try that myself, and lots of cool runs up & down the fretboard. Oh, and I'm still supposed to be learning the Frank Gambale Monster Licks exercises, must get back to them too!