Learning Guitar for Dummies (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	83:00 (Case: 75)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Andrea Ambandos
Studio Distributor	Anchor Bay Visual Entertainment Group	Starring	Jon Chappell
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Jon Chappell

    Learning Guitar For Dummies is an educational DVD which follows in the hugely successful footsteps of the "Dummies" series of books. It does not have a plot per se, being a video-based guitar tutor. I will try and provide a brief overview as to the contents, so aspiring musicians can determine whether or not it may suit their needs.

    The DVD is divided into ten chapters, spread across a running time of eighty-three minutes. The lessons are all hosted by "award winning" guitarist Jon Chappell - who has been Editor-in-Chief of Guitar Magazine and has played professionally with the likes of Pat Benatar, Graham Nash and Judy Collins. He is the author of the books Guitar For Dummies and Rock Guitar for Dummies. Whilst he is sometimes a little corny, Chappell is rarely patronising. The ten chapters are as follows:

• Intro - an explanation of the format of the program and a few words of encouragement.
• Knowing Your Guitar - an over-long explanation of the jargon associated with guitar parts.
• Holding and Handling a Guitar - fairly self-explanatory, but a very important starting point to ensure you don't start out with bad postural habits.
• Tuning Up Your Guitar - pretty important but not very exciting. By this stage you'll be hitting the chapter advance button to search out some songs!
• Understanding Music Notations - an explanation of chord notation, standard music notation, tablature and rhythm slashes.
• Learning Your First Song - Frere Jacques never sounded so good!
• Discovering How to Chord - New chords, changing between them and adding a third chord to your repertoire.
• Finding Out about Strumming - Time for the right hand to get a workout. Use of upstrokes and varied strumming patterns plus bass chord strums.
• Introducing You to Fingerstyle - Picking strings individually rather than simply strumming chords. This where it really starts to sound cool! Once you get the arpeggios sorted out, House Of The Rising Sun cannot be far behind.
• Putting It All Together with Songs - Chappell puts it all together with Down By The Riverside and a few parting words of encouragement.

    The chapter titles pretty well explain what they contain. Chappell is quite encouraging - particularly as he has (like so many of us) a terrible singing voice, but ploughs on regardless. There are numerous pop-up reminders and tips through the DVD - not unlike those "witty" tips in the paper-based incarnations of the Dummies books. The humour, such as it is, is just as cheesy as that found in the books unfortunately! That's about all there is to it. You also get a brief booklet included in the package which details the music for each of the songs, plus it provides a brief chord chart (with eleven useful basic chords). The value of this DVD will depend on what level of guitarist you are. I have been strumming (poorly) for several years without tuition, so I found that the DVD was of some use to me in learning a couple of decent strumming patterns - but little else. If this is your first time picking up a guitar however, there will be plenty to keep you occupied for many hours of practice. Unfortunately, as with many beginners packages, the songs covered are trivial and not easily used to impress friends - Skip To My Lou and Row, Row, Row Your Boat just do not cut it at most parties (unless they are for pre-schoolers). Sultans Of Swing and Wish You Were Here will have to wait for now.

    Still, I found the DVD medium a far better way to transmit this information than a boring old textbook. The learning curve starts very slowly but does become a little steep quite quickly. With the instant replayability of DVD, those with the patience to repeat chapters will find that this will certainly get you playing fairly quickly - if you persist. Obviously the ability to hear exactly how you should be playing, as well as playing along real-time with Chappell, makes this less frustrating than a text-based package. Finally, if you persevere, your family and friends will be rewarded by your stunning rendition of House Of The Rising Sun - and boy, does it feel good to eventually play something which sounds that impressive! Recommended for beginner guitarists as a cheaper alternative to lessons and a more interactive format than books.

Video

    The overall video transfer of this disc is at least of reasonable VHS standard - indeed, as there is a VHS version available, I would suspect that is where it originates from.

    The material is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1 and is therefore not 16x9 enhanced, I assume this is the original aspect ratio.

    The transfer is typical of a full-frame video source, with some mild pixelization evident, but overall it is of a perfectly watchable standard. Sharpness is adequate without being reference quality. There are no dark scenes to test the black levels or shadow detail but overall contrast appears satisfactory throughout. The colours are rendered well with no bleeding evident. Skin tones are fine.

    There are no major MPEG artefacts present. Mild edge enhancement is omnipresent around Chappell's trousers, guitar power leads and so on, but it is not a distraction. (Bleeding fingertips - now that's a distraction). There is some minor shimmer in the image and aliasing can be seen on close-ups of the guitar strings.

    Film (video) artefacts are minimal and this is overall a very clean transfer.

    There are no subtitle tracks present.

    Given the fairly brief running time this is a single-sided, single layered disc (DVD 5).

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    The overall audio quality of this disc is perfectly adequate for its intended purpose.

    The sole audio track is a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack in English, encoded at 224 kbps.

    Chappell's voice is always clear, although not necessarily in tune. There were no problems with audio sync.

    The music comes across cleanly at all times, which is crucial for a DVD such as this. There are no original compositions on the DVD - they are all traditional songs.

    The soundstage is totally frontal, with the surround speakers and subwoofer unused.

Audio Ratings Summary

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    There are no video extras on this disc, but the chord chart and music from the booklet are included on the DVD in pdf format which is a thoughtful touch.

Menu

    The menu is a photo of Chappell accompanied by his guitar playing. It allows the choice of playing the entire DVD or selecting one of the ten individual chapters.

    This DVD appears to be identical in Region 1. Buy whichever is cheaper.

    Learning Guitar For Dummies is a niche DVD, of interest to those taking their first steps in guitar playing only. If you are just starting out, you could do much worse than buy this DVD - it's cheaper than ten lessons and has lots of replay value as you take your first musical steps. Highly recommended for its target audience.

    The video quality is perfectly adequate for its purpose.

    The audio quality is perfectly adequate for its purpose.

    There are no extras.

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