Smokin Country Guitar

Description

Finally, a hot player who knows how to teach! Todd is a red hot country chicken pickin' ace & former instructor at The Guitar Institute of Technology. This video opens up with a blazing instrumental performance from his Austin, Tx based trio. You'll soon see why Todd has been profiled in Guitar Player, Guitar For The Practicing Musician, & Guitar World magazines & has played with some of the best bands in Texas & California.
The material is broken into 5 sections:
• Essential music theory
• Using triads shapes as a template, for improvising solos
• Secrets to refining your technique
• Analysis of one of Todd's original tunes (several variations).
• Radio Riffs: this section is a beautifully crafted collection of the most up-to-date licks from top country hit songs, including those hard-to figure-out licks from Brent Mason & Dan Huff. Each lick is taught individually, then combined into a hot tasteful solo. Comes with both tablature & writings on related subjects written by Todd himself. (booklet inside the package) (75 minutes long) VHS or DVD

Customer Reviews:

Good quality audio & video production. Articulate presentation........2006-07-27

This DVD is aimed at the intermediate pop/rock electric guitarist curious about how country electric guitar is played on country Top-40 radio. Todd Barth is a pleasure to listen to as he's articulate. He's not just winging it as the camera rolls. He's done a lot of preproduction homework. His teaching method is to play a recognizable portion of a Brent Mason signature lick from let's say an Alan Jackson song, then explain in detail how it's done, showing both the left hand, and the right hand, since country chicken pickin technique really comes from the right hand.

Along the way music theory is explained from the level of a third year rock guitarist's understanding, so one needs to be able to play barre chords and Chuck Berry lead licks to be able to benefit from the material Todd shows you. This isn't beginning country guitar, it's a late intermediate level and requires a pretty good command of basic picking techniques and left hand hammer on/pull-off techniques.

The only detriment to the content is the lack of mention of A list session players from Nashville other than Brent Mason and Dan Huff like JT Corenflos (Brooks & Dunn) Tom Bukovac (Gretchen Wilson) and R&B great Reggie Young who was so hot he was the first in Nasville to get paid double union scale. The new guys doing sessions in Nashville are very rock orientated, and this DVD is strictly clean country. And it would have been nice if the Dan Huff licks were played on a Strat with the neck pickup that has been his signature sound.

This is one of those instructional DVDs you can come back to as your country playing develops and watch again how Todd plays those tricky banjo rolls and hybrid pick/finger chicken pickin licks. I'd keep this in the guitar instructional DVD library as you'll find it's one of the better ones out there.

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