Guitar Grimoire Progressions & Improvisation-DVD4

Customer Reviews:

Mediocre material from a great author.......2005-08-11

P. Molzen wrote: "...these DVDs are of very diminished value without the book. And that is what they do, augment the book and help the reader extract more from it."

I would say that without the books the DVDs are almost worthless, and the "added" value provided by the DVDs is negligible.

From the Grimoire website:

"How important are the Grimoire DVDs?

Grimoire DVDs are just as intense as the books. The guitar wizard, played by Adam Kadmon, gets to the meat of the matter, with non-stop instruction. From start to finish, he keeps you going. He is also to able to explain material in a visual format easier than in a book."

- Sure it is visual, but there are many written explanations from other authors that are clearer than this DVD.

"It's like attending a class in college or conservatory, but you have the luxury of repeating the lecture over and over, without going broke."

- If I ever attended a class like this, I would look for another teacher. This is a shame since the author is highly knowledgeable. That knowledge is not properly presented in the DVD in my opinion.

Let me briefly illustrate some of the reasons why I did not like the DVD.

1. The "wizard" gets in the way. It is a combination of annoying/distracting/disturbing. I'm all for making learning fun, but this is not fun. I don't mind the cheesey effects, but they add nothing to the learning experience. "Barney teaches guitar" or "learn chord progressions with Elmo" or "Guitar Styles of Darth Sidious" suddenly sound good in comparison to "the wizard."

2. The examples are too basic and fail to apply the concepts from this and other Grimoire books. For example, we are instructed to play in G minor for the One-chord jam. I think it would have been more beneficial to present students with alternative scales, and perhaps play some measures using the different scales so that the listener can compare them. For example, Song of the Wind (Santana) has 2 chords, Fmaj7 and Cmaj7 if I remember correctly, and it has Carlos Santana and Neil Schon trading solos throughout the song, and using different scales over the same 2 chords. Why not apply some of the ideas presented in the Scales and Modes book here?

3. Somewhat related to number 2 above. On page 144 of the book, readers are instructed to check out the video for a better demonstration of soloing with the minor pentatonic scale.
It is important to note that the author mentions the "bluesy" sound, yet does not present the reader with the typical Blues scale (minor pentatonic with the b5 added).
In addition, there is no mention of micro-tonal bending. These characteristics are essential for a "bluesy" sound.
Assuming the author did not want to use notes beyond the ones in a piano keyboard, there are still some issues to consider.
For instance, the author instructs students to emphasize the 4 tone when playing over the IV chord, and the 5 tone when playing over a V chord. While this sounds fine, it can also sound very boring. As they say, Blues is easy to play but hard to play well. I prefer authors (e.g., Dave Rubin, Barry Levenson, et. al.) who talk about using target notes such as the 3rd (or b3rd), b7th, 5th, 4th, or the root.

In summary, while I loved the Grimoire books, the DVDs have been a huge disappointment. If they were included with the books at no additional cost I would not mind.

Depends on your expectations..........2004-08-21

I agree that the presentation of the information is dorky, with the goofy guitar wizard. And yes, I expected more depth from the DVD as did the other reviewers.

However, the value of this DVD is not in it's additional content, per se, but in it's ability to get you going on the massive amout of (awesome) info in the book. There are numerous features of the book's materials I had missed, but the DVD got me on track. All the "Grimoire" DVDs are like that, they really help you more fully understand the method of the book & the music theory presented in it.

If you haven't yet figured it out, these DVDs are of very diminished value without the book. And that is what they do, augment the book and help the reader extract more from it.

And lest you take the other reviewers comments too seriously, keep in mind these DVDs are very cheap compared other, hot instructional guitar videos. Get the DVD AND the book and you'll get lot out of them together.

Not worth the wrapper its packed in!.......2004-05-04

Ok, I am a big fan of Kadmon's Guitar Grimoire BOOKS. However, Kadmon's videos are just a cheap rip-off that capitalize on his books popularity. They offer NO new information nor do they expand upon existing topics found in the books. In fact, I was surprised and concerned that at the beginning of the video that Kadmon skims through the book with the viewer and says that "We will review this section (a theory section) if we have time left on the DVD."

This statement speaks volumes (no pun intended) and shows the utter lack of respect he has for his audience. Obviously he had no goals other than to parrot his book and didn't even know where he would stop at the time of the recording. He also uses some ridiculous monk outfit where his face is completely hidden from the audience and speaks in a deep and `wizardly' way. Perhaps it's to mask his identity from all the customers who want their money back?

I only wish I had taken "mintbug's" review to heart, but I had to learn the hard way ...

Not worth it!.......2003-04-27

The books are fantastic. The DVDs, or at least the Chords and Progressions DVD, merely gloss over the material in the book, without fleshing the material out.

I was bummed, but really, when you think about it, how much information could he get on a dvd to augment a relatively comprehensive text.

I intend to continue to use the books with an instructor.

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