Learning Guitar: "Esteban" Instruction Questions

hey guys,

any opinions on that Esteban guitar learning package seen on home shopping network. it goes for $189.00 includes acoustic guit, small amp, DVD, and instruction booklets. looks like it gets folks playing fairly quickly before going the heavy theory route.

any experience?

here's a link: http://www.esteban-guitar.info/

[onemind]

Well lessons aside (though it still seems to me that that girl with Esteban should really shred by now and all she does is hold a guitar and grin like a monkey)...The quality of guitars from everything thats been posted on the internet is appallingly bad! Check out...

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Esteban/

There's some funny stuff there

Steve

[dkaplowitz]

What kind of playing do you want to do? Do you also want to be a well rounded musician, or do you just want to strum out "stairway" at keg parties? Answering some questions might help us give you more things to look into instead of what you're considering from HSN.

I don't know anything about that guitar (I did see it yesterday for the first time channel surfing). My guess is you'll need to throw that guitar away within a year or two when you get more comfortable playing. You might try to resell it on ebay, but I doubt you'd get anything back for it. I'd advise you to take the $189. and buy a used cheapo guitar by a reputable company and a couple of good beginner books. This way you'll have something that plays, sounds a lot better and might last you longer than that one will.

Good luck.

Dave

[littlemoon]

The guitar is plain junk; the amp is junk, and who the hell is "Estaban" anyway? He looks like a cross between Zorro and Bruce Wayne (Batman).

It's a thinly disquised marketing concept, probably rising to the level of fraud, designed solely to separate you from your money. Avoid it!

littlemoon

[RickC]

actually, Esteban is a rather interesting character. Would you believe he's actually one of the highest earning classical guitarists in the world? Primarily through sales of his CDs on cable shopping channels like QVC and HSN. There's a brilliant piece on him in one of the "Da Capo Best Music Writing" anthologies (I forget which year), worth seeking out (as are all of the Da Capo collections, come to think of it). Here's a much shorter bio:

http://www.eas.asu.edu/~asufc/confer...ebanstory.html

/rick

[raz]

He's a shyster. He may have overcome great tragedy. He may be a very good player. He may even have studied with Segovia. He's still a huckster of the first order.

Anybody who falls for his schtick is a victim of their own willful ignorance. They're a victim of self-abusive televiewing habits, too, but we won't go there because then I'll have to explain how I know that.

I don't fault anyone for making a buck, and I don't fault Esteban for selling shite to suckers. I fault the suckers who buy it. Anyone who buys that crap gets what's coming to them.

Look, I don't expect people without knowledge of guitar construction to know sh*t from shinola about what's of value in an instrument.

But if you've made it past junior high and still can't figure out why you're better off to find a $100 guitar in the classifieds instead of buying from an infomercial featuring a guy in a hokey costume, you aren't worth giving a hoot in hell about.

If you can't figure out that the cost of making an infomercial and buying the airtime comes out of the amount you pay for the product; if it doesn't occur to you that Esteban and the Jerry Springer lookalike in the i'mercial are getting paid out of the cost of the product; if you can't figure out the impact the overhead is having on the transaction, well, nothing can be done for you. You're as beyond help as the people who believe in credit card rebates.

It's okay...someday I'm gonna figure out some scam like this of my own, and I'm gonna supress what ethical norms I have so I can make millions. And when I do it, I want those hopeless people to still be out there ready to fork over their cash.

R
A
Z

[art420guitar]

well, i wouldnt go as far to call it a scam personally. for a cheap price you do get a playable guitar and probably some valuable learning tools (for some). basically, everything on those shows is questionable but most are not scams. what is a joke though is that esteban is really a suburbanite from pittsburgh but he puts on the whole bolero persona. if you believe that, youve been scammed. that much i agree with.

[SouthernShred]

I wrote a little "ode to Esteban" spoof story on my website...I had fun with it, hopefully you will too:

Dewsteban

[littlemoon]

Originally posted by RickC
actually, Esteban is a rather interesting character. Would you believe he's actually one of the highest earning classical guitarists in the world? Primarily through sales of his CDs on cable shopping channels like QVC and HSN. There's a brilliant piece on him in one of the "Da Capo Best Music Writing" anthologies (I forget which year), worth seeking out (as are all of the Da Capo collections, come to think of it). Here's a much shorter bio:

http://www.eas.asu.edu/~asufc/confer...ebanstory.html

/rick

Ok. I did not know that about him (who would have guessed). I'll try to take him more seriously. I have to give him credit for seeking out and landing the Segovia gig. But, really, that "Zorro" persona has got to go.

Be that as it may - the guitar is junk, the amp is junk (even if it does allow the home shopping club member to "really rock out") ....

littlemoon