John Hurtt
Platinum Supporting Member
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- 20,756
I've had Tomo's instructional dvd now for a while and I thought I would post my impressions. First of all, this is a dvd/78 page booklet set. It's available through Hal Leonard, I found mine at a site linked through the HL website.
First of all, if you are looking for "licks from hell", this dvd is not for you. While Tomo's slap/pop funk technique is killer, this is more geared to working on your fundamentals and your overall musicality. I wish this would have been available 20 years ago, it would have kept me from developing many bad habits and lots of wasted time. Any beginner and intermediate player would really benefit from this, and more advanced players could definitely use this to clean up their technique and help develop their tone. Throughout the booklet you will find tips/pointers and directions from Tomo on how to make these exercises work for you.
"Accelerate" is broken down into four parts:
Part 1 focuses on fingering and picking exercises. Tomo goes throught the basics using chromatic scales to develop clean technique and facility on single string playing. From simple horizontal movement, crazy chromatics, string skipping, chromatic octaves and more, this section will really work out your fret/picking hand coordination.
Part 2 focuses on Intervals and Ear Training, really understanding the fretboard. Tomo advocates learning where all the notes are (it's amazing to me how many players need to really look to find where, say, all the C# are on their guitar). Tomo teaches simple ear training, and how a single note can have many colors.
Part 3 talks about Rhythm, Muting and Sight Reading. He works you through muting exercises for your fret hand, and how to apply them in different ways. This section is really where I found some issues with my own playing. I expect to really clean up my sound.
Part 4 is probably the most "fun" section of the course. Here Tomo works on blues changes and grooves. He teaches many different changes and grooves in many styles (swing, jazz, shuffles, R & B, funk). There are even a few exercises showcasing Tomo's incredible slap guitar technique.
One of the many things I liked about this instructional dvd is that the lessons logically build on each other. Plus, Tomo has lots of demo performances that are really beneficial to watch. And as a plus, Tomo is such an engaging and nice guy that even in the dvd he comes off as an instructor that you "want" to work for. This is more important than many people realize.
As you can tell I really like this dvd/booklet and would highly recommend it to anyone that is unhappy with their technique or tone.
First of all, if you are looking for "licks from hell", this dvd is not for you. While Tomo's slap/pop funk technique is killer, this is more geared to working on your fundamentals and your overall musicality. I wish this would have been available 20 years ago, it would have kept me from developing many bad habits and lots of wasted time. Any beginner and intermediate player would really benefit from this, and more advanced players could definitely use this to clean up their technique and help develop their tone. Throughout the booklet you will find tips/pointers and directions from Tomo on how to make these exercises work for you.
"Accelerate" is broken down into four parts:
Part 1 focuses on fingering and picking exercises. Tomo goes throught the basics using chromatic scales to develop clean technique and facility on single string playing. From simple horizontal movement, crazy chromatics, string skipping, chromatic octaves and more, this section will really work out your fret/picking hand coordination.
Part 2 focuses on Intervals and Ear Training, really understanding the fretboard. Tomo advocates learning where all the notes are (it's amazing to me how many players need to really look to find where, say, all the C# are on their guitar). Tomo teaches simple ear training, and how a single note can have many colors.
Part 3 talks about Rhythm, Muting and Sight Reading. He works you through muting exercises for your fret hand, and how to apply them in different ways. This section is really where I found some issues with my own playing. I expect to really clean up my sound.
Part 4 is probably the most "fun" section of the course. Here Tomo works on blues changes and grooves. He teaches many different changes and grooves in many styles (swing, jazz, shuffles, R & B, funk). There are even a few exercises showcasing Tomo's incredible slap guitar technique.
One of the many things I liked about this instructional dvd is that the lessons logically build on each other. Plus, Tomo has lots of demo performances that are really beneficial to watch. And as a plus, Tomo is such an engaging and nice guy that even in the dvd he comes off as an instructor that you "want" to work for. This is more important than many people realize.
As you can tell I really like this dvd/booklet and would highly recommend it to anyone that is unhappy with their technique or tone.
