Hi All, Recently I came across 2 great instruction materials for guitar. 1. You can Learn Guitar by Homespun Tapes. The artist is Happy Traum. It has got a 2 DVD or 3 VHS set. In the first one he literally teaches the chords in scale of D,G and C. Also gives tips on pivot fingers and improvisations. In the second part, he talks about various strumming patterns and how you are going to use it with the chords that you have learned in the first part. In the 3rd part he teaches a bit about the musical theory and open and closed scales. The best part of this video is you get to see what is being preached. And all of us would agree that seeing improves a lot. At least it is doing wonders for me. Half an hour with this tape and so many things you have to practice. The tape is of around 2 hours. So that means each tape will take you minimum 1-2 months for beginners to practice and reach at that fluency level. This learning method in these DVDs is the normal fingerstyle which can be easily taken up by persons using picks. Well may be fingerstyle is not the appropriate word here as he does not teach the classical PIMA style. But strums with his thumb. 2. The second one is the Fretboard Logic SE, part 1 and 2 comibned together. This book literally takes away all the myth of the chord shapes. It has divided all the chords into 5 shapes only in the CAGED format. Understanding this can help anyone play any chords anywhere on the neck. I don't know about availability of these in India. But they are available here in US. And are great for beginners. Just thought to share this with you guys in case any of you is learning by him/herself. Regards Sambit
