Metal Method Guitar Lessons: The Best Of The Learn To Play Electric Guitar Lessons DVDs

Rated 10 out of 10

According to Doug Marks, the author of the Metal Method DVD Video Guitar Course, is to teach you to quickly become a competent guitar player and to enjoy the process.

This instructional course is designed for anyone interested in learning to improvise lead solos on the electric guitar. While the emphasis is on Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music, the fundamental techniques and theory are common and essential to Hard Rock, Classic Rock and Blues Rock.

No guitar experience is required. This program is not specifically geared for young children but, I don't see why it wouldn't work for ages 8 and up. The younger students might need a little gentle parental guidance and encouragement until they have caught on to a reasonable (it must be fun) practice routine.

Is This Guitar Course For Acoustic Or Electric Guitar Players?

Acoustic and electric guitar students need to learn the same things early on so technically this course could be followed using an acoustic guitar. However, each lesson is demonstrated by Doug Marks using an electric guitar. Also, some lessons only apply to electrics.

Doug Marks has been playing in bands, recording and teaching for over 23 years. (Hawk is the name of his current band.) His Metal Method Guitar Lessons Program was born in 1982 as a result of meeting the needs of his guitar students. He started out producing short little lessons until they grew into this course.

My first impression of the Doug Marks was derived from his photos plastered across his website. He fits my stereo type of a tough looking, hard rocking, heavy metal guy. He has long blond hair down to his shoulders and wears a black T-shirt and matching Black Les Paul Guitar. His folded arms and serious, almost menacing facial expression fits someone that may have the teaching methods of a drill sergeant. "Either play faster, harder and louder or get out of my class!"

I couldn't have been more wrong. After watching his DVDs and talking to him on the phone my impression changed. (Sorry Doug if I am blowing your image). He is a nice guy that has a passion for playing and teaching. He freely admits that he was never one of these naturally talented guitarists that could hear a song and instantly play it by ear. In his own learning process he required lots of detailed explanations which eventually turned into the lessons that formed this instructional course.

The Strength of this program comes not from Doug's guitar skills (they are amazing) but in his ability to teach. Out of all of the guitar lesson programs that I have reviewed, he is in the top two best at teaching. His instructions are very specific and precise in a way that only an experienced teacher (over 25 years), that has listened very carefully to his students can deliver.

The quality of the video production on each DVD is excellent. The lighting is well done which is absolutely necessary to view the details. The close up shots, which often make or break guitar lesson DVDs are especially well done. They show very clear video of the left hand and the right hand super imposed in the same frame.

Figuring out what fingers are fretting a string and which are just slightly above but not touching a string is often confusing with most video courses. Doug Marks offers clear verbal instructions, slow deliberate demonstrations and animated graphics and tabs that when combined clearly show the fingerings for each string. This is not typical of most guitar lesson programs.

Each DVD begins with a brief talk by the author explaining the upcoming lessons, offering advice and tips.

Next the lesson will be demonstrated with close ups of both right and left hand.

This is followed by a guided practice session using animated tabs.

At the end of each four lesson group (16 lessons total minimum per DVD) is a list and conversation about what you should have learned.

When I was young I took guitar lessons that emphasized reading traditional printed music. The problem with this is that it was really designed for piano which has only one key for each note. The guitar has several places on the fret board for each note and piano music does not suggest the best place to play them. Complicated music requires patient experimenting or lots of experience to figure this out.

This is where tabs came to the rescue. They are specifically written for guitar in a form that includes suggested fingerings for each note and chord. The problem with tabs is that they do not include information about timing and rhythm. In other words, you have to listen to a recording of a song first and then memorize how long each note is held.

The animated tabs that are part of almost every Metal Method Guitar Lesson fix this timing problem. They provide a thin blue line that lands on a note or chord to indicate when to play and how long to hold it before moving on. An audio track plays each tab during the animation to let you here exactly how the music should sound.

This is the only guitar lesson program, so far, that I have seen with this feature.

The Physical Parts of Metal Method Guitar Lessons

1. Plastic DVD Organizer Case

2. (6) Lesson DVDs ( up to 12 available for more advanced learning ).

3. Animated, Play along tabs that give you timing information and

4. play back speed control.

5. Printable Reference Files

DVD 1 - Stage One: Introduction Talk, Advice To Parents With Young Students, Buying a guitar, How To Tune A Guitar, String Names And Numbers, Identifying The Parts Of The Guitar, Tuning Your Guitar To The Instructors, Tuning Your Guitar To Itself, The Meaning Of Sharp And Flat, 4/4 time, Learning To Fret Notes All Over The Neck Comfortably, Reading Tabs, 3 Different Picking Techniques

DVD 2 - Stage Two: Intro Talk / Tune Up, Common Chord Shapes, Muscle Memory, How To Play Smooth And Efficient Chord Transitions, How To Play With A Rhythm Track Without Looking At The Tabs, Dropping D Tuning, Major Scale Intervals, 5th Intervals, Power Chords, The Notes On T Fretboard, The Chromatic Scale, The Minor Pentatonic Scale, How To Use The Minor Pentatonic Scale To Play Lead, Reading Combo Tabs That Contain Both Rhythm And Lead Parts, Playing 5th Intervals, 3 Note Power Chords, Rhythmic Strumming, Copying Rhythmic Patterns From Your Favorite Songs.

DVD 3 - Stage Three: Intro Talk / Tune Up, The 5 Minor Pentatonic Scale Patterns, Dominant 7th Chords, Techniques: Hammer Ons, Pull Offs, Bends, Learning Licks With The 5 Minor Pentatonic Shapes and These New Techniques, Combining Licks To Form Solos, Determining The Key Of A Song By Ear

DVD4 - Stage Four: Intro Talk / Tune Up, Major Pentatonic Scale Patterns, Techniques: Vibrato, Vibrato Bends, Slides, Tapping, String Muting, Chime Harmonics and Pick Harmonics, 4 New Barre Chord Shapes: Major, Minor, Minor 7th, Dominant 7th, Natural Minor Scale: The Most Popular Scale In Hard Rock And Metal Music, Learning A Solo That Incorporates These Techniques.

DVD5 - Stage Five: Blues Chords And How To Use Them, Improvising, Chords and Licks, Your Own Style, Pick Rakin, Chromatic Runs, Tremolo Picking, Applying Harmony To Solos, Monster Solo, Practice Tips

DVD6 - Stage Six: Music Theory

There are 45 pages of tabs, charts and other lesson aids that need to be printed from files provided on each Metal Method DVD. It took about 15 minutes to print them out. It would have been more convenient to have them furnished pre-printed and bound. I realize that this might significantly add to the cost so all in all it is probably a reasonable trade off.

Also, I printed all of the support materials out at once and discovered that they were not labeled with the stage, chapter and disc with which they belonged. Confusing. Doug did mention on the phone that he is currently working to improve the support materials.

The course would benefit from more topical details on the video titles. It can be a little confusing if you wish to return to a specific lesson.

Fortunately, none of these things effect the quality of the lessons. They are just minor irritations.

The Author of Metal Method Guitar Lessons does an excellent job of breaking complicated tasks down into learnable bits.

The Animated Tabs add timing information and audio which makes the lessons so much more understandable. As a result this speeds the learning process. Also, as a direct result of student feedback, Doug Marks has added special tab files that allow you to control how fast the tabs play.

Continually Improved and updated lessons for over 20 years.

The free internet guitar forum has a high rate of participation with well over 1000 entries. This means that you have a much greater chance at connecting with someone that can answer your questions.

Price and Payment Plans: This has got to be one of the most affordable complete guitar lesson programs I have ever seen. Not only is the price much lower than the competition but you can buy just one DVD at a time.

Guided Practice Sessions: The built in structure of the animated practice sessions prevents wasting time. It's almost like having your teacher helping you at every practice session without the additional cost. This will greatly speed up your learning time by improving the effectiveness of your practice time. This can also eliminate some bad habits before they have a chance to form.

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The Price options:

Buy only one Metal Method DVD at a time for $14.95 each plus $8.95 shipping

Buy 2 of the 6 DVDs at the same time for a total of $24.95 + Shipping (save $4.95)

Buy all 6 of the DVDs at the same time for a total of $69.70 + shipping (Save $20)

The Cost analysis:

Metal Method Video Guitar Lessons by Doug Marks contains the equivalent of about 6 to 12 months worth of guitar lessons if you were to space them out as if you were taking weekly lessons from a local guitar instructor. A local instructor typically will charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per lesson. Your minimum cost at only $20 per lesson for 6 to 12 months would be at least $520 to $1040.

Your choice comes down to:

The The Complete Metal Method Guitar Lessons at $69.70 to $89.70, (depending on how many lesson you purchase at a time).

OR... a random local instructor at $520 to $1040.

Support:

I called the provided 800 phone number to ask a few questions and was pleasantly surprised that Doug personally answered the phone. He enthusiastically and completely answered my questions. He even thanked me for calling because he uses questions and comments to continually improve his course.

Metal Method offers email, phone, mail and a student forum to answer questions. They also offer a fairly exhaustive frequently asked questions (FAQ) section at their website for quick reference.

Shipping:

Metal Method Video Guitar Lesson DVDs are shipped world wide. The DVDs are also compatible for playback in all countries. The set I ordered had to travel across the United States and I received it in about 4 or 5 days.

Guarantee:

Metal Method Video Guitar Lessons comes with a 60 day, unconditional, money-back guarantee. According to the folks at Metal Method they have offered this guarantee for over 23 years and less than 1% of these programs have been returned.

A Successful Student Comments About Metal Method Video Guitar Lessons (taken from the Metal Method Website)

"I recently concluded the Halford / Iron Maiden world tour with the Rock-In-Rio festival in front of 250,000 people. Not bad for a kid and his Metal Method Lessons. Thanks!"

Metal Mike Chlasciak, guitarist with the band: Halford

I have reviewed so many guitar lesson programs that show some good potential but they always have one or two fatal flaws. Metal Method Video Guitar Lessons are solid all the way through. It is one of the most thorough, polished and well thought out programs I have ever seen. It is obvious that Doug Marks has actually been listening to his students for over 23 years and using that feedback to continually refine each element of his lessons.

If you are serious about learning the electric guitar this DVD series is a must have. The nice thing is that if you are short on cash you don't have to buy the entire set. You can buy the first two DVDs for about $25 plus shipping. (Hey isn't that about the price of only one or two lessons with a live local instructor ?)

According to the Metal Method website they were picked by Guitar World Magazine for being essential guitar DVDs and I couldn't agree more.

Click here for Company Details, student testimonials or to buy now.