Larry Little's Learn Bass Guitar On VCR Volume 1; Larry Little's Learn Guitar On VCR Volume 1; Larry Little's Learn Guitar On VCR Volume 2

For the serious guitar enthusiast (or for that matter, the amateur strummer), Larry Little's videos on guitar and bass guitar are an excellent and affordable introduction and/or refresher course. Each title features the same basic format: a video table of contents listing the "chapters," an onscreen time-code reference, and video graphics and close-up insets to help the viewer follow Little's movements and narration exactly. Learn Guitar on VCR Volume 1 opens with a brief introduction to the guitar and its parts, followed by a section on tuning. Viewers will learn most of the major chords on the first volume, and be able to play "Stand By Me," "House of the Rising Sun," and "Pretty Woman," by tape's end. Volume 2 is an even more in-depth look at chords, adding minor chords, and demonstrating the bar chord system. For limbering up the fingers (and being able to find any note on the guitar), Little shows viewers the major and minor pentatonic scales, and then points out how guitarists can use these concepts to find the correct key for a tune and do an improvisational solo. At the end of the program, Little teaches viewers how to play "Proud Mary," "You Really Got Me," and "Jumpin' Jack Flash." (As a one-note picker, I was able to follow along with both programs and play the songs pretty quickly, with the exception of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" which turned out to be my Waterloo--although more practice would have rectified that.) Learn Bass Guitar on VCR uses the same approach as the "Guitar" tapes, showing viewers the dot octave system to locate notes on the bass, various keys, the standard major scale, and different patterns and figures common to bass playing. The tape closes with the songs "As Tears Go By," "Pretty Woman," and "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Excellent, in every respect, these titles are highly recommended. (Available from: Larry Little, Ltd., P.O. Box 804, Naples, FL 33939.)