The Inner Guitar Workshop; Stefan Grossman's Fingerpicking Guitar Workshop

Although looking at the title--The Inner Guitar Workshop--I was fully expecting to be greeted by a major corn flake, instructor Elana Vinnik is a gifted, charming, and natural teacher who takes students from square one to hold-your-own-at-a-party-with-friends status in a little over 3 hours. Teaching a new student in real time, viewers watch and play along as Vinnik demonstrates a handful of important chords, some folk songs (including "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"), and condenses "eight semesters of music theory into one hour." Part of the workshop involves using an enclosed capo mentioned on the video--which might present a processing problem for some--and the price is, admittedly, a bit steep for a guitar-teaching video (but keep in mind the 3-hrs. plus length). Vinnik's assured and assuring tutoring style is rare, and worth the extra money and hassle.Unlike earlier reviewed guitar-instruction titles by Stefan Grossman such as Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques (reviewed in our July-August 1991 issue) or How to Play Blues Guitar (reviewed in our May 1992 issue), Stefan Grossman's Fingerpicking Guitar Workshop is a disappointing collection of five-minute short films made in 1970 introducing viewers to a range of styles from bottleneck and ragtime to fiddle and country. Unfortunately, there is not enough instruction here to compare with Grossman's better efforts. And this was made before the concept of split-screen music instruction. Songs, which are also featured in the accompanying tablature booklet, include: "Vestapol," "Shake Sugaree," "God Moves on the Water," and nine others.The Inner Guitar Workshop is highly recommended. (Available from: Elana Vinnik Productions, 8215 NW 70th St., Tamarac, FL 33321; (800) 258-0346.) Stefan Grossman's Fingerpicking Guitar Workshop is not a necessary purchase. (Available from: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, P.O. Box 802, Sparta, NJ 07871; (201) 729-4240.)