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September 2007 DVD Roundup
Sure, it’s the middle of the summer, and you’re probably busy
mowing the lawn when you’re not picking. But there are still
those nights where you need to curl up with a good DVD and
pass out from the PBR. We check out three videos you can sink
your teeth into.
How to Relic a Guitar
It would seem that guitars are a lot like blue
jeans – they feel much better when they’re
worn in. And while these days you can pay a
premium to have a custom shop expert turn
your brand new Strat into a well-loved vintage
facsimile, where’s the fun in that? Being the
notoriously hands-on people that we are,
there’s just something artistic and cathartic
about taking a variety of power tools and abrasive surfaces to the
top of your guitar.
But before you plug in that power sander with #40 grit sandpaper,
you need to make that aging process authentic, or suffer the
barbed insults of your fellow players. Enter How to Relic a Guitar,
with your host Steve Soest, an accomplished guitar tech and
luthier who guides us through the various stages of creating an
aged axe. Everything from natural wear patterns to fading plastic
is covered, giving amateur relic’ers all the info they should need to
recreate years of bar gigs and road travel.
Of course, tearing apart a new axe isn’t for the faint of heart. How
to Relic a Guitar opens with a prolonged screen informing viewers
that all activities undertaken as a result of watching the DVD are
done, “at your own risk, and at the risk of total loss to your instrument,”
perfectly illustrating just how crazy this whole business of
messing up a perfectly good guitar can be. Throughout the video,
we watch as Steve assails a shimmering blue Strat with a variety
of workshop implements. It’s a masochistic tour, fast paced and
riveting, but it may not be for those who can’t stand to see a nitro
finish dinged.
The video, while genuinely well produced, does have its few
downfalls. Early in the video, Steve gives a lecture on the importance
of wearing hand and eye protection while working, and yet
you never see him using either in the video, sending mixed messages
to workshop warriors everywhere. There are a few mishaps
– at one point Steve goes to refresh the stain on his paper towel
and ends up dumping it on the table with pronounced “Whoops!”
– but it’s all generally forgivable once you see the results.
$39.95
Available through howaudio.com
Wired for Sound: A Guitar Odyssey
When it comes to pop
culture, few things are
as ingrained in our collective
consciousness
as the guitar. Axes like
the ES-335 and the Les
Paul literally changed
how we look at modern
music, and Wired
for Sound: a Guitar
Odyssey charts the
meteoric rise of these
instruments throughout
the years.
Wired for Sound admittedly
brings a Gibson bias to the proceedings, beginning the story
with a man named Orville Gibson and a factory in Kalamazoo.
Through a series of both documentary footage and musician
interviews – all with shiny Gibsons in hand – this DVD paints both
the evolution of the instrument and the musical genres it contributed
to. The interviews are varied and constantly interesting, from
old school pioneers like Scotty Moore to new school rockers like
Slash, and there are plenty of hilarious road stories to go aroun
It should be noted that this documentary takes an interesting
approach to modern history; instead of charting the evolution
of the electrified guitar in terms of technological breakthroughs,
this documentary ties the instrument’s growth to the idea of
the “recording artist,” that class of professional musicians that
expanded alongside the phonograph and vinyl records. It’s an
entertaining concept, providing the producers a chance to shoehorn
a lot of artists into the show, but diehard history buffs may
be a bit disappointed in the lack of concrete details.
There’s a lot to digest here, and it’s a truly entertaining – if not
abbreviated – ride through the worlds of blues, rock and country.
There isn’t much jazz to be found, and astute viewers will
notice the lack of Fender (meaning there’s no Buddy Holly and no
Hendrix) and Rickenbacker (meaning no Beatles, no Byrds) from
Wired for Sound’s history of electrified wood. But in the end, it
remains a convincing, solid remembrance of how this thing called
rock n’ roll came to be.
$24.98
Available through mpihomevideo.com
I Am the Blues Lead Guitarist
Even if you’re a technophobe,
there’s no denying
that the advent of
accessible multimedia
has done wonders for
guitarists. There’s no
shortage of ways to learn
your craft now, and what
began with cheesy backing
tracks and looped
MIDI progressions has
been taken to the next,
most obvious step: a
(semi) live band brought
to you by DVD.
I Am the Blues Lead Guitarist, hosted by Oscar Jordan and the
Mighty Sons of Hercules, provides an opportunity for all you
burgeoning lead players to blow your pentatonic wad all over the
place. The surprisingly robust DVD features eight different tracks
in a variety of different styles to jam along to (slo blues, shuffle,
rockin’ blues and even a bit of a Latin groove), and each track is
available in both a traditional song form and as a looped version if
you feel like playing until your fingers bleed.
The band itself is tight, with Oscar and company laying down rock
solid grooves to play over. For players using the DVD to improve
their ensemble skills, they’ll appreciate the use of visual cues to
signal changes in the track, and much like band practice, you’ll
improve with each repetition. It really beats a computerized backing
track any day.
There’s also a raft of extra features on the disc, some useful and
some a bit overindulgent. “Tuning Up with Oscar Jordan” is an
interesting idea, with Oscar playing each note and allowing you
match his pitch (although his facial expressions can be hilarious at
times – watch for the dramatic low E), while the band’s biography
and music videos seem to be solely comprised of photographs
and hastily edited together. While the extras can be a bit of a
mixed bag, the concept of the DVD is a novel and useful one.
Now you don’t need to convince your friends to lug their gear
over every week.
$19.98
Available through GCGmusic.com
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