Bluegrass Guitar Solos That Every Parking Lot Picker Should Know (Series 1) 6 CD (Homespun Learning Discs)

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(5 stars) - As Close as You Can Get to a Real Lesson
All of Steve Kaufman's DVDs are very instructive, slow enough to understand properly, and the finished tune is something to want to share and perform. Each of these is difficult to achieve on a DVD, but Steve has worked out how to do it over and over again on his products.

I'm a professional guitar and bass teacher so I've seen a whole lot of DVDs and about 9 out of 10 are pretty poor. Either they are a promo for the artists and there to keep fans entertained, or they are by a famous preformer who just can't pull off what it takes to teach. (No that doesn't mean as a teacher I'm an awful performer.....I think!)

All Steve's DVDs are a great source of lessons and songs to play. You might also like to try the other players I think are good - Jimmy BrunoJimmy Bruno: No Nonsense Jazz Guitar, Larry CoryellLarry Coryell's Jazz Guitar, Volume 1, Fred SokolowFretboard Roadmaps, and Ed Friedland on Bass. Bruno and Coryell is all about Jazz, Fred is just about all styles at an intermediate level and Ed Friedland does a whole lot of bass books and one DVD on Slap that I like. If you wnat to try some fingerstyle try Buster B Jones series of DVDs - but start at the beginning ones as his playing style is not as easy as Fred Sokolow's to pull off.
Fingerstyle Guitar from the Ground Up Vol 1

(5 stars) - Well worth the time and effort
I have all 4 of these in the series. I've never been much of a flatpicker, and it had been 20 years since I indulged my love of guitar finger picking when I started taking lessons again. I went to the Kaufman Acoustic Kamp in TN, and that's when I realized what rare talent Steve has for teaching all levels of Bluegrass (and probably general guitar as well). I will never be as fast a picker as most Bluegrass players, but just mastering the Beginner and Intermediate levels (still not confident to do the Advanced yet) has improved not only my guitar playing but also my sense of timing and rhythm. It has also given my confidence a huge boost. For those who don't know, Steve Kaufman is the only person to win the National Guitar Picking Championship THREE times. Hear him on these CDS, read the easy-to-read tablature, and use a piece of software called "The Amazing X" (you can slow down the tunes without changing the pitch--of IMMENSE help in learning) to give a boost to your playing. BTW, my guitar teacher told me my playing had improved "exponentially" after using these books! Sweet music to my ears!

(5 stars) - Excellent
Steve is a great teacher. His beginner versions are the quickest way I've seen to be able to play a tune well at a jam session. If you're not already an expert then don't waste your time on tougher arrangements and licks. Start with the beginner version of a bunch of tunes and see where it goes from there.

(5 stars) - Very Helpful Product
I was unsure just how I could benefit from this, But to my amazement, it was a big help. It kept me interested the whole way thru. The techniques were simple and easy to follow. Most that I had tried before didnt make much sense in their techniques. But I really caught on to this. It helped me with some things that I had been struggling to figure out. I would recommend these Bluegrass series to beginners and advanced players. Steve Kauffman explains every step he is doing. He is wonderful.

(5 stars) - Great resource to learn flatpicking tunes
The product description doesn't do this justice. This is a terrific resource if you want to flatpick fiddle/bluegrass/OT tunes. There are 20 standard tunes. Each has the following 4 parts laid out in notation and tab

1. A beginner's version;
2. An intermediate version;
3. An advanced "hotrod" version worthy of a contest;
4. An ending that can probably also be used to end any other tune in the same key, so it's very versatile.

It's recommended you work through all the beginner versions before going onto the intermediate; it'll take you several months do that.

The CDs walk you through each tune, though I'm not big on CD instruction. Nevertheless, the CDs also have a full speed version of each tune where Steve plays through all three versions (and then repeats the beginner version). I found that putting all 20 fullspeed versions on a CD makes its own great CD and is a good way to "get the songs in your head."

Here are the songs on Vol. 1: Ragtime Annie; Bill Cheatham; Gold Rush; Flop-Eared Mule; Forked Deer; Old Joe Clark; Soldier's Joy; Nothing To It; Red-Haired Boy; Salt Creek; Big Sandy River; Billy In The Low Ground; Under The Double Eagle; Fisher's Hornpipe; Blackberry Blossom; Turkey In The Straw; St. Anne's Reel; Arkansas Traveler; Sweet Georgia Brown; Whiskey Before Breakfast

All that's just to give a worthy description. As for my take on it all -- terrific. I was a beginner flatpicker and at first it took some time to get a song under my belt. As I've progressed it takes less time and it's just plain fun to learn good arrangements to standard tunes. And I've still got the intermediate and advanced versions to learn! Just a terrific resource for great tunes. I'm through the beginner versions and am half way through Volume 2 (same set up; same quality).

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