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NOVEMBER 2004

Product Review:
John McLaughlin’s This is How I Do It
Improvisation Workshop DVD

By Mitchell Levine

Of all the components of musicianship, the most mysterious to the guitar student of virtually all levels is improvisation. Technical skills and sight-reading can be taught mechanically, although doing so in an inspired way is, of course, not so easy. Intermediate guitarists learn about scales and their relation to chord changes, and transcribe and imitate solos, and hope that they’ll learn more about the mysteries of that strange form of apparently spontaneous composition called “improvising.” Most people don’t even believe that soloing well and creatively can be taught, and that inspired improvisers are born and not made.

Well, protean guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin believes otherwise, and he sets out in this instructional video to prove it. As a brilliant improviser himself, he hardly needs any introduction. From his early jazz days, to the fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, to his acoustic work in Shakti and the classic Friday Night in San Francisco, Mr. McLaughlin has demonstrated not only his legendary, perhaps unparalleled, technical mastery of the instrument, but extraordinary ability to create startling impromptu solos over incomparably difficult material as well.

In this three DVD set, McLaughlin leads the viewer on a journey to develop both technique and intuition to similar heights. Covering the fundamentals of theory from harmonization and basic scales to more sophisticated modal theory, each of the DVD’s chapters is followed with demonstrations of McLaughlin using that information to create a solo, giving practical insight into the theoretical topic.

Each of these expositions is presented in “split screen,” so the student can view both right and left hands of his execution of every sequence – a big improvement, at least in the mind of anyone that’s ever tried to learn from a concert video. Finally, each performance segment is followed by a thorough analysis of the relation of the topic to the particular improvisation.

In this format, the serious student can probably learn more than most improvisers ever do after years of searching for these elements in disparate sources. However, with the wealth of information presented, it should be noted that this is a study program that requires a substantial commitment of time and effort: fully mastering the lessons and meeting all of the demanding requirements for the lessons could take one to two years or more.

Also, it’s probably much more than the typical pop/rock-style guitarist will ever need – the DVD appears to have been designed for the committed jazz or fusion player who wishes to explore the full harmonic and tonal resources the instrument has to offer in complete detail. It’s rather unlikely that a top 40 or college alternatives player would ever require the depth of theoretical understanding this program was designed to develop, nor was it intended for complete beginners either. Those without basic proficiency on the fretboard, and at least some knowledge of introductory music theory, should probably wait a few years before attempting to make their way through this course.

But, for the player that deeply wishes to develop the skills necessary to reach the guitar’s true potential, and is willing to make a heavy investment of time and labor, it would be difficult to pick a better bet than This is How I Do It, as both an instructional aid and syllabus for a course of music study. That is, unless you happen to have access to private lessons from one of the world’s greatest guitarists, and, now, greatest teachers as well. Everyone else should buy a copy of this DVD immediately.

For more information, log on to the distributor’s site at www.abstractlogix.com.

 

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