Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38730 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Customer Reviews

Great tutorial--authentic, concise and a lot of fun!
Not sure how the other reviewers were mislead but this was very clearly a guitar tutorial DVD taught by a great teacher. In just one day, i was playing Uncle John's Band and Casey Jones exactly how the Dead play them. Both Jerry and Bob guitar parts are broken down and clearly explained in both close-ups on the fretboard as well as a picture-in-picture of the right hand strumming. i wish all video tutorials were this good.

Very underrated (and unfairly so) by Amazon viewers
Apparently some people either didn't read the cover of this DVD or were confused by the phrase, "A step-by-step breakdown of the Grateful Dead's guitar styles and techniques." This is an excellent tape, but it is not a concert tape! It is a worthwhile instructional video that teaches you how to play the chords, intros, solos, etc, of these Grateful Dead classics: Casey Jones, Uncle John's Band, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Truckin', China Cat Sunflower, Shakedown Street, and Touch of Grey. There are split screen shots and everything can be figured out without using a tab (a good thing, because it doesn't come with one!). Grateful Dead songs - and especially these - tend to use straightforward chords (there are exceptions, though). All of these songs pretty much use major and minor chords.

So if you want to learn a bunch of Grateful Dead songs and learn the techniques employed by Bobby and Jerry, check this out! Like I told you, what I said, if you want a concert video, you better get back to Tennesse Jed!

AWESOME DVD ON LEARNING TO PLAY LIKE THE DEAD
Excellent DVD! Clear, concise, and exact licks. The instructor (Nate LaPointe) clearly shows you both the Jerry and Bobby part for each song. That's the real beauty of this DVD in that you get to see both guitar parts. He also switches back and forth between acoustic and electric guitars and nails the tone of each. The video and audio quality is very good on this disc.

The instructor of this DVD is a practicing dead guitarist! He plays the Bobby part in a Dead cover band in Southern California called "Cubensis." Do a search on youtube to check them out. I saw them live and was blown away. Nate is an amazing guitarist -- not with flashy licks, but he plays the most solid chord comping that I've heard.

Here are my two gripes. Nate plays along with some jam tracks in the dvd, but it would have been nice if they had included them to practice along with. A tab booklet would help too, but he does break down every lick on the video. Also, the song list is kind of typical, Casey Jones, Friend of the Devil, Etc. Considering a serious Head is going to buy this dvd, a few deeper cuts would have been nice. Ship of Fools, Candyman, Bird Song...

In conclusion, it's great DVD for learning to play Guitar like the Dead. It's a fun watch, with a great instructor, and chock full of material. I would highly recommend it. I sincerely hope that they put out more of these DVD's.