Kim Gentes

Musicians have always understood something about learning and playing music. Moving from the use of basic constructs and components, like notes, rhythms, chords and strums, the way on to proficiency is two-fold: modeling and intrinsics. Ask any quality musician and they will tell you that understanding the instruction and mechanics of playing an instrument are just the building blocks of music. How you take those skills and apply them will develop into your style. Modeling is simply learning by example. When speaking of intrinsics in music, we are talking about the nuances that are part of the instrument and its operation, but need a veteran to really bring them out.

"Acoustic Guitar", the latest instructional DVD from Paul Baloche's Modern Worship Series, is a complete volume built on these ideas- modeling the intrinsics of playing an acoustic guitar to the average rhythm guitar player. Paul serves as your own acoustic guitar version of Yoda, taking you through all the secrets of the instrument. But unlike his Jedi Master counterpart in the movies, Paul's digital video version of your trials won't leave you frustrated or turning to the dark side. The techniques learned in this DVD are the summation of every good nuance, tip and hint that a rhythm guitar player or worship leader/guitarist will need to know and (for some of us) may have searched for years to find.

Paul starts off with simply tuning the guitar, which is the slowest part of the DVD. But don't let derail you. The first major concept Paul introduces is what he calls the "open chord" concept, something familiar to most acoustic guitarists leading contemporary worship. Paul makes clear how you can play dozens of songs in the key of E by using open faced A2-form chords across the fret board. If that sounds complicated, don't worry about it, Paul will have you in the "know" in just a few minutes with his great, personal style and patience in explaining each detail he is demonstrating. He spends a lot of time explaining, showing, exampling this method, and this is good because this one technique is enough for weeks worth of revising and enhancing your current repertoire into an uncluttered modern acoustic sound.

From there it's an X-wing fighter, rocket ship ride through 24 "chapters" in which Paul covers a blizzard of techniques. But no techniques are tossed out without an example. He painstakingly shows you exactly what to do, and always gives a song sample in which it can be used. In fact, every single technique on this DVD is accessible to the average Joe (or Luke) acoustic guitar player, save perhaps the very last topic, when our guitar teaching Yoda makes us face those dreaded barre chords. But that time you have gone through everything from finger picking, using a capo, strumming patterns, to right/left hand dampening, walkdowns, and triads. There is far too much content on this DVD to review in detail, which is due in large part to Paul's personal approach and taking time on each topic to show and explain everything. But even with the 2 hours and 30min of digital footage on this DVD, you will have material enough for many weeks of practicing and incorporating the excellent instruction communicated here. Feel free to take breaks, come back after a couple days practicing one especially pertinent concept, and just jump back in. This is exactly what instructional DVDs are supposed to be!

One thing to keep in mind is that this is not really a lesson plan or a progressively built method of learning guitar. The person most suited for this DVD is the average acoustic guitar player or worship leader. You will need understanding of what the basic open faced chords are, and how to play regular strumming patterns with them. It helps if you are familiar with how a chord is constructed, but that is not absolutely necessary. I would guess that 95% of the acoustic guitar playing worship leaders out there would greatly benefit from this DVD, even those with strong proficiency, because it will force you to re-establish all these important concepts not only in your mind, but make you practice along with Paul as he strums and hums along through every topic. And for those of you who think you are pretty much master's at this point, then I would suggest this DVD for another reason- a teaching tool. Most people who are exceedingly proficient at an instrument have little ability, if any, to help communicate their craft to people of average ability. The beauty of this, and all of Paul's resources, is that Paul is a master communicator as well as musician. You aren't talked down to and you aren't left dumbfounded in the wake of endless technical terms. It's just you and your Jedi Master of acoustic guitar (Paul) sitting down for many, many mini-session of great training.

So if you want to excel at your acoustic guitar skills, this DVD is absolutely perfect for you. If you are a master already, this DVD is exactly what will communicate what others have been asking you to show them but you have not been able to explain.

The companion instructional booklet is an excellent resource. It is a PDF downloadable file that comes with the purchase of the DVD (you will have a free link for it online once you purchase the DVD), and it is a scripted outline of the DVD from start to finish. Not only does it include every chord and progression played, but also references and content to the songs exampled too.

The "Acoustic Guitar" instructional DVD is an easy winner of our Editor's Choice Award for an exceptional resource- great job Paul! If you are a guitar player, this is a resource you really should have at least one of for your church music/worship department library. Well, I am off to practice my triads in galaxy far, far away...

Product Link: Modern Worship Series -Acoustic Guitar with Paul Baloche - Instructional DVD

Review by Kim Gentes