Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Best Way To Improve Your Technique
Comment: John shows his warm-up exercises, stretching exercises, speed and accuracy techniques and exercises, sweep picking, etc. It has helped me so much in my playing. I highly recommend this video to anyone at any level of playing ability. There isn't anything you couldn't learn from this video.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rock Discipline - John Petrucci
Comment: This video is a must for any guitar player whishing to improve their technique. It covers everything from warming up to sweep picking to sub-dividing the beat and also how to increase your speed. This is not a video of "hey look at me show off" like other videos I've seen, and it also covers areas like compositional writing and how to improve standard chord progressions. There are demonstrations of the examples and the video is better than any other book or video that I have ever seen on improving your technique. If you think that this video would just be on shredding then you are very much mistaken. This video shows you how good John Petrucci really is, and he is fantastic. He is, in my mind, joint 1st place with Steve Vai. I recommend everyone to check this video out and also his band Dream Theater. It really is that good.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Techniques from a master technician
Comment: I imagine most people visiting this page already know about John Petrucci and his technical expertise when it comes to playing guitar. For the uninitiated he started playing guitar when he was 12 (which would mean he had 16 years experience when this video first came out in 1995), before eventually going on to become guitarist with the highly respected and premier prog metal band Dream Theater. He has also participated in various DT side-projects including Liquid Tension Experiment and Explorers Club. He is renowned for being able to play at a speed which positively defies belief (and usually leaves people wondering how anyone can possibly move their fingers so fast). Aside from his blistering speed however, he also plays with finesse and feel in equal measure, and can handle just about any musical style you care to mention. Incidentally, you don't have to be a fan of any of the aforementioned bands as none of their songs are featured to any great degree. There are, however, some concert clips of John soloing either to demonstrate a previous point or to provide a natural break between one section and the next. He also talks briefly about bands and guitarists that have influenced him.One thing that beginning guitarists should note is that there is one longish section towards the end which requires some amount of musical theory - good chord knowledge at the very least - and if you don't have any then you will probably be left completely bewildered during that particular section. However, this isn't a criticism of the tape itself, since anyone endeavouring to be an accomplished musician will ultimately have to acquire this knowledge at some point anyway, and it doesn't pretend to be a lesson in musical theory.
There are many reasons to commend the tape, aside from the fact that the picture quality is good; it's well edited; and well presented.
- You get a healthy 2 hours worth of instruction. A very pleasant surprise as one might normally expect only an hour at best. It's nice not to be ripped off in that respect. There is also an accompanying booklet.
- The presentational style is a personal one. This isn't a third-party tape using John's name purely as an endorsement. What you have is the man himself, talking in a relaxed, easy manner to camera. You feel like you are having a friendly one-to-one guitar lesson with a modest, pleasant guy. In addition, he never talks down to the viewer and doesn't use the tape as a self-publicising ego-trip.
- Although I got the feeling this tape is probably aimed at players who already have some experience, there is still something for every guitarist, even if you are a complete beginner. The "warm up" exercises (principally designed to improve finger suppleness and stretching capability) were a surprise and something that had never occurred to me before.
- Almost everything that he plays by way of demonstration is played at a speed slow enough for even beginners to follow without too much trouble.
- One exception to the above is the section on improving speed and accuracy which, by definition, involves progressively quicker playing. He recommends practicing with the aid of a metronome, and demonstrates this in a methodical and logical manner.
- Techniques for building up long solos from "fragments" of shorter soloing ideas are discussed and taken to a logical conclusion (he eventually plays all the fragments together).
- There is a fascinating section on how to develop more subtle chords from a basic power chord, leading into examples of how to split up some chords over 2 tracks to add more colour and depth, resulting in a more appealing overall sound.
- He demonstrates pull-offs, hammer-ons, arpeggio, legato, sweep picking, and string skipping techniques (amongst plenty of other things). Anticipating one of the most common questions from guitar fans he also takes time out for a couple of minutes to detail all the equipment that he uses (right down to the brand of pick).
To summarise, if you have aspirations towards guitar playing or already play and are simply looking for technique tips and ideas then this tape is a gem. It's fascinating to watch even if you don't have a guitar in front of you just to see how a master guitarist goes about his craft. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: found results within two days of first viewing!
Comment: John Petrucci is my all time favorite guitar player so once i saw this video I had to own it, even though its high price. This was my first video and I'm sure I won't need another one for a while. I was amazed by the speed of his playing on which I had heard on previous DT albums and now I was able to see him in action, just watching him play was worth the price. But the video included all of his secrets to his spectacular playing, and a book with just about everything he plays notated with notation and tab. In the video he really emphasizes the importance of streching and not injuring yourself when playing. He shows how to increse speeds with a metronome to play faster. He talks about legato techniques, Sweep picking, chordal techniques, learning and building solos or songs in fragments, and also warm-up excersises used in practicing, and much more. It also includes information on his musical experience and influences and other information. This video definatley a VERY HELPFUL video and i think any guitar player would get so much information from it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: BROUGHT ME FROM MEDIOCRE TO IMPRESSIVE
Comment: IVE BEEN STUDYING GUITAR FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS AND WE ALL KNOW THERES PLATEAUS YOU REACH ,SOME FOR UNDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME,THIS VIDEO WITH PRACTICE OF 1 TO 2 STRICT HOURS A EVERY OTHER DAY HAS BROUGHT MY PLAYING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.SENSE OF TIME AND SPEED WHEN AND WHERE NOT TO USE IT,HOW TO SPICE UP THE OLD POWER CHORD AND ARRANGMENTS NOT TO MENTION TAPPING,SWEEP PICKING,CROSS STRING PICKING,AND MORE....IVE GOT OVER 12 VIDEOS AND IF I HAD ONE TO BUY THIS WOULD BE IT......
