Brent Mason: Nashville Chops And Western Swing Guitar

This will only be of practical use to more advanced, experienced musicians. That already have a firm understanding of how to improvise over diatonic and non-diatonic harmonic progressions. At minimum some functional understanding of the Modes of the major scale and how/where to find and them on the fingerboard.I’d also have the inversions of dominant 7 major/minor7, dim7, & half diminished 7th chords under my fingers as well as the intervals they contain (1-2-5/2-5-1 or, 1-b3-5-b7/5-b7-1-b3) their arpeggios in the caged system shapes and and the major, minor pentatonic, min/maj blues scales and the hybrid country scale (sometimes called the dominant hybrid blues scale or hexagon- atonic major b3rd..)

Allow me to first say - I'm giving this five stars because this is the most in-depth I've ever seen Brent talk about his playing. That might be laughable to some, and I understand that because he's not a teacher. In fact, this probably the one of the worst executions of a guitar instructional video that I've seen..Having said that, the ideas are fantastic and span several genres and applications. It's going to be a pain deciphering every little thing Brent did in the video since, half the time, it seemed like he was improvising. But, I will because there's just so much good stuff here. If you're a fan of Brent's playing, I do recommend it.

I bought the digital streaming version, BAD move! Amazon won't let me download it and he plays everything at 170bpm almost as if he's trying to be sarcastic. I can transcribe the material, but it would be a LOT easier with a copy I could play through a half-decent media player with a speed function. Again he plays everything so fast it's almost like he's trying to be a comical parody of bad teachers. There are a lot of good riffs on this, but buy the physical copy, NOT the streaming version. This video is extremely disorganized and it's obvious there wasn't any significant forethought, planning, or outlining put into the presentation of material, just prematurely jumping from one flight of ideation to another. If you are dedicated to the transcription of his style then this is worth having, but unless you are a competent player with patience for bad videos, then you may want to pass on this. I would give it zero stars for it's extremely poor execution of instruction, but since I enjoy Brent Mason's playing I give it one tiny star.

I’ve owned this product for years in other formats. I like to go back every once in a while and just see if I can pick up a lick or idea these days that I couldn’t play in years earlier. This video has always been a real treasure for me. I would say you need to know a few things about the guitar before picking this one up. moderate level

Brent Mason, unbelievable player with a wealth of knowledge to teach. This is a great DVD.

One of the best players in any genre.I disagree with many of the other reviews here,although I will concede,it's certainly not for beginnners.If you're an above intermediate guitarist who needs a kickstart now and then,or you just need something tangible to shoot for I highly recommend this DVD. I'm not sure than Mr Masons tongue tied verbal style is of that much relevance;he speaks volumes through his guitar and there's always the slo-mo/rewind buttons + the tab! Real players looking to upgrade their game will cherish the investment-I know I have-and there's a LOT here for budding jazzers(OK-the western swing section could have benefitted from a little more explanation re. how he constructs his lines).The jazz playing sounds like Charlie Christian on steroids-and it's all done fingerstyle! Brent Mason has produced that rare beast;the teaching video with playing that is so accomplished it almost qualifies as an entertainment video! Other reviewers have gripes about this DVD. I wouldn't be without it!

Incredibly playing from an amazing guitarist . Intermediate and advanced players will get a lot of ideas and information from the dvd. Not for beginners .

Top notch!!!! Best book I’ve seen in a long time. Excell

If ever there was justification for the notion that talent comes from a place we mortals can never understand, this DVD proves it - and I include Brent Mason himself.What is beyond doubt is that Brent possesses a rare ability to play guitar - in several styles. But after viewing this 'instructional' DVD, what is also beyond doubt is that Brent has absolutely no idea where his talent comes from or how to convey it to others.Any novice player who thinks they can buy this as a means to learn Country, Jazz or Western Swing should think again. They should go away and spend several years with simpler material.There's a huge amount of inspirational (and for many - myself included- quite depressing) material on this DVD and sure, you will pick up a few tricks that can be incorporated into your own style, but Brent seems most of the time to be quite bemused by his own technical ability and unable to tell you how it's done or even play it slowly.It does seem that the filming was done after several all-night sessions and occasionally Brent seems to be on the point of falling asleep, but buy the DVD to (almost) see how the true master of these genres does it.By the way, the film should be 18 (or R) rated as the shirt the bass player is wearing borders on obscene...

Arguably the most recorded guitarist in the world today - and this DVD only scratches the surface of this incredible player's tricks of the trade. It will take you a while to work up to certain areas if you're new to hybrid picking (I've only just started working on the technique over the last couple of months or so), but it's well worth it. Check out his website for more info on him, and a quick search on Google, you'd be surprised how many times you have actually heard his great playing. Often heard, but not often seen outside of the country music circle - Brent Mason is a demon of a guitarist and a phenomenal musician.

Brent Mason is obviously a brilliant guitarist.The DVD opens with a short track that made me think, "I wanna do that!".In Part 1 Brent plays through a lot of country licks, and lots of these are written out in the little booklet - which is a bit fiddly to read and has a few awkard page turns.As a tutor DVD don't expect to be 'spoonfed'. You have to make sense of the licks and think what keys they're in etc. There is a really good option that plays just the licks in half speed with the pitch unaffected.If you listen and watch VERY carefully you can pick out lots more that Brent plays. The DVD could have been produced better with more of a structure. Brent looks a bit like he hasn't slept for a couple of days and then was locked in a room with camera running as he rambles while playing some amazing licks.Part 2 shows all the stacks of equipment he uses in a studio, but doesn't really explain what any of it does.Part 3 is a real bonus and shows you some great jazz licks. Again the structure is bit random for a tutor video. The last bit is a trio playing an up tempo jazz blues that sounds a bit like a Charlie Parker tune.You'll get as much out of this DVD as you put in! Decipher what Brent is on about and work out the licks and you'll learn some amazing stuff.Good luck!

charming early vid of brent who's always classy - bit too much western swing for my taste

Looking to learn some new chops? - you'll love this!!Great service - great DVD albeit it produced many years ago.