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Topic: Anyone Want to Make An Instructional Video??? |
Casey Lowmiller
From:
Kansas
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Posted 26 Jul 2006 5:58 pm |
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I'm not sure where to put this so I thought that this looks like a good place.
I've purchased several instructional videos from "professionals" who charge an arm & a leg for their product. Unfortunately, after spending my hard earned cash, I notice the lack of quality, care & features on instructional videos. I don't know how many times I've had this happen...almost all the videos I have purchased could be placed in this category.
I don't mean to rag or badmouth people who have made them...I'm thankful that they at least took the time to make them & share their knowledge with everyone. I'm just disappointed in the quality of these pricey videos & I know I can make a high quality one.
Does anyone want to make a high quality instructional video???
If so, email me & we can make something awesome. If I could play steel good, I would make it myself.
Casey
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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 26 Jul 2006 7:40 pm
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I am indebted to the talented players that have taken the time to produce and release instructional material on video. However, I will ever know why they cannot edit out pauses in the monologue, mistakes in explanation and other flubs as if they only had one chance to do it. That always mystifies me.
Jeff Newman knew how to make the most solid, professional video material. Man, that guy knew how to light a fire and spread the addiction to the steel guitar. He projected a confidence that made you feel like the pedal steel guitar was the most noble and coolest instrument on the planet. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 1:47 am
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Casey,
I'm still waiting for all those customizable knockoff steels you were going to produce.
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Casey Lowmiller
From:
Kansas
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 6:57 am
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Chris,
I'm glad that you noticed all the screwups & pauses that are in "professional" videos. Some of them seem like they were just shot out back & thought out live & unrehearsed. I've seen some pretty bad ones.
Bill-I am still working on the steel idea. It looks like I am getting ready to move here after awhile & I will be much closer to where I need to be to manufacture them my way.
Casey
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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 7:01 am
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Yes Jeff's videos are very professional, and technically complete (as with the multiple camera angles in the single frame).
This type of video is much less difficult to produce and edit today that it was when Jeff made them. Still, unless the "instructor" also owns and operates the video equipment and editing suite, the studio and edit bay costs (to make a final cut) are not trivial.
For a recent promotional video my associate took 8 hours of video to drill it down to a 12-1/2 minute final cut. Used DPS Velocity and on big PC. (As a backup we use Adobe Premier on a Reel Time board.) That video was "broadcast quality" video, which is not what you get from a $400 video camera from Walmart.
Anyone you know got 900 gigabytes live on their PC? That's just for the video editing storage. [This message was edited by Ray Minich on 27 July 2006 at 08:06 AM.] |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 7:13 am
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I look at it this way..the instructor is in the middle of a two minute long spoken word segment explaining how to do a lick, ...he says "then string five, no I'm sorry i meant string four". Now thats a clam if you will, but these guys not being professional actors or spokespersons, i imagine that was the best take they could get probably after many tries to boot, so I forgive....If it was a major studio big budget film and Dennis Hopper screwed up a line i would be like "fix that!". I think alot of the stuff on these videos that the instructors are tryin to teach is second nature to them, so to call out every note they are playing in a lick would be difficult at best. They just play it as they have a hundred million times before, they dont think..."string four, now string five"...it muscle memory, its like walking...if you gotta explain first put your one foot forward now shift your weight onto that foot and swing your other arm out to balance, man thats hard to explain well wihtou the occasional clam.
I agree tho that some arent filmed well/dont show the fretboard etc. [This message was edited by Ben Jones on 27 July 2006 at 08:18 AM.] |
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Casey Lowmiller
From:
Kansas
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 7:40 am
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Jeff's video's are great...they are some of the best ones I've seen & they are well thought out.
Depending on how they are done nowadays, you can make a great video for cheap & fairly fast.
The costs nowadays, depending on how you do it, you can shoot & edit stuff pretty cheaply & still have it professional quality. Especially with todays technology.
I'm not sure why someone would have to take 8 hours of video to make a 12.5 minute video...as a professional, that sounds like overkill.
DPS Velocity is an alright program...it somehow creeped into being considered a "professional" program...and it shouldn't of. Personally, I've always used the Big-3.
With the right stuff, you can get professional quality video with a "$400 video camera from Wal- Mart.
As far as gigs go, Velocity & most PC programs use up alot more space than Mac based stuff. I have a 250 gig external I can squeeze like 10+ hours on it real easily. I could probably make it 15 hours. That's just on one drive...I have 4 or 5 all together.
Mac is still the way to go when it comes to video
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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!
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Casey Lowmiller
From:
Kansas
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 10:43 am
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I've had quite a few positive emails about this topic.
Thanks for everyones input...it's nice to see that some people have noticed the lack of quality/the need for better produced videos.
I will be working up a game plan here shortly & will hopefully be getting started shortly on this project.
Casey
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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 11:34 am
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| Worst instructional video ever? The one from Will Ray of the Hellecasters! Awesome guitar player but,,,,,,,,,wow! I threw it away. Too painful to watch! Sorry Will! |
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Willis Vanderberg
From:
Petoskey Mi
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 12:12 pm
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Casey:
I can understand where you are coming from. I try to do a little of this teaching thing and have used a video camera to help it along.
I would like to add this. I find that a lot of good pickers don't know what grip they are using. You say grab five, six, and eight and they are lost. Even looking at the board it takes them a while to figure it out. Now if you want to really learn whats going on, try and describe what you are playing.I find that even simple two string grips are not easy for everyone to grasp.This is why scales are so important.
Don't just learn the lick, but think it through in your mind and know what you are playing.I like to play the lesson, then break it down in segments and then play it again. It seems repetitious at first but if you are the one looking at the video, slow and repeat is the best answer.
This is of course my biased opinion and may not work for anyone at all..
Old Bud |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 2:34 pm
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| good point...SLOW and REPEAT please. Its hard to learn when the licks just whiz by at light speed and you got to get up from the steel and hit rewind every five seconds with finger picks on (wish my computer dvd player had a remote!) |
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Casey Lowmiller
From:
Kansas
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Posted 27 Jul 2006 3:35 pm
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Old Bud & Ben,
I have noticed the same thing you've noticed...it really sucks to have to hit rewind & play & rewind & play & so on. I've bought a few good courses and alot more bad ones that fly right through stuff without explaining stuff...I'm about to give my VHS/DVD combo deck a freakin' breakdown from rewinding, playing & fast forwarding all of the time. The pause button will surely give out anyday now!!!
Not to mention ones where the steel is plenty loud but the instructor isn't. You either have to crank up the T.V. & rattle the speakers out of it with the steel part so you can actually hear the instructor or hit pause & crank the volume & then hit play to hear them speak.
Maybe I'm a perfectionist, a t.v. pro-duction snob or just a demanding consumer...
but I happen to believe that if you spend $20+ on a DVD it should be good where you don't have to crank up the volume, turn it back down, rewind & fastforward a ton to try to figure out a simple lick.
One dvd set, that I thankfully purchased used, is absolutely terrible. Basically, it appears as if they just transferred a tape over to a DVD...not real menus & it's not easy to navigate...just hit the play button & fast forward alot to get where you need to go. I was disappointed in the video, but thankful I didn't buy it full price.
People need to take the time to care & produce a quality product. Imagine if you went to a huge concert and they didn't have a good sound system & stuff was off balance & you couldn't hear the steel worth a darn & couldn't see the steel either...you wouldn't be happy.
When I went to see Johnny Cash in concert, I went there to SEE Johnny Cash & HEAR Johnny Cash. When I buy an instructional steel DVD I want to HEAR the instructor & HEAR the steel clearly & SEE what the instructor is doing.
Sure they are doing us a great service my putting this material out there for us to learn...but they are also doing us a great disservice by producing poor quality videos that slow down the learning process...not to mention charging alot of money for them.
Casey
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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!
[This message was edited by Casey Lowmiller on 27 July 2006 at 04:36 PM.] |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 28 Jul 2006 9:56 am
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I look forward to seeing your product, Casey.
The problem is we are a very small market. I think most instructional material producers made little, if any profit.
There are so many variables involved, and not much agreement. You will always have people that say it's too advanced, or too basic; too fast or too slow; too traditional, or not traditional enough, etc., etc.
These folks are all correct. What's best for one is wrong for another.
I see weaknesses in all the materials I've used, but I also appreciate them for their strenghts.
The most inovative DVDs that I have come across are Joe Wright's recent efforts, using 5 cameras. There is little, or no, explaination, but with my DVD controller I can select exactly what I want to see, and loop on it.
Players have to do the work, seeking perfection in learning materials won't do it. |
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Marc Friedland
From:
Fort Collins, CO
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Posted 28 Jul 2006 11:47 am
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Casey,
Here’s an example I think may apply to your situation. I supplied a student with charts of various scales and how to practice them. The bottom line was he didn’t, and said he couldn’t see the connection between learning the scales and being able to play the cool stuff that he wanted to be able to play. Instead, he would have me play along to different recordings, and when I played something that caught his attention, we would stop and he would then video tape me playing that particular riff along with the music. Then I would play it again very slowly without the music playing, explaining it in precise detail. I would then say, “you know this is almost exactly what I’ve already written out for you in the scales chart, and if you study and practice those, you’ll be able to come up with your own riffs similar to this.” He then said he would make an attempt to spend more time with the charts, but still chooses to capture me explaining particular licks in detail on the video camera.
I am no where near being a master of the instrument, and I realize my geographic location is not near you, but if you would like ---
You’re welcome to videotape me playing and practicing various scales applying them to music that’s playing, and also very slowly, explaining in depth, exactly what I am doing.
I would not require any financial compensation.
Marc |
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Dr. Hugh Jeffreys
From:
Southaven, MS, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2006 7:25 am
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| I have had dozens of eMails asking for a video, but at this point, I just don't have time. I do plan to make one sometime later. Currently, my technique is in a process of change because I'm trying to adapt a new method. Also, there seems to be only a few players who are interested in jazz steel as compared to the overall membership. j |
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