Hello Good People – David Taub here from Next Level Guitar. Tim and I are really stoked to bring our unique teaching techniques to you in Full Screen DVD format. We break down popular songs and make them simple and fun. With a little practice you can be playing the hits you love just like on the radio. Amaze your family and friends, join a band, have fun, and ROCK ON!

In this two-hour DVD I break down and explain in our easy to digest format the all time classic song AMERICAN PIE by Don McLean. This is a fantastic beginner song that you can be playing and rocking out in a very short time - and it is so much fun to play. The song is broken down and explained and demonstrated at slow and regular speeds. If you are familiar with our teaching methods you know that we take songs sections one at a time and break them down into smaller sections, explaining every piece as we go along. Then we show you how to tie everything together – so you are playing the song fast, fun, and easy! We also have on-screen text, multiple camera angles and close ups, and written out strum patterns and progressions - all to make the learning process even easier and more fun.

Along with the song lesson you also get full on technique lessons. So you not only get to learn all the parts of the song, but you also get full on guitar technique lessons explaining the necessary techniques to play this song and cop the song feel. You can then take the techniques you learn and blast them across all your playing. And when we say “full song lesson” we mean it – we teach ALL the song parts – all verses and choruses, rhythms, timing, strumming and strum patterns, picking patterns, arpeggiations, embellishments, multiple chord fingerings, and much more. Plus we transcribe the piano parts and play them on guitar and teach you how to get that real “balladesque” feel like in piano verses – you will absolutely love this DVD!

Also on this DVD you also get four bonus lessons. These bonus lessons will really improve your chord changing and get you ready to tackle more complex songs. I go through a series of technique lessons on chords, chord changing techniques, strumming, rhythm, and timing to get you ready to play songs quickly. Then we use the song as a vehicle to practice everything that you are learning on the DVD in a song format. YOU CAN DO IT!

Keep in mind that this DVD is way more than just a song lesson. We help teach guitar by using popular songs as vehicles to get your playing to the next level. Below is the complete DVD menu and synopsis of all the lessons on this DVD – feel free to email us any questions and rock on!
-David Taub

DVD Introduction – In this introduction David discusses the coming lesson format, how to navigate through the DVD, and also how we are going to piece the song together in three parts. This will help to get you playing this song in the fastest and most efficient manner. He also talks about the gear and tuning used in the DVD. David also discusses the brilliant lyrical content of the song and different interpretations of the metaphorical content of the lyrics. He also discusses the different rhythms and strums you will be learning throughout the DVD and how to go about practicing the material on this DVD for maximum practice time efficiency.

Chord Library - Here David takes you in on a very tight shot on the neck and goes over each chord that you will need to play in the song. You will see the chord names and fret numbers flash on the screen with our on-screen text. David also teaches you chord playing techniques to get you playing and changing the chords in the fastest and most efficient manner. He also teaches all about string muting to help clean up your chords, the most efficient fingering to utilize to voice the chords, and how to switch from one to the next quickly in time. You will be learning multiple chord fingerings and which ones will work best in the song to keep your playing fluid. David also sprinkles in some music theory and also gives plenty of additional playing tips along the way.

Song Structure - In this section David discusses how to go about navigating the DVD to learn the song in the fastest and most efficient manner. He goes over the structure of the song’s verses and choruses and how all the song parts attach to one another. The piano parts are arranged for guitar and David explains how to let the chords ring out to capture that piano feel. David also gives some killer practice tips and suggestions as you move forward in your guitar journey.

Verses & Chorus – this section is broken into three sub-sections:

Verses 1 & 6 – In this section David breaks down the first and last verses of the song. These are the verses where we arrange the piano parts for guitar. David teaches how to get that piano feel of the song by arpeggiating and letting the chords ring out. All chords, progressions, and strum patterns are demonstrated at slow and regular speeds. As well as all are displayed with on-screen text to make learning fast and easy. David also teaches the additional embellishments used in verse six. Play along with David and you will be rocking this out in no time!

Chorus - In this section you will learn all the chords, progressions, strum patterns, and rhythms used in the chorus sections of the song. David breaks down the rhythms and timing to make it easy and fun. The on-screen text of the strum patterns really ties it all together. David also gives you practice examples so you can get proficient at the more intricate rhythmic parts and strums. You get all the parts played at slow and regular speeds as well as many playing tips along the way.

Verses 2,3,4,5 - In this section David explains all the remaining verses in the song. He breaks down all the rhythms and strum patterns to get you playing the song fast. He also gives more practice exercises to help you get proficient at these changes and rhythms. Everything is broken down and played at slow and regular speeds. All progressions, chords, and strums are displayed with on-screen text. YOU CAN DO IT!

Whole Song Practice Track - In this section you get a great practice exercise of David playing the entire song the whole way through at record tempo. This is a great practice tool as you only hear the guitar and David plays the rhythms in the whole song at record speed with on screen text marking all the parts of the song. Here you can tie everything together rhythmically that you have learned to this point – what an invaluable practice tool! Play along with David and master this classic song!

Bonus Lessons - On this DVD you also get four bonus lessons:

Chord Changing Fundamentals - In this lesson David goes over good chord changing fundamentals. You have to have a good solid foundation to build upon and David will help get you there. He goes over fret hand technique in depth to ensure your fundamentals are strong. David discusses and demonstrates finger position, thump positioning, pinky finger positioning, wrist positioning, and more. He also goes over good chord changing and finger movement fundamentals. He teaches how to properly practice good chord change mechanics and to analyze chord changes to ensure you are utilizing all the proper techniques.

Chord Changing Techniques - In this lesson David takes you through some critical chord changing techniques to help continue to build that solid foundation and to make chord changing as easy as possible. So many students make the mistake of not utilizing the proper chord changing techniques – and that makes guitar frustrating. We take that frustration away and make guitar fun and easy. Up close shots of the neck and on screen text help tie it all together. David explains in depth proper chord changing techniques and gives you a bunch of chord changing exercises so you can hone your skills and get proficient at these techniques in this fastest and most efficient manner.

Long Progression practice I and II - In these two lessons David teaches you how to improve and practice your chord changing, rhythm, timing, and strumming using what he calls a “Long Progression”. These progressions are practice exercises that will move your playing to the next level. Master these harder exercises with many, many, changes and it will make songs seem like cake! These will really move your playing forward in a fast manner.