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Errol Earl. He da man!
Originally Posted by djg
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11-29-2019 08:34 AM
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Peter Farrell is a friend of mine and he's a close friend of George Benson. Peter has studied with benson for years and benson approached him as the best person to put forth his methodology. How about, instead of tearing him down we support a brother who is out there doing it, trying to make a living playing the music we love ?
Here's some great music with peter and adam rogers. He's a brilliant player and teacher. Benson wouldn't have partnered with him otherwise.
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Jack, I don't see many - if any - comments "tearing him down". He's clearly a first-class player, without question, but it must be said that few people here know of him as a player, and his books - pdfs - are way beyond the expense of any other "brother who is out there doing it". Therefore many view it as a bit of a gamble to spend hard-earned cash on someone they haven't learned to trust. Certainly, I made no disparaging remarks, and now I've heard this video there is no doubt in mind that he is a top player. I'd be very interested in buying the books if they were even half the price, and I think that's the thrust of what most people are saying - that he would sell a lot more copies and probably make as much if not more money from them as he might now be getting.
Actually, I was waiting for you to chime in here, as you have said good words about him before. I wish him well. As I said earlier, they might well be worth it if Benson is your man, and you lock yourself in the woodshed with just these books.
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Perry Hughes is a first class player in his own right, but he’s been playing like George since the early 70’s. Glad you mentioned him.
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In the Facebook lessons Peter Farrell talks about this and says that Benson didnt like so much to play «the blues» per se, but wanted to play more «bluesy» if that makes sense. Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt
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yes, expression vs. form Originally Posted by Bambus123
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Benson sounds as great using his thumb as with a pick. Why? Because he plays who he is.
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He does? Originally Posted by paul.trapanese
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I think so. It’s his feel. Always was. He’s a happy player. Some guys are heady, some somber, he’s happy! Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt
He does?
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I believe book 6 is the one with the magic decoder ring and/ or secret sauce to play So What (and other modal tunes) like George Benson... Originally Posted by Gabor
And I notice there's a lot of stuff from the contents page that I don't think I've seen anywhere else; but it's a bit expensive for such a short book. Maybe I would think differently if I had actually learnt all of the stuff in the preceding books since stuff listed in the contents pages is mostly familiar from the contents pages of other jazz guitar books although I haven't actually learnt it... Having said that I may cave in and buy one of the individual chapters or one of the combos...
Could somebody based in the US post what the prices are in US dollars? I'm wondering if they got the US dollars/ pounds Stirling exchange rate backwards. Some tech on the website does an i18n thing and detects which country you're in and quotes the prices in what it thinks are the currency you use. So you can't opt to pay in US dollars if you are located in the UK when accessing the website. (And I've tried using a proxy...)
By the way, in contradiction to what somebody posted, this is not a one time availability of the books - it's a supposedly "sneak preview" for one week (I'm not sure why that's a thing) and the books will be "officially released" some time next year (albeit at a completely unknown date). When I asked on Facebook, Peter Farrell said that the prices will be the same when the books re-appear next year,
William
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I certainly haven't torn him down. A friend of mine from here took Skype lessons with Peter and raved about them. I have no doubt of his ability. None. Originally Posted by jzucker
But the prices for this material strike many of us as unusually high. (Esp as they are just pdfs, no audio files.) That's not a critique of Peter's playing or teaching or his person.
Frankly, I can't afford to support him in this endavor right now. (And I've been looking forward to this for a few years now, since I first started hearing about the George Benson Institute.)
I wish Peter all the best.
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Hopefully, Peter Farrell managed to get that trick - "playing who you are" - into his nine volume series. Nixon or somebody said "The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made". (Actually, according to various sources it was somebody called Jean Giraudoux), Originally Posted by paul.trapanese
William
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Ha! Faking sincerity! That’s great! I like it! Originally Posted by WVNicholson
But seriously, I’m all into drawing from players technique and ideas to add to my scope as a player, but the great players are great because they sound like themselves. And the weird quirks like picking technique are something they stumbled on in the process. It wasn’t deliberate. Metheny, Benson, Martino, Wes etc ...
All off the norm for picking.
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11-29-2019, 06:28 PM #64joelf Guest
What's the point---even for a beginning to intermediate player? George Benson himself plays by ear, not 'method', and you're getting something second-hand.
Use your faves only as an initial step to 'speaking' in your own voice or face a barren artistic landscape...
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Looking at the prices of different chapters sold separately, we can say that some are worth more , that means that those ones are also real important in terms of knowledge I think.
nobody tear down Peter, he's an awesome player, I was in one of his facebook group and I learned a lot of things through his videos, I think the price are expensive yes, especially for only pdf ( had it been with some videos with some explanations , that would be different ,this is 2019, almost 2020, now we are so used to have audio or video that goes with music books).
but I'm really curious about the content because what he showed in his videos is deep and the guys knows what he talks about.
who, knows, might get one and one chapter ( related to the videos I got from facebook).
but I still think it's expensive.
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Okay, so I just attempted to buy the chapter on picking from volume 3; but at the end of the purchasing process I got a bunch of errors about the billing address being missing when there was no space on the form to enter the billing address. This also happened with me logged into an account (with my billing address and other details) that I created on the website when I re-attempted to make the same purchase. I have to say this stuff just works on many websites that look a lot less polished,
William
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I just thought I should mention that I was unable to get it to work with 3 different web browsers on my Mac; but I was eventually able to get it to work by using the web browser Google Chrome running in Windows on a virtual machine on the Mac. So the website may not be particularly Mac friendly, Originally Posted by WVNicholson
William
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Sigh. It's all a bit sad. Many had high hopes for this project.
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wow really? Originally Posted by WVNicholson
that's too bad...
I'm sure the the content is top notch.
I'm just not so sure about the 8 books in stock though when it's ebooks ( I know it's marketing strategy for making it urgent before it's gone).
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today there is a vast array of teaching/learning material for musicians..and other art forms..the net is packed with vids of every type of guitar styles on all levels..beginner to advanced..some with very good teachers and some with top players..I'm sure some of us on this forum remember when Micky Baker books were the only show in town for jazz guitar..
at some point I realized "hey I can play.." and over the years I have assimulated licks for many top players..Benson being one..a couple of his signature octave riffs and chord runs..and thats all I want to know about his style..same for many others..I have a few Albert King licks and some Steely Dan guitar things..and lots from random sources and of course my own
I have a stack of books and printed material that are for reference these days..and my daily practice is a review of basic to advanced stuff..today it was triads in whole..half..and minor third steps..and trying to make it musical..
On this forum there are some very talented players...some that could (and have) write their own book..and many have the ability to do so..what I am saying is I feel many of us know far more than we may realize..and we are teachers as well as students...and I have learned from you guys..music and beyond...so this being a thankful season...I say thank you
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For that sort of price, I would want some variation in the cover photographs. Besides, I don’t like Farrell's hand on Benson’s shoulder – it looks as if Farrell has some power over Benson. And the sleeves of Farrell’s jacket are too long. I will add it to my growing collection of awkward music-book covers. Originally Posted by Dioxic
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The chapter about picking looks reasonably interesting. It's a bit early to give it a proper review as I have a lot of stuff to work on at the moment (including working through a book about picking by Desi Serna which looks like it will be my main practice resource on the topic - supplemented by the more expensive George Benson method book chapter I just bought and Troy Grady materials and maybe this other guy Chris Brooks, although his stuff is a bit Yngwie focussed...). There were some extra pages that I hadn't expected that were interesting - about George Benson and Peter Farrell and also two other guys - Bill Moio and Filipe Faria - who were on the project (not sure in what capacity - co-authors and/ or editors) although not credited on the books' covers. (That sounds bad; but some of the big music book publishers like Hal Leonard never credit the authors on the cover, at least in particular book series, particularly if the author is somebody else writing content about a particular performer), Originally Posted by WVNicholson
William
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not really interested by the book cover, to me it's about what is inside of it. Originally Posted by WVNicholson
thanks William for the small review!
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Some quick thoughts for those that’re considering purchasing a book (or more) after they release.
Definitely some great content, but there’s a decent amount of fingering errors / picking notation errors. I’ve found four so far... for the price...
Additionally, the PDFs are restricted, so you can’t print them. If you’re a computer whizz, you can find a way to get around this, but again for the price... I’d expect to be able to do whatever I want with the material. If I payed for it, it’s my book after all.
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As some of you know I've been Peter's student for 2 years now and I have little bit different angle to view these books than other people.
Since I know what is Peter's teaching about and what are his capabilities I can only say that I had enormously high expectations for these books. Especially if we consider the price tag. So, I decided to buy 2 Complementary books about the rhythm. I already had lessons with Peter about all other topics. When I downloaded the books and opened them they reminded me somewhat on Factorial rhythm books from Mick Goodrick. But, right after reading trough first couple of pages I could how magical these books are. I've spent 10 days so far with them and now I can freely say that these books are missing link in jazz pedagogy that opens secrets of internalization of rhythm and phrasing into yourself and your playing. So, what is it all about in the two books:
First, Peter and George shows you the correct syllables for each note groupings (whole, half, eight, sexxteen, tuplets etc).
Than they give you rhytmical excercises with those note groupings, first one by one than mixed. There are also rhytmic displacement exercises with a very intuitive approach. Oh, man.
So far, simple right. But, the magic begins when you realise that those syllables and thise rhythms are carefully choosen by Peter and George. And man, do they sound exciting.
Excercises should be practiced without instrument (altough you can surely use your instrument too) in various ways explained by these two gentelmans. And there lives another layer of magic. Practicing these excercises with metronome is one of the obvious ways. Magic starts when you practice them along your favourite songs. This way you immediately engrain the phrasing of your favourite players since you follow their playing but trough your excercise. After 10 days with these excercises I can see myself in very near future making very simple pentatonic into some incredibly phrased lines beyond my previous comprehension.
For me, these two books are the best books I ever encountered in jazz education. Absolute gold.
Forth the price, oh yeah. These informations are priceless.
Another thing about the price. Since I know what is Peter's teaching about I also know what to expect from the books. I've transcribed gazillion lines from his lessons, but having them already transcribed it would ease my practice enormously. And altough they are priced extremely high I actually can only say that content they offer is totally priceless. Call me crazy, but I would rather buy these books than new guitar.
George Benson is a player that is one of the biggest name in jazz. I think that people still don't realize how big and unique his approach is. How deep is his harmonic knowlege, how fast he connects things, how incredibly he phrases every sentence hes playing etc. There is a ton of things I could write about this that Peter showed me and I still could not touch 1% of what Peter knows. And here is where Peter's role shines. He managed to put this enormous knowledge into a method books that translate so well to average player. Also, it should be mentioned that some amazing cats, that I can't name, took skype lessons with Peter.
Later, I will write about my understanding of the approach/method they came with. Bear with me, if you will...
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