# Accelerate your guitar playing - Tomo Fujita



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Great DVD for refining your playing. Tomo is a berklee professor and does a great job in the DVD.

I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.ca/Essential-Elements-Accelerate-Playing-Featuring/dp/B00076YPQ2/sr=8-1/qid=1168014128/ref=sr_1_1/701-6320124-7997169?ie=UTF8&s=dvd


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

I concur... there are some great exercises for improving your finger dexterity and increasing your speed.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

After reading all the glowing reviews of this DVD I bought it. I must say, I am very underwhelmed by it. Sure, there are some decent finger exercises but the presentation is boring, the exercises don't flow into any musical ideas, and there just isn't "enough" in the package.

There are other problems too. For example, while the book warns against playing with your fret hand's thumb "up" (ala Hendrix) Tomo goes ahead and uses this technique!! For a video aimed at improving technique this is a bit strange. Also, they really need a couple of different camera angles to show the fret hand in action so that you don't end up learning "new" bad habits.

The video is good for what it is, but ONLY good and I really don't understand all the hype.

TG


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Yah, you guys definately had some expectations that it was going to take you someplace different than he intended.

I see it as a foundation tool. Finding ways to apply what he teaches musically is up to you. I think it's impossible to create a DVD that will make you a better musician, at most you'll cop a bunch of cool licks from the instructor.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

You are the only other person who hasn't been gaga over this package. Great minds think alike!! None 

TG




jroberts said:


> My experience as well. A lot of fingering excercises and nothing very musical. I have no doubt that spending a lot of time with it would improve your picking technique, but I'm not sure that it would make you a better musician.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> You are the only other person who hasn't been gaga over this package. Great minds think alike!! None
> 
> TG


Or there is something in the water in northern alberta, one of the two. :banana:


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I saw it as a foundational tool too, but I didn't think it provided that great of a foundation. You get some basic exercises and then a clip of Tomo playing some wicked guitar. But why not follow the exercises with examples/lessons using those techniques? For example, "the last exercises focused on finger independence. Here is a lick I like to play that requires great independence between your x and y fingers" OR "finger independence is crucial for smoothly changing chord voicings in the following ways . . . notice how my ring finger can add 13ths, 9ths without having too move my other fingers etc etc . . ."

The slap guitar section is kind of pointless and the rythm guitar section moves way to quickly and then its just more wicked guitar playing by Tomo. 

It's not useless by any means and I have been practicing a few of the exercises, but these exercises could easily be posted on a one page website and be just as effective. If DVDs cannot make you a better musicians then why watch them?

TG







Jeff Flowerday said:


> Yah, you guys definately had some expectations that it was going to take you someplace different than he intended.
> 
> I see it as a foundation tool. Finding ways to apply what he teaches musically is up to you. I think it's impossible to create a DVD that will make you a better musician, at most you'll cop a bunch of cool licks from the instructor.


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Great DVD for refining your playing. Tomo is a berklee professor and does a great job in the DVD.
> 
> I highly recommend it.
> 
> http://www.amazon.ca/Essential-Elements-Accelerate-Playing-Featuring/dp/B00076YPQ2/sr=8-1/qid=1168014128/ref=sr_1_1/701-6320124-7997169?ie=UTF8&s=dvd


 Thank's for the link Jeff. Just ordered a copy for myself.


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## jimmy peters (Nov 29, 2006)

*speeding up*

there is a thread re "pinky pointer" ,if you are a stiff wrist player---good luck.
this is 1 reason i rest my pinky on the bottem of the bridge, it forces me to pick using my wrist,and not my arm.
i do have a very fast right hand, when i practice.


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

Jeff... does this dvd come with matching Tablature?
Khing


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

KHINGPYNN said:


> Jeff... does this dvd come with matching Tablature?
> Khing


Yes it includes written translation of his exercises etc.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

mario said:


> Thank's for the link Jeff. Just ordered a copy for myself.



So Mario, now that you have had the dvd for some time what is the verdict? As my previous review stated, there ARE some good finger exercises but I think it could have been much better.

TG


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> So Mario, now that you have had the dvd for some time what is the verdict? As my previous review stated, there ARE some good finger exercises but I think it could have been much better.
> 
> TG


 Hey TG, I really like it alot, although I guess I would agree with you that it has a lot of finger exercises more than shall we say "musical ideas". He sure is a great player!


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

mario said:


> Hey TG, I really like it alot, although I guess I would agree with you that it has a lot of finger exercises more than shall we say "musical ideas". He sure is a great player!


I was watching it again last night and his playing IS amazing: so smooth and perfect groove.

I keep going back to the finger exercises and am starting to realize how important it is to do them really slowly. My ring finger has very poor independence and has always limited my speed. It's only when I practice the exercises very slowly that I can "feel" my ring finger and consciously lower and raise it without moving my other fingers. I put my metronome at 30 and 40, where each click is on the two and four.

Sure, I can do the exercises much faster but my top speed never improves. My ring finger can only move so fast because it lacks independence, and since my pinky is flailing around to aid my ring finger, it is never in position to quickly fret the next note. These technical limitations, I think, are preventing any clean speed.

Once I slow it way down and gain some independence, I'm hoping my top end speed with suddenly increase (hoping, god I'm slow!).

TG


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

> Yes it includes written translation of his exercises etc


Thanks Jeff.

Khing


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