Guitar-DVD-Reviews.com Logo

Guitarist Workout - Hands of Steel - John McCarthy Page Two

harmony and theory back coverOur instructor John McCarthy doesn't talk much at all here about music theory and assumes you are ready to pick up the torch and start right in to work. They have a web site they want you to go to for support. I recommend a good scale and chord book.

A great can do attitude is something that all guitarists need but still there is a right place and a wrong place to start spending a lot of time on a consistent basis.

And if you don't have some basics down well you aren't going to be learning any campfire songs with this one. What you will learn is shredding technique which even at slow speed things still have potential to sound good if you have the equipment to emulate or approximate his sound.

John gives the exercises these fun names and plays up the speed angle and points out the specific exercise are designed to build up speed and strength in the fingers.

That's what you need to play faster. But not playing mistakes. It wont sound right anyway. In Routine III He shows us a classical exercise too which is very nice. I like a lot of what he does when he plays guitar - its fast but its not overly show off fast and has a nice sense of resolution. No flies on him!
If this is your chosen vein then put a new battery in your metronome and prepare for the fun.

    Menu: Guitarist Workout - Hands of Steel - John McCarthy
  • Ch 1: Intro
  • Ch 2: Picking Exercise
  • Ch 3: Finger frenzy
  • Ch 4: Finger Crusher
  • Ch 5: Pinky Pull off
  • Ch 6: Open string Orchestration
  • Ch 7: Minor pentatonic triplet pattern
  • Ch 8: Extreme Picking
  • Ch 9: Ultimate Speed
  • Ch 10: The Killer
  • Ch 11: Finger Crusher 2
  • Ch 12: 3rd and 4th finger stinger
  • Ch 13: My Drunken Pick
  • Ch 14: Minor pentatonic eight note patterns
  • Ch 15: Chromatic Craziness
  • Ch 16:  Advanced One Hand Rolls
  • Ch 17: Finger twister string skipper
  • Ch 18: Piston Fingers
  • Ch 19: Classical Exercise
  • Ch 20: Minor pentatonic 16th note exercise

Page One

Role Models

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. – Farrah Gray