 |
 |
Press: Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar with Rick Ruskin |
 |
||
| Guitar Player
Magazine So brilliant at times that he seems to transcend normal approaches to the guitar... An excellent tape with very high quality audio and video. |
| - Guitar Player Magazine |
| Acoustic
Guitar Magazine Rick Ruskin's Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar is a brilliantly executed video, with excellent split-screen work. There is an accompanying music/tab/chord book, and the student will need it! The tape includes a blend of original and older cover tunes in various musical styles. Ruskin is a superb player with an almost pianolike approach to the guitar. He is a unique and powerful stylist, and the advanced fingerstyle player will find enough material in this single video to last a year or two. The guitar is clearly recorded and Ruskin's playing is flawless. |
| - Acoustic Guitar Magazine |
| Guitar School
Magazine Despite the tremendous popularity of instructional guitar videos these days, there is surprisingly very little product out there devoted entirely to the acoustic guitar. Finally, somebody is filling the void. Rick Ruskin's Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar is a two hour video lesson in technique and repertoire, featuring six beautiful, elaborate solo guitar arrangements, including the pop standards "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Georgia on My Mind" plus several original compositions. Ruskin takes you through each piece, phrase-by-phrase, discussing technical performance aspects along the way. The tape also includes a special section on developing a personal style and approach to arranging songs for solo guitar. This segment includes exercises in hammer-ons and pull-offs and playing two independent parts simultaneously. Rick's playing throughout is superb, and his explanations are clear and easy to follow. One very handy feature is the on-screen counter, which makes locating any section of the video a breeze. The tape also comes with a booklet that contains transcriptions of all six pieces. Whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, this top-notch video will give you plenty of fresh ideas and valuable insight into this fascinating style of guitar playing. |
| - Guitar School Magazine |
| Victory
Review Ruskin is one of the finest fingerstyle guitarists. His innovative playing is packed with melody, harmony, counterpoint, bass technique and all around flawless ability. He and David Schaub put together one of the best instructional aides I've seen. Included are 4 originals and 2 familiar arrangements that demonstrate the techniques that make his style so appealing. Each is taught section by section and broken down into measures. Included are clear explanations, with split screen imagery showing both right and left hand technique simultaneously - up close - so there can be no question as to what is done. His teaching is superb with step by step instruction covering problems, solutions, variations, and the techniques of alternating bass, hammers, pulls, slides, walking basses, and bass patterns. He is slow and meticulous, teaching in a manner that is encouraging and complete. The material is difficult, designed for an advanced student who can comfortably use alternating bass with accompanying melodies. Transcriptions are in standard notation and tablature. On the tape but not included in the music are other pieces, equally interesting, that Rick uses for examples. This video demonstrates that Ruskin is a truly great guitarist, and one very, very fine teacher. |
| -
Victory Review (P. Hansen)
|