Learn to Play Songs of John Denver: Lesson 1-4

Growing up hearing John Denver, his songs were more of a "guilty pleasure" because of the catch pop tunes on the radio. What I did not know until recently was what a tremendously gifted guitarist he was, as well as a talented vocalist and song writer.Going beyond just "Country Roads", Denver's music is deep, complicated, and beautiful. Pete Huttlinger, an award winning fingerstyle guitarist, toured with Denver before his death. Pete is unabashadly a fan of John Denver and his love of John and the music comes through nicely on this DVD set.Although not for the beginner, if you are an "advanced" beginner, you will be able to start with one or two of the simpler songs of John Denver, as Pete moves through them pretty quickly (you will be using the pause button judiciously!) you will be assisted by the enclosed guitar tab booklet. Taken slowly so as to learn properly, these are beautiful songs, presented humbly, but with a dry sense of humor that belongs to Huttlinger. From this DVD set, I learned how deep Denver's music ran, but it also introduced me to Huttlinger---and I went from there to purchase his other teaching DVDs (on Jim Croce, and on practicing guitar) as well as Pete's musical CDs (which ever acoustic guitar player will fall in love with...especially "Naked Pop" sold here at Amazon).Homespun does a great job with clear camera angles of Pete's left and right hands, and the songs are broken down, little by little. These are like taking very expensive personal lessons, and the DVDs will take months to learn. I find this to be among the finest that Homespun has put out (along with the Songs of Bob Dylan by Happy Traum), and are not just fun to learn, but will make you a better guitarist as you work through them.

I bought this DVD so I could learn the song Country Roads better and it helped a lot. It comes with a booklet and you do need it to refer to as when you watch a DVD of someone playing, even though he explains where his fingers are, for me, it helps to read it in tab as well to make sure I got it right.Watching this DVD makes you feel like you are with a teacher and the good thing is, he did play with John Denver for a few years so you feel confident that you are learning how to play his songs correctly. If you are a beginner, I wouldn't think this is the only lesson you would need to learn to play his songs. When John plays, it doesn't sound like it is hard to play but it is. In fact, even Peter Huttlinger mentions that John's music is much like rubbing your head in one direction and your stomach in the other. It does take a lot of practice if you are not used to playing much but it is lot of fun!I would recommend this to anyone, beginnner or advanced student because you are getting a lesson by someone who really knows his music and it is really interesting to see him play up close without all the other instruments of the band around him. It's just him and the guitar and its very pleasant to listen to.

I enjoy playing the guitar and singing along, poorly I might add. Generally, I can only play the guitar chords. This DVD does a great job of unlocking the secret behind what the artist is doing. Not only does he do an exceptional job of giving behind the scenes information on what made John Denver so good, but also his mannerisms and ability to explain the songs made it easy to play songs that many of us would find difficult to do on our own. Many of these type instructional videos play the song and then play it slowly and move on. He repetitively went through the songs so you could really pick it up. Obviously, that's a credit to excellent camera work and direction. When you're as bad a player as I am, it's really helpful to have a video like this one that gives such great insight.

Pete is a great teacher and a great human being. He's very personable and knows his stuff. These lessons are clear, organized, and effective. He covers the picking patterns along with the chords. And I love that he talks about his time playing with John and how John played and wrote songs. Also, he not only includes PDF's of the tablature for each song, but includes an informative and personal introduction.

I'd long thought of buying this for a while, but at $30, was not sure. The DVD does not come with printed lyrics, NOR the tab sheet that the instructor says verbally is included. So maybe 10 years ago it would have gotten 5 stars. The instruction is good, very good, but without the ability to coordinate the actual lyrics with the guitar parts, you end up going to YouTube anyway. Though very familiar with John Denver's work, I wasn't as familiar as would have benefitted me totally from the DVD.If you don't play fingerstyle, or have never been "up the neck", you'll be vastly improved from this. I already had all the skills I needed, so the actual guitar work was not a challenge.

I now own two of Pete's John Denver DVD's. I think that in the time constraints of a DVD that he does a good job of showing how to play John's music the way he played it. If you are a begining player, this might not be for you. You might be better off getting an easy arangment book instead. There are a lot of assumtions here, like that you already know how to finger pick. But,,if you are up for the challange of learning some great music from a Denver insider, you will be greatly rewarded. John's guitar playing was all about flawless right hand technique. Go slow and practice often then go knock'em dead at open mic night!

There are quite a few songs from John Denver's catalog that I want to learn to play. Pete was a long time member of John's band, so knows the material he is teaching. Pete does a great job of instructing. He shows the parts needed to play the song and make music. Pete does not drone on forever about "put your 4th finger on the 3rd string on the 6th fret and then put your......etc." Pete also uses his understated humor and tells a story here and there about John Denver.I enjoyed the videos, learned alot from them and play a better John Denver song now. Thanks to Pete.

John Denverのファンならもちろん、そうでない方でもアコースティックギターの好きな方なら、満足できる内容だと思います。Pete HuttlingerはJohn Denverの後期のライヴでギターやマンドリンを弾いていましたが、このDVDでは丁寧に教えてくれるだけでなく、自前で歌ってみせてくれたり、楽しめる内容です。Johnのメロディーの美しさを再確認できる素晴らしいDVDだと思います。

Every guitar playing John Denver fan owes it to himself to have this video "Learn to play the songs of Songs Denver". Together with part 2, 3 and 4 they complete a very interesting series with Pete Huttlinger as an excellent teacher, who was for several years a member of John's band. He knows the minutest details of the songs, with often funny facts and figures. Remark for all the videos: they require a certain level of playing the guitar.Fun garanteed!