I see in the FAQ that Kirk says that
Plane Talk is not for beginners. I'm not sure I would
entirely agree with that. At the time I bought
PT I had already been 'studying' guitar theory for a good year or so - background which seemed essential to understanding (and therefore being able to progress in a more logical way) with guitar.
When PT arrived I read through the book and immediately thought - well, if I'd had this a year ago, I could have skipped an entire year of wading through multiple tomes, internet sites etc, picking up a few 'jigsaw puzzle pieces' here and there. ALL the
essential theory is in the PT book - and made mind-bogglingly simple to understand. I could have grasped most of what had taken me a year to learn in just a few readings of the book, which is set out in cartoon style and conversational tone.
The DVD clearly shows how this theory fits into the practice of playing. It de-mystifies guitar playing.
OK, PT is not for beginners in the sense that it does not go into the
technique of playing guitar - but it will (IMHO) cut years of frustration out of your progress once you begin to get those techniques down. Put it this way - I would much rather have had this information at my fingertips right up front than to have gotten myself embroiled in all the fancy approaches to playing/making sense of the fretboard that I did! Then I could have 'grown up' with this knowledge, instead of trying to learn loads of scales etc only to find I didn't really need to after all.
This does not of course mean scales don't have their uses, or that you should throw away any scales/modal knowledge etc that you may have learned - just that, given this approach (and the technique, obviously) you could eventually be playing like this
My take on 'It's about Time' without any knowledge of scales at all!
So, in short I think Kirk is being exceptionally modest in declaring PT not for beginners. It may not be for some beginners - those who just wish to strum a few chords round the campfire (nothing at all wrong with that, btw). But for those who wish to understand and make good progress - IMHO PT is essential information to have as early in the piece as possible. Time and money very wisely invested!