[justinthyme]

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!

[randomaire]

Mystified by the Campfire... kind of like that.

[Kirk Lorange]

Thanks for that, Ian!

[nowhere-man]

I wholeheartedly agree with your well written comments Ian. I also spent months trawling the net, and got completely bogged down with all the material I collected.
It almost became an obsession, collecting all that 'essential' material.

Too much material = too much confusion.

Kirk's PT unravels the mystery and paves the way to becoming focused on what really matters.
Focus is what a lot of beginners lack the most IMO.
PT really is an eye-opener, a 'holy grail' type work. Thanks Kirk.

Now if only you could do the same for my technique (fretting, stretching, etc), or rather lack of....

[krissovo]

Yep, I agree 100% with the whole of that statement. I wish I had it 5 months ago!

[juslikeplayin]

I have to admit that I was a bit reluctant at first to by PT.After a few visits to the order form I finally hit the purchase button and two weeks later got it.You were not kidding about it taking longer to get to Canada!
Anyways,I've tried to learn about chords and scales in the past and just could'nt get into it.It just seemed pointless and boring ,so I never stuck with it even though I knew that somehow it was important for me to get better.I have'nt quite finished the first reading , but I have to say that I've already learned a lot actually understand what was going on.It will take some work to remember everything , but at least I'm getting it as I read on.I have'nt seen the DVD yet ,as I'm going to go through the book a couple of times,but I'm sure it's going to teach me a lot more being able to actually see the material.
Like Justinthyme says,I think this PT package is for ANYONE wanting to learn about chords and scales,regardless of their level of playing.
I am so glad I bought this product and would recommend it to anyone out there interested in buying it.Well worth the money.Believe me,this is coming from a skeptical cheapskate and I don't regret a thing.
Thank you Kirk for a unique product and thanks again for commenting on my song.You don't know how much that meant to me.
Ferd

[Stratrat]

While the playing itself is above beginner level, PT presents music theory in a very easy-to-grasp way that really de-mystifies it. I would actually recommend it to any beginner purely for that reason. No, it doesn't have chord charts, fretboard diagrams, etc. - but while you're going about learning those things from other sources, you can use the theory in PT to understand how those chords are constructed, what makes them minor, 7th, etc., and why certain chords are usually found in relation to each other in a song. It also makes learning the fretboard much easier than having to progress up each string fret by fret "counting" the notes off.

The concepts for improvisation are beyond beginner level - I'm far from fully grasping them yet - but there's a LOT of information in PT that I wish I'd had right when I was starting out. It presents everything in a much simpler and more logical format than a lot of the other books/instruction programs I've tried.

[mike90191959]

Yep, wish I had it four years ago

[hb]

Ditto to all of the above. I had only been playing for slightly less than a year when I bought PT. I still cannot waltz up and down the fretboard improvising at the speed of sound, but if I need a chord up on the fretboard, I can sure find it. I think it has saved me a lot of frustration in learning chords and friendly notes.
hb

[Stratrat]

I agree, hb. I think the information is of great benefit....rather than just learning/memorizing the finger patterns of chords, it gives you understanding of why they're fingered that way. Even if you don't know an A7 chord, for example, you can quickly figure it out anyplace on the neck because you know how the chord is constructed and what you need to do to make an A major into an A7. Comes in very handy.

[littlechick]

LOL! Like Justlikeplayin I am a skeptical cheapskate also, but seeing all these great reviews makes me want to take a chance with this product too! I've been teaching myself for about a year now and I'd sure like to be able to really understand what I'm doing so that I can make some real progress!

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi, littlechick. Sounds like you'd really benefit from the lesson PT teaches. Between the book, the DVD, the CD lesson and the forum there's not much you won't know about it all.