Learn to Play the Songs of Jim Croce; Guitar Accompaniment and Techniques DVD

After spending many years trying to play the songs of Jim Croce with absolutely NO success, this DVD was amazing. As a young boy, I first realized I wanted to play guitar AND to play it like Jim and Maury due to Jim's albums.... so having learned the first three songs has been the fulfillment of a life-long dream. (I'm 42).Pete accurately repoduces the sound of Jim and Maury's music, no doubt about it. His skill is absolutely fantastic. Overall, I recommend this dvd to anybody who wants to learn Jim's music pretty much verbatim. In this, the video is without equal.If you buy this DVD and aren't too familiar with fingerpicking patterns, then I offer you this, it's what I've had to do with the chorus of "Photographs and Memories" (even though I've been picking for years): get the feel for it by listening, and then rewind to the part you want to learn. Pause the video and move forward frame by frame. While Pete is an AWESOME fingerpicker, his teaching is fair overall and there are times when he doesn't communicate what's going on.I'm half way through the video and I'm learning "I got a name". I've been practicing daily for about a month and can now pretty much repoduce Jim's sound on "I'll have to say I love you in a song", "New York's not my home" and "Photographs and Memories". I'm having to do the above frame by frame DVD technique in order to learn "I've got a name." This part is the only drawback to the DVD.If it helps any, I've got Pete's second video on learning to play the music of Jim Croce on it's way. Even with the annoying frame by frame issue, I'd order a third installment of "How to play the songs of Jim Croce" by Pete Huttlinger if he were to produce one. Nobody else really comes close to teaching how to repoduce Jim's sound, and I've been looking hard for quite some time.

I grew up listening to Jim Croce's heartfelt, genuine sounding, every man's kind of music as a kid. I always wanted to play his unique, mostly fingerpicking style. I recently bought the first Jim Croce DVD by Pete Huttlinger and ate it up. This one continues with some of the lesser known, but still quite beautiful and interesting songs.Pete is laid back and a super instructor/player. He walks you through the various songs at different rates, talking a bit about the piece and at times giving you a touch of music theory. For me, it's Zen for the soul just to watch.The transcriptions are close to the originals, but Pete changes them at times to get the better sound, especially since you don't have Maury(Jim's phenomenal back-up acoustic guitar)to fill it in. Some of Maury's licks are included on this DVD. The lyrics are not. Pete will sometimes croak out part of the song to show you how it matches up.Cameras film both hands, and the sheet music booklet, in Tab and regular music notation, which was on paper in the #1 DVD box, is now downloadable from the disc for viewing or print out. Being computer illiterate, I had difficulty downloading it and e-mailed the address they provided and got immediate help.Overall, these songs are intermediate level, some harder than others. I'd say, in general, this DVD challenges one more than the first; however, anyone, if they put their mind to it and slowly practice and toughen up their hands, can learn these wonderful pieces. My one question: Where's "You don't Mess Around with Jim" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"? Are they too much strumming to be included?

I love Jim Croce, and Pete Huttlinger does an absolutely super job showing how to play the mostly fingerpicking style of this great artist.Pete's manner is laid back and quite congenial. He talks about Jim and his great accompaniest both tragically gone in 1973. There's a reverence and love for their work by Pete, and he really seems to enjoy teaching it. I watched without playing at first, totally fascinated.The camera shows both hands simultaneously. Pete demonstrates the very accurate compositions at full speed, then broken down, constantly giving you instruction on fingering and how the piece was composed. He throws in a bit of music theory, but it's not important. The pieces are intermediate in nature, but I would say, that if you put your mind and determination to a song as a beginner you'll learn it. Just take your time; let your fingers toughen up and your brain loosen up.The sheet music included with the dvd(Folded up in the case) is in tablature and traditional script. No lyrics, but Pete will sing portions to show you how it matches with the playing. The nice part is that you can go over it and over it as much as you like- way cheaper than private lessons!

I have played guitar for years, but not always at a very high level. I'm probably an intermediate player or a little higher now. My last big jump in ability I attribute to Pete Huttlinger's teaching. I had done some finger picking before, but it was all pattern; very little deviation from a pattern, and this I had learned from a John Denver songbook that showed the pattern for each song. With Huttlinger's DVDs, I have been able to make the jump to playing at a much higher level. I own the John Denver level 1; both Croce DVDs, and the Gordon Lightfoot one. Pete takes you through step-by-step and always brings you back to the part of the song he's teaching to tie in the material, and this is something that other teachers don't alwasy do very well. I've bought several DVDs from other instructors and Pete's teaching is unmatched. Very easy to learn from, as he is an excellent teacher. Good to have some experience with rudimentary finger-picking with this DVD, but it's not that hard to get that. Playing Croce's material at the level that Pete teaches it is very gratifying. Can't recommend this highly enough. Buy it and enjoy getting to that next level. Thanks for some great DVDs, Pete!

Bought for my son as a present and he was over the moon, especially as it has Maury's parts along with Jim's. The only slight drawback is that the region is not stated on the DVD or in the Amazon 'blurb', so I expected it to be playable on my son's TV or PC, which it is not. I am UK-based and the only device this disc will play on is his bedroom's dvd player, which is not ideal. Even so, I am giving it 5 stars for the pleasure on my son's face when he opened it.

Ich war zuerst etwas skeptisch, da ich die DVD aus den USA bestellen musste. Aber nach den ersten 5 Minuten war mir klar, dass ist "die ultimative Jim Croce Lern-DVD". Ich habe ja schon recht viel von seinen Songs selbst rausgefriemelt (how to) und ausprobiert, jedoch hier bekommt man eine super gute Video-Anleitung von Pete Huttlinger ohne ein mittleres Studium machen zu müssen. Alles wird sehr gut erklärt!!!Songs die erklärt werden sind: I'll have to say I love You, New York's not my home, Photographs and Memories, I got a name, These Dreams, Operator, bad bad leroy brown und Time in a bottle. Also die besten Stücke von Jim Croce.In der DVD-Hülle befindet sich auch ein Heftchen mit Tabulaturen, Akkorden und Noten. Wer kein Englisch kann sollte auch keine Bedenken haben, die DVD zu kaufen, denn Herr Huttlinger erklärt es auch optisch sehr gut.Thanks Mr. Pete Huttlinger!

Really good dvd as I have a few tutorial DAD'S by Mr huttlinger this came in really good condition deserves a 5 star rating very pleased customer

Der Artikel hält was er verspricht. Die Tabs und das Video sind leicht verstänbdlich und in der Praxis sehr leicht anzuwenden!Es macht riesigen Spass damit zu arbeiten.