Review: Mark Tremonti - The Sound and the Story Guitar Instruction ...

by Jon

This DVD is an interesting take on instructional DVD’s as it offers not only lessons from Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti but also guest lessons from Michael Angelo Batio, Troy Stetina, Rusty Cooley, Myles Kennedy and Bill Pick. But aside from the extra guest lessons there are also in-depth interviews with the man himself as well as a tour of his touring rig, from amps to effects to guitars which I always love to see. The lessons are broken up into sections such as Vibrato, Legato and Picking all of which Mark is a master, his picking and legato speed is pretty amazing. There are also breakdowns of 8 complete solos from Alter Bridge’s Blackbird album. In all there are 3 hours of footage in total on this DVD including live footage and alternate camera angles on selected lessons. The DVD also comes with a TAB booklet to help you play along with Mark’s examples and compositions. Mark also takes the chance to talk about his signature wah pedal, the Morley Tremonti Wah and of course his signature guitars from Paul Reed Smith which is a very cool looking guitar, I’ve always been a fan of the PRS Singlecut models.

My only criticism is the section on open tunings for acoustic guitar. While I think teaching open tunings is certainly useful especially for composition inspiration Mark’s fingerstyle technique is, how can I put this politely, quirky. I have been classically trained and had my right hand technique corrected when I started my music degree at the Birmingham Conservatoire which at the time was tedious but absolutely necessary. Mark’s use of only his thumb and 1st finger is very limiting and I think it should have had some mention of correct technique and maybe not a close up camera angle, remember this is an instructional DVD and kids learn by example.

Aside from this small criticism this is an excellent DVD and an interesting format, you certainly get your money’s worth for $39.95 and if you are an Alter Bridge fan you get plenty of footage and insight into Mark’s career.

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