Adam Rafferty Teaches
How To Play The Music of The JACKSON FIVE
Adam Rafferty is a true artist who is constantly honing his craft, and his latest instructional DVD “Adam Rafferty Teaches How To Play The Music of The Jackson Five” demonstrates that he has made yet another leap in his arranging and playing, and perhaps most of all in his teaching.
I must admit that when I heard he was doing Jackson Five songs instead of the later music of Michael Jackson I was surprised and a bit disappointed – I was sure that these early songs could not be as interesting as his later work, and I am glad to hear that I was completely wrong. In Adam’s brilliant arrangements these songs sound fresh and exciting, and reveal the musical underpinning that made the Jackson Five such a huge success.
This DVD shows that Adam Rafferty has refined his playing, arranging, and teaching to a degree that earns him a place in the upper echelon of guitarists. He has a golden ear for picking songs that will make great solo guitar arrangements, as well for bringing out the very best possibilities for the song while arranging it. It was a joy just listening to his performances of these masterful arrangements.
While Adam has been garnering a large fan base across the globe for his playing and arranging, he has made equally huge steps in his teaching. Watching him teach these arrangements on the DVD inspired me to dub him “The World’s Most Patient Guitar Teacher.” His note-by-note breakdown of each song will ensure that anyone with the drive to learn any of these songs will be successful. Beyond the four songs, Adam shares a great variety of tips and techniques that only a master guitarist would know. You will be able to use these right away, to improve your playing of songs you already know.
I was particularly impressed with how Adam explains the most complex parts of the arrangement: he plays them; tells you what he is doing; breaks down the rhythm (often singing it) and shows you how to count it; adds in the notes; explains how the melody fits over top; plays the melody; and then combines it all, slowly at first and finally up to speed. If you are thinking of putting out your own instructional DVD, buy this one first and learn how a master does it!
The first thing you will want to do is play through Adam's performances of the four beautiful arrangements and choose one to learn. As Adam rightly explains, you will learn fastest and best by concentrating on one song at a time. That is just one of many excellent tips on learning and practising songs that you will pick up.
The first song is a simply beautiful arrangement of I’ll Be There. Adam brings out the harmonic richness of the song with wonderfully placed chords that allow the melody to sing right through.
My only qualm with this song, and with the entire DVD for that matter, is in the music and tab notation when the guitar is capoed. Part of Adam’s beautiful arrangement is his placement of the song with a capo on the third fret. This gives the song an almost ethereal lightness which really suits it. The downside is the same one that plagues any arrangement with a capo: how do you notate the music? One option, as Adam has chosen here, is to write the music at the sounding pitch, and to show the tab notation at the actual location. The problem is that the guitarist must constantly adjust to the capo, keeping in mind that everything is in third position or higher. The tab can be confusing for the same reason.
The other option is little better. You could choose to write the notation and tab relative to the capo, meaning that the third fret is now the “open string” and each fret number is frets above the capo. This means that all of the fret markers are now in the “wrong” place and that the music sounds “too high” for what is written.
This seems like an impossible conundrum, but fortunately Adam Rafferty does a great job of showing you exactly how to play it, note-by-note, and you can learn the whole thing from his video presentation. In fact, there is so much extra information in the video lesson that even ace sight-readers will want to view it to learn all the little subtleties that make this such a great arrangement. If you need to check a fingering or chord, it is easy enough to compensate with the notation.
The rest of the songs are just as well done: a soulful version of “Never Can Say Goodbye”; a funky “I Want You Back”; and a sassy “ABC.” Each one has new tips and tricks along with the same superbly detailed instruction.
Technically, the video on this DVD is just great; clear, with nice angles that let you see exactly what Adam is playing, and fades that never interfere with viewing. The sound is terrific.
Adam Rafferty has produced an amazing educational DVD that combines brilliant arrangements of classic songs, note-perfect performances, and the most meticulous instruction you will find anywhere. I highly recommend this DVD to all guitarists. Even if you don’t think you are a Jackson Five fan, this DVD might just prove you wrong!
You can see a preview and buy this great DVD directly from Adam's web site