The world needs Jon Gomm’s video.
As I watched Jon Gomm’s new instructional video, I began to realise that this may be the best percussive guitar instructional video I’ve ever watched (and that was only at 17 mins of the 2 hour and 25 minutes).
At that point, he already broke down the best practices for percussive guitar sounds, actual movement, posture, tone production, effective practice techniques, practice philosophy – so many details to get the dynamics and musicality of contemporary percussive guitar playing.
As I progressed through the first riff, so many of the common mistakes I’ve heard myself (and many aspiring percussive guitarists) are addressed and remedies are prescribed. Yes folks, Dr. Gomm is in the house and you are in good (fingerstyle) hands.
The third riff brings me back to memories of studying with Eric Roche in the UK back in 2003. Hearing Jon explain percussive thumb slaps is very refreshing as he explains how he uses them and how the sound came into common practice. Jon also explains the various kick drum sounds that he gets, his personal preferences and why he favours some sounds.
In the fourth riff, Jon addresses the common mistakes of many percussive guitarists (I won’t share it here, you gotta watch the video to learn about those).
As I continued to watch the video, (over several sessions to experience the entire 2 hours and 25 minutes of insights), I learned so much about Jon’s approach to percussive guitar. I learned about the fine details of many different percussive sounds available on the guitar (bongo, kick, snare, rimshot, sidestick), tapping, slapping, bending, groove, harmonics, posture, fingerstyle strumming, two hand coordination, movement details and most importantly the thought process behind all this.
The special thing about this video is that Jon has essentially created 10 riffs that allow us to learn the techniques that he used in his own compositions. These compact riffs summarise the techniques he uses. The format of the video is very well thought out as well. This is the mark of an experienced performer and educator. I’m very happy that more guitarists can now experience Jon’s teaching. I still remember practice tips he shared at Thomas Leeb’s Acoustic Guitar Bootcamp years ago. I also remember fondly having the opportunity to jam with Jon and being absolutely inspired by his playing and kindness. Now, even if you haven’t met Jon in person, you can have a glimpse of him as a person beyond the amazing YouTube videos and concert footage that you may have seen.
There are so many good things about the video – the immense depth and detail that Jon goes into as he teaches the techniques, the beautifulmusical riffs he composed for the video and his charming personality with his sense of humour.
This is truly a labour of love.
With the amazing audio and video production quality courtesy of Tom Quayle, Jon Gomm has indeed opened up the door to his sonic universe for us to learn. If you’re at all interested to play percussive guitar but never tried the style, this will keep you busy for awhile. For more experienced players in the style, you may discover details that you may have overlooked especially if you’re self taught. Along with the slowed down examples, close up, detailed explanations and accompanying tab PDF, the serious percussive guitarist will have many tools to improve their playing.
All I have to say after checking out the video is that I need to learn these riffs. Thanks Jon!
Pros: Great riffs composed by Jon for this course. Great video and audio production by Tom Quayle, extremely good and clear instruction from Jon, and accompanying PDF notation with tab provides an amazing instructional experience.
Cons: None.
TLDR: I think this is the single best introductory percussive guitar course ever created (that I’ve personally experienced). If you are into this style, buy it now and start practicing.
How to Buy:
Get it from Jon himself here:
https://jongomm.com/lessons
If you get the course, please say hi to Jon for me.
I received a review copy of the course from Jon. Thank you Jon!
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