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I bought quite a few DC music courses when I was first starting and for the most part they're great, particularly if you want insight directly from your favorite players. Also, Denis's own intro videos are really nice for the fundamentals, especially the rhythm/la pompe vid imo.
Tbh I think what really helped me the most from them was when a great player like Adrian said (paraphrasing) "these guitars are very difficult to play" or when Gonzalo bluntly stated (again paraphrasing) "you should probably move to Paris for 6 months if you want to get good" - hearing their takes on some of the stark realities was actually a great wakeup call that I needed to put as much of myself as possible into learning the genre if I was ever going to get anywhere. And my own personal stark reality is after nearly 35 years of playing guitar and the past 9 of them spent solely on converting to rest stroke, I'm probably like a 5 or 6 out of 10 now overall, (on a good day at that lol). That said, I know I'm still continually improving while loving every moment of it and even though I could level up more quickly, I'm still pretty content with where I am now.
@paulmcevoy75 really appreciate the detailed response and super in depth take on the CVH method, so glad it's helped you so much as a player - should add I've always thought your playing sounds great in everything you post so keep it up man!
I'm probably like a 5 or 6 out of 10 now overall,
Kids today would say "67". I learned that a few days ago from my daughter, lol
Regarding the CVH books/courses: buying one of his mini-courses can provide a cheaper way of getting a feel for his approach. The Jazz Blues one I found useful as it provides great phrases via video and pdfs and has a corresponding Discord section.
Incidentally does anybody know when his Book 7 on 1940s Django is due for release?
The Blues Minicourse is great!!! I did that one. There is so much material stuffed in there. For me I think it's enough 'canned' material for me to last a lifetime and then I can pepper in stuff that I learn on my own...I'm working on a Pat Metheny blues solo right now and trying to add in some of his licke to the CVH stuff. But the stuff CVH has in there is so tasty, I think I could just play those licks forever and sound good on the blues.
I think the new book is coming out at or near black Friday. He's still finishing it.
I tried the CVH books and server. It's good, but it really is for professional or semi professional musicians. Most people of the active guys in his server are pros, some even with degrees in music. There are no social events, so you never get to video call the guys. I much more prefer and recommend Robin Nolan's club, where you actually get to talk to the guys once a week.
@Phil Christiaan Van Hemert's system will make you a better player. Period.
I do play professionally - but I started about 5 years ago. I've done about every other group or course you can think of, on top of private lessons with pros. They've all had they're benefits, but CVH's approach was the quickest I've seen my skill improve. In fact, I improved so fast I got addicted to practicing and ended up hurting myself from playing too much. Here's why:
Here's the caveat - you gotta put in the time to practice. If you mostly "think" by watching videos or reading books, and don't "do" enough practicing... you'll be asking the same question 10 years from now.
It sounds a bit cult like, but I don't think you'll really get what his books can do for you until you spend like 15-20 hours on some of the set exercises with a mind to recording them and submitting them. It's not like a "smorgasbord of cool things" like you might see on a YouTube video...it's about getting really good control and facility over the basics. You absolutely have to just grind away on it. If you don't it's just a book of licks.
But it isn't fun in the hangout way, I just think it's very realistic and a quick way to get good. It's a nice community.
I don't know who has a degree. I do, from a famous school, on bass. I sucked hard at guitar for a long time, I don't think anyone would mistake me for a pro.
Edit: not a quick way to get good. A slow, good way to get great, potentially.
I have played guitar since grade-school, from Chicago blues, folk rock, flamenco, New Orleans R&B, Texas blues. I stopped playing guitar at age 50 for about 10 years after moving to back to New Orleans. I picked it up again at age 60, inspired by all things Django.
I spent time in Yakov Hotter’s courses and even enrolled in a couple of semesters of his coaching group that met weekly, and where he offered a personal monthly lesson. I memorized complete solos from the Rosenberg Academy, and I spent some quality time in Robin Nolan‘s group.
All these options gave me something valuable, but still left me looking for shortcuts, because starting at age 60, I knew time I was of the essence.
All this is to say that if there is a shortcut to rapid learning and improvement, it has been, for me, Christian Van Hemert‘s books, method, and Discord.
You’ve already read several testimonials from other players here, so you have an idea of what’s involved. I began with book 2 and spent a lot of time working those exercises, even without sending them in for evaluation. To this day, those phrases are available to me all over the neck because of the time I spent practicing them.
That’s the thing about his method and organizational approach. It’s a well worn and virtually guaranteed way to get the sound of this music from your brain to your hands without, at some point, consciously thinking about it.
I would start with sampling a couple of his numerous free videos, especially the later ones on La pompe rhythm and rest stroke picking. Even in those, he offers exercises to immediately begin absorbing the techniques. Good technique produces the sound that becomes recognizable to you as emblematic of this genre of music. When you can hear it while you’re playing, you know you’re going in the right direction. Recording yourself will also validate that you are making progress.
As stated before, the price of the book is not actually reflective of what you are purchasing. You are actually buying access to the accompanying videos and your entry into the Discord, which opens up an entire world of feedback and discussion that is very specific to any particular topic you may be pursuing. The volume of information can seem overwhelming, but the specificity of the information as organized into the various discussions and videos, is quite pointed and clear.
Even for someone like me who has chosen to pick and choose through the material in the various books, the real revelation has been the methodology of practicing and how it prepares you to improvise in this genre. But in truth, all the work you put into it only prepares you for the real proving grounds: performance.
Here’s where the payoff really begins. Performance is a whole different animal. Anyone can play beautifully at home. Your next step is to see how you do in a jam. Your real test comes on a stage, and this is where the result of all those hours of practice comes in. You can’t be thinking too much and you have no opportunity to repeat and correct mistakes when you are performing. You have to be there and in the moment. That’s when you find that if you can relax your body and your mind, all those hours of practicing give you the ability to play and express yourself freely. I’m sorry to say, though, that for most people, it takes a long time to feel comfortable on a stage. It certainly did for me.
I began studying this music in the evening while I was still working. I spent a lot of time with it during Covid. I retired a few years ago and have devoted more hours to daily practice. It’s been a luxury, but I’m running out of time.
Yet, at age 71, last week, my band backed up Duved Dunayevsky at Bacchanal in New Orleans. I jammed with him and Russell Welch and Luca Pino at the monthly jam we host and held my own with them. I played a brunch gig later that week in a quintet that included Russell Welch, who complimented my accurate rendition of Django’s intro to “J’attendrai .“
I’m extremely critical of myself, but I’ve managed to have something to show for the hours of practice and effort I’ve put in. Don’t be discouraged by what’s needed to learn and play this music. I’ll never be as good as our guitar heroes, but, every now and then, even I can bring forth a little musical magic.
Also, as if to answer this question more directly, Christiaan will be offering a free online intro lesson to his method on Sunday, November 16. Here’s the link to register:
https://forms.gle/5LGch598fvnqPpR26
One way to interpret your post would be “I looked at that method, but all the people who used it are really good.” The question is, does it require a really good person to do the method, or is it that the method works so well it helped those players get that good?