Ultimate Rhoads

Feel free to share your reviews of any transcriptions of Randy Rhoads music, biographical books of Randy Rhoads' life and any videos or recordings of his performances etc.

If it concerns Randy and is in the public domain, we would love to hear your view of it!

Things to consider are, was the product reasonably priced, was it informative, accurate etc and most importantly enjoyable!

we look forward to your reviews.

Ian

Hi Ian

The most recent item I have acquired is Robert la Fond's book Memoirs and Memories of an Aspiring Rhoadscholar- a Year of Guitar Study with Randy Rhoads.

Robert studied a year with Randy Rhoads equiping him the guitar skills he uses today as a Guitarist in a Christian Rock band.
My initial impressions when I first got the book were that some of Randy's diagrams (many are included from Robert's lessons) may present problems. This almost turned out true until I realised Randy's string six was what I was accustomed too as string one.

This made me smile. Combined with a trusting conversational style of writing Robert explained not only the meaning of the diagrams but also the events that took place in the lessons. The realism of seeing Randy's 'scribbles' in print and Robert's explanations really began to let my imagination take hold of what it was like to have actually been sitting next to Randy.
Robert has clearly aimed the book beyond the mainstream view of Randy as Ozzy's Guitarist and ex member of Quiet Riot and conveyed Randy as an individual and a teacher.

"Randy Rhoads' legacy doesn't only lie in the number of recordings he did with Quiet Riot and later Ozzy Osbourne. Randy also left behind a legacy of teaching the guitar."

The book has a nice balance of anecdotes and musical theory and how Randy applied things like understanding key changes to the guitar.
Robert's stories of Randy's insistence of using alternative picking have also been echoed by other pupils of Randy's.

The book works as a manuel for fan, teacher and student ,or for me all three! There are some pretty interesting teaching methods like the 'musical theory of Z' as with yet another diagram Robert explains how Randy explained key changes to him!
You get a sense as a reader from what Robert shares that Randy not only saw the guitar as an open canvas but also tried to instill this type of freedome to his students.

There were many parts where Randy shows Robert the way you can play the same scale in different positions that really provide literal 'thinking outside the box'. Something guitarists can all so easily get trapped in when soloing.

While the book is a fantastic reference book and a semi biographical book of Randy's teaching it drips with heart and soul and Robert amazingly finished the book despite losing his wife and mum in such close proximity to one another.

If you want to get closer to Randy the player and teacher this book is highly recommended.

Matt

There are many great gems on Youtube with Randy as a teacher. No one has done a breakdown of these lessons so I'll be analyzing the lessons that are easy to find and listen to for your own educational purposes.

Part One: Blues Lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG4P92db ... re=related

0:50-1:43 sec. Randy explains the correct way of doing a reverse bend. He explains that you should never use just one finger (calls it "wrong form.") Use three whenever possible in order to be able to execute more than one lick with the bend. If you do use only one finger then use the correct one (ring finger or middle most likely) and not your index finger.

3:34-3:39 sec. Randy remembers he wants to demonstrate some "mellow" licks. He then executes a classical sequence of notes up the fretboard.

5:27 sec. Randy explains that the best way to "say something" on the guitar is to keep it simple. You don't need to play a lot of notes that go nowhere just to fill up the chord progression.

5:49-6:04 sec. Randy reminds the student of the blues progression which never changes in any key.

6:28-6:38 sec. Randy reminds the student to use the correct fingers when executing a certain blues lick.

7:32-9:42 sec. Randy switches the roles and plays the lead over the blues chords to demonstrate how they fit into the 12 bar blues sequence.

9:42-10:00 sec. Randy begins to improvise over the blues progression.

These private lessons are wonderful to listen to as a way to get to know Randy as a teacher. I highly recomend them. I will look at the others that are on Youtube and explain them in future posts so that at least if you are curious about them you know what they are all about.