The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    For this week only Peter Farrell is offering for sale ebooks of the George Benson Method....

    Home - Peter Farrell Guitar

    Peter is a good guy, great teacher, and provides great content.. but the price of these books is kind of outrageous in my opinion. They start at £80 and go up to £206... when all is said and done you’re going to spend well over $1,000 USD when purchasing all the volumes..

    Any thoughts on this?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    What thoughts could it be?

    Today "I buy, therefore I am" is the basic motto of an average human being.

  4. #3

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    I thought George Benson is in charge to know and teach “The George Benson Method”, especially for $1000...
    OK I saw the picture, they know each other. So what?

  5. #4

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    Expensive indeed, especially as he does not seem to have employed a proof reader. Vol. 8 is for Advanced Bues, whatever they are...

    On the other hand, George is one of the greatest ever jazz guitar players, and I've been led to believe Peter is also a great player. If you buy an Ibanez Benson model and these books, and lock yourself in the woodshed for a decade, that might well be money well spent.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Vol. 8 is for Advanced Bues, whatever they are...
    Apparently it is Catalan for ‘pimples’, derived from the Latin ‘bubo’.

  7. #6

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    I dropped him a message about the typo, and got a reply from an administrator thanking me, adding they well get it fixed asap.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dioxic
    For this week only Peter Farrell is offering for sale ebooks of the George Benson Method....

    Home - Peter Farrell Guitar

    Peter is a good guy, great teacher, and provides great content.. but the price of these books is kind of outrageous in my opinion. They start at £80 and go up to £206... when all is said and done you’re going to spend well over $1,000 USD when purchasing all the volumes..

    Any thoughts on this?
    I saw that too. The prices seem steep to me too.
    Peter knows George. Peter has George's blessing to teach the George Benson method. It's legit. But man, those prices!
    Too rich for my blood.

  9. #8

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    Vol. 8 is for Advanced Bues”

    This is not just like a typo, what everybody can make, for example in this forum.
    Instead this is a very bad message, saying “nobody cares”, no one read this title, no one read the site, no one feels it care.


  10. #9

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    I just checked. I have 30 Truefire courses plus the Tim Lerch course pre-ordered, numerous books, and a subscription to Frank Vignola's Truefire channel. I still play like $hit.

    I don't think these George Benson books would be any help to me. But I still find myself thinking, "What secrets do these books hold? They must contain the magic bullet to warrant these exorbitant prices." Then I come to my senses and realize that I don't need any more books. I need something else like higher quality practice. Lot's of it.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    I saw that too. The prices seem steep to me too.
    Peter knows George. Peter has George's blessing to teach the George Benson method. It's legit. But man, those prices!
    Too rich for my blood.
    I was not questioning it is legit. I just feel it is not authentic, it is too cheap commercial attitude to come out with George Benson’s label what we know since half century written by a guy who’s name I know since today 10AM (could be my bad). Also the other bad signs, that no one noticed or cared so far about a typo in a title, and the high price points that the priority is here to produce short term income, instead of establishing value.

    I searched for Peter Farrell, and I liked his playing, still this book serie stinks a bit for me, (IMHO)

  12. #11

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    Gabor, Peter has a high reputation in his own right, and I believe he would make a great teacher. I can't afford his books or his Skype fees, but if I had the money spare then his teaching/books would be a consideration if I wanted to play in the Benson style.

  13. #12
    I've looked at his Facebook group lessons etc, with interaction with Peter. Anyway, I'd curious to know how close this is in structure to his lesson materials? Not cheap, but he seems to have a lot of people interested and willing...

  14. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Gabor, Peter has a high reputation in his own right, and I believe he would make a great teacher. I can't afford his books or his Skype fees, but if I had the money spare then his teaching/books would be a consideration if I wanted to play in the Benson style.
    I’ve tried Peter’s lessons and I think he’s a great teacher. But I think these prices are a little outrageous.. they’re more than any other set of codified lesson materials from some of the best players in the world. From pat Metheny, to mick goodrick, to Tim Miller. Peter’s benefit is that he’s the only person that has GB’s ear so to speak and has learned directly from the man himself... but he’s gouging everyone for the privilege.

    Generally presenting lesson material is about striking a balance between earning money and making it affordable so that people can actually benefit from your teachings. Such ridiculously high prices, coupled with a very obvious spelling error, and the fact that he’s offering it for “one week only”, suggests that this is more about the money than the content or making it available to students at an affordable price.
    Last edited by Dioxic; 11-25-2019 at 01:30 PM.

  15. #14

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    Even though these volumes are huge, they are probably around 5x as expensive as your typical guitar book in terms of cents per page.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dioxic
    I’ve tried Peter’s lessons and I think he’s a great teacher. But I think these prices are a little outrageous.. they’re more than any other set of codified lesson materials from some of the best players in the world. From pat Metheny, to mick goodrick, to Tim Miller. Peter’s benefit is that he’s the only person that has GB’s ear so to speak and has learned directly from the man himself... but he’s gouging everyone for the privilege.

    Generally presenting lesson material is about striking a balance between earning money and making it affordable so that people can actually benefit from your teachings. Such ridiculously high prices, coupled with a very obvious spelling error, and the fact that he’s offering it for “one week only”, suggests that this is more about the money than the content or making it available to students at an affordable price.
    There's a marketing strategy that says if you charge a very high price for something a certain segment of the market is going to perceive a greater value in the product than something similar but cheaper. There's an added benefit that few people who buy a high priced product are going to publicly say they don't think the product was worth what they paid. They'd be admitting they made a mistake and other's might judge them as not being very wise. There's also this thing where something is only available for a limited time to create urgency. It's 90% half mental, as a famous American once said, but it apparently works.

    The reality is that probably everything you need to know is available for free on the Internet. However, "free" lessens the perceived value. I plead guilty to this way of thinking and I'm sure Truefire appreciates it.

  17. #16

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    I have been with Peters Facebook lessons for one year now, and he really knows his things. No doubt that he is the right guy to teach Bensons method. Each lesson contains so much information that it takes me many weeks to digest and memorize it.

    But I agree, the prices was many times higher than I expected. And that is just for digital copies, not real paper books. It would have been nice to have the books as an addition to the Facebook lessons, but I am not sure if I think they are worth it.

  18. #17

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    Yes, I'd expect pdfs to be cheaper. Books too, for that matter. Not for me.

  19. #18

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    «Charging $60 or $70 for an eBook sounds pretty absurd, right? And I'm safely guessing is mostly unheard of these days.
    Heck, I think charging $25 for an eBook could even raise a few eyebrows - What do you think though?
    Perhaps one could justify selling their eBook at such a price if they truly believed the content inside to be worth its weight in Gold.
    Maybe, but I don't know. Personally, I've never paid anything more than around $15 for an eBook...
    Anyway, whatever you think, here's the thing:
    eBooks are not meant to cost big bucks.»

    How To Price Your eBook: What To Consider Before Pricing Up Your eBook

  20. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Bambus123
    «Charging $60 or $70 for an eBook sounds pretty absurd, right? And I'm safely guessing is mostly unheard of these days.
    Heck, I think charging $25 for an eBook could even raise a few eyebrows - What do you think though?
    Perhaps one could justify selling their eBook at such a price if they truly believed the content inside to be worth its weight in Gold.
    Maybe, but I don't know. Personally, I've never paid anything more than around $15 for an eBook...
    Anyway, whatever you think, here's the thing:
    eBooks are not meant to cost big bucks.»

    How To Price Your eBook: What To Consider Before Pricing Up Your eBook
    Thats actually the cheapest book. The most expensive one is ~$265 USD... for an eBook...

    not even Barry Harris’ material costs this much

  21. #20

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    The thought just passed my mind that maybe he doesn't want to sell any books...stranger things have happened.

  22. #21

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    I’m really interested in those books because I’m quite sure there are a lot of great concepts to learn .

    But I will never pay this amount of money for ebooks .

    I was expecting something high like a hundred a book but adding everything is quite a budget for sure .

    not questioning peter about his abilities , the guy is a beast , and the only one came that close to GB .

    but for now I’ll pass

  23. #22

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    For $1000 you could probably buy George Benson for half an hour.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Expensive indeed, especially as he does not seem to have employed a proof reader. Vol. 8 is for Advanced Bues, whatever they are...

    On the other hand, George is one of the greatest ever jazz guitar players, and I've been led to believe Peter is also a great player. If you buy an Ibanez Benson model and these books, and lock yourself in the woodshed for a decade, that might well be money well spent.
    Rob...only if you study Bensons CTI period playing..the guitarist..not the singer...

  25. #24

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    Seems that it depends also on the personal preferences, objectives and goals, absorptive capacity, talent and maybe age of the student to justify the investment. For some it could be justified, for others less, for others not at all.

    At 67, still trying to squeeze all I can -with not that much success- from emerit professor's Wes Montgomery books I own, keep me busy and make me happy: Mel Bay Presents Wes Montgomery 17.95; Best of Wes Montgomery by Wolf Marshall 22.95; WM Artist Transcriptions for Guitar 17: Mel Bay WM The Early Years 22,95; Mel Bay WM Best of Boss Guitar 14,95; Hal Leonard WM Guitar Anthology 24,99. Money investment: USD 120,79. Time investment: an average ot three/four hours weekly during the last three decades. Rewards: half life of enjoyment.

    Of course I would like to study and incorporate GB into my playing. I own ALL George Benson's material, be it in vynils, cassettes, or CDs. And listen to him since the late 60s.

    So when Farrell's offer emerged I was interested, but being realistic I concluded that I don´t have the life time ahead, money and talent to embark into such intense high level studies.

    That being said, a USD 1000 investment that could change my playing wouldn't scare me, should I decide to take the challenge and stay put studying. So again for me the cost-benefit would depend on each individual and not only related to the cost of the instruction.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by icheme
    I’m really interested in those books because I’m quite sure there are a lot of great concepts to learn .

    But I will never pay this amount of money for ebooks .

    I was expecting something high like a hundred a book but adding everything is quite a budget for sure .

    not questioning peter about his abilities , the guy is a beast , and the only one came that close to GB .

    but for now I’ll pass

    tbh I think all these methods are great marketing thing that is similar to 'Learn Italian in 100 days'... people today are obsessed with an idea that for the money there is always an expert, and a book.. the most comprehensive.
    It seems that when they get interested in something the first thing they do is looking for a book (whatever it is, growing up kids, making a CV etc.)

    there are better or worse methods, more practical or more theoretical approaches etc. but they all have more or less the same basics...

    The problem is often that consumers do not go further than than first 10-15 pages and switch to another method... (I myself felt it too)

    you say ''there are a lot of great concepts to learn ''... of course I never saw the book but I heard GB a lot, he is one of my all -time favourites but I do not remember anything extremely mysterious in what he is doing...
    most of his charm is in groove, phrasing... but what could be those fancy secret concepts that would suddenly enlighten a student?
    We are all more less musicians we have ears (and thanks to youtube also eyes) - what is so especially secret about GB concepts?

    Besides, GB is the name. Very well-known also beyond jazz.
    It is easier to sell GB method than Frank Vignola's I believe.
    But looking at the titles of the volumes we see all the same things that we see anywhere: modes, scales, chords, melodic minor.... etc.


    The only exception is the book about GB technique.


    Disclaimer: I am not against books per se, if I have a chance I enjoy going/playing through different methods just for fun (mostly borrowing from someone) and I do not expect any miracles... just fun to know what good players think about music.