I am an American guitarist living in Germany, and I try to practice and learn new things every day. When I was younger, I used to try to copy licks from LPs. It was a major pain to continuously pick up the tone arm, move it back to the correct spot, set the needle down, and listen to the guitar phrase over and over, but that is how we all did it back in the day. Then cassette tapes came along, and I could rewind. That was very cool, though rewinding to the exact spot was tricky and annoying. When CDs came out, I started ripping them to my hard disk and using the Roxio Sound Editor to trim to just the parts I wanted to learn, and using repeat play to listen over and over. That was the best method yet.

However, in the past few years, more and more music instruction is available on DVD. DVDs are great because I can actually watch the hands of my favorite music teachers, and learn not just the notes, but the correct finger positions. The good news is that I can order instructional DVDs from the US watch them on my German PAL TV (it does not work the other way – European PAL DVDs will not play on US NTSC television). However, DVDs have one major disadvantage – I can’t watch them while I am driving my car or jogging in the park. But, RecordNow Music Lab Premier has a neat trick that allows me to convert my instructional DVDs into MP3s or audio CDs so I can listen to the teacher even if I can’t see him or her.

It’s easy to convert my DVDs. I put the DVD in my drive (this only works with non copy protected DVDs), and launch RecordNow. Under the Audio tab, I launch the Batch Audio Converter. I then select ‘Add tracks’ which opens the Media Selector dialog. I click on the Folders tab (if not already selected) and select the drive that includes my instructional DVD. On the right side of the Media Selector, I can click on either the entire movie or, with CTRL-click or Shift-click, specific chapters. I can preview my selection by clicking the Play button towards the bottom of Media Selector. Once I have made my selection, I click the Add button and follow the steps to import them into the Converter. After they have been added to my project, I can click the Convert button to convert them to MP3, WMA or other file formats for playback on hard disk; or I can click on Send to Portable to copy them to my iPod, MP3 player, etc.; or use RecordNow Audio CD to convert the MP3s to audio discs. (By the way, this feature is only available in RecordNow Music Lab 10 Premier and in Easy Media Creator 10, and not in the standard version or RecordNow Music Lab.)

I’ve found that it is most effective to watch and study the DVDs with guitar in hand, and then to reinforce the lessons by listening to them when I am on the go using my MP3 player.

As a result of my diligent practice routine, I have started to get more gigs in the area where I live, which is near Aachen on the western border of Germany. One night I was playing in a “Kneipe” (pub), and someone in the audience yelled, ‘Herr Griffith, you are a blues man… but a good man!’ I am even getting coverage in the local newspapers!

Apart from fame, glory and schlepping equipment late at night, playing good music provides pure joy, and a couple of musician friends told me that my guitar picking has noticeably improved recently, so I guess this new practice technique is working.