In November 2015 I bought Derryl Gabel’s Ultimate Virtuosity Mega Pack on DVD and digital download.
For several years before, I had been focused on transcribing players I admire to understand their phrasing. When it came to Allan Holdsworth, one of my absolute favourite players, this was difficult. I had no basis to understand where the phrasing came from.
I came across some video samples of Derryl’s “Outside Secrets” courses. It was clear to me that Derryl had a deep understanding of Allan’s phrasing, and had been able to incorporate that understanding into his own style, without merely becoming a mimic or a clone. It seemed that my goal had once been Derryl’s goal, and that he had achieved it. Moreoever, Derryl can teach.
Some of his other series addressed topics I was trying to further my understanding of and include in my playing. I decided to buy the Mega Pack.
I was not disappointed. Derryl’s video courses are excellent.
In November of 2017, I had a hard drive fail and I lost a lot of data, including the Mega Pack downloads. I could have ripped the DVDs myself to recover the digital versions, but that would have been a long, time consuming process. I sent Derryl an email asking if he’d be willing to send me new links to the courses I had bought. I only wanted what I’d lost, not anything that he had added to the collection since.
Derryl was kind enough to share new download links. Derryl, however, went much further. Derryl gave me full streaming access to his teaching platform on Teachable, including several courses that were not originally included in the Mega Pack.
I was very grateful, and I asked if I could leave a review anywhere to thank him. Derryl suggested a small donation for the upgrade. I felt he deserved it, but my girlfriend and I were both recently unemployed and money was a little tight at the time. Derryl did this good thing for me without expecting anything in return, and I decided I would send a donation in future when I was more financially secure.
Recently, I’ve been re-watching some of Derryl’s videos. I remembered what he had done for me.
This morning, I decided to send him a donation and an email to thank him again. I asked for nothing but a confirmation that he had received my donation.
A little while later, I received notifications that I had been given access to some courses that Derryl had released since I had last been in contact with him.
Derryl Gabel is an awesome player, teacher and person.