Why bother with a guitar teacher???

[jzucker]

Lessons are good for *THIS* reason: You *NEVER* know what direction your music will take you. As an example, my son studied jazz with me and learned to play over Giant Steps and other bop tunes. I also taught him blues/rock stuff and encouraged him to copy SRV. Later, he studied classical guitar.

NOW...He is a songwriter. Plays almost exclusively acoustic guitar and sings. However, his guitar playing is so great that there's virtually nothing he can't play on the acoustic which makes his accompaniments so much more full and interesting than if he had just learned to strum chords. For example, the SRV and Classical stuff has melded into a style where he combines slapping and popping stuff along with bluesy, folksy chordal accompaniment.

The reason a teacher is important (IMO) is that inexperienced players often make the mistake of thinking that the current thing they are into is the only thing they'll ever want to play. A teacher expands your horizons and gives you the tools to make something unique down the road BEYOND what your initial goals might have been.

Jaz

[willhutch]

This and many other reasons.

Good point, Jack.

[cram]

I totally agree.
It set the tone for my life (I had a great teacher while I was young).
He taught me how to pay attention to music like I hadn't known.

[gennation]

Great point.

I tell my son (who's an accomplished player too) that he should be absorbing more than just a couple of styles/players of music because his sights will change as he grows.

I tell him..."you think of me as someone would listens to nothing but Mclaughlin, but in reality when I was your age I listened to the exact same things you do (he's into classic rock) and it wasn't until I was 20 years old and playing for 8 years that I first heard John play, that's how much your sight can change too."

Him being 16 now, I tell him A LOT is going to change for him by the time he's 20. Also, that he's in his prime playing/practicing/learning years too and that he should carve off the biggest piece of meat while he's at this stage cause changing directions at an older age (if only due to the lack of available time) isn't that easy.

So I show him a lot of different styles and techniques as well as players, even stage presence aspects, so he molded nice and round and can stick out when ever he needs to.

[elgalad]

Definitely agree, but at the same time it's important to have a teacher that can roll with the punches as you develop your musical tastes. No use having a strict blues teacher if you start moving toward jazz, or vice versa.

[cugel]

well the way i like to look at it...
tiger woods cannot be touched and HE takes daily lessons with his coach and would never go anywhere w/o him.

i suck at guitar so i figure i could also benefit from them
lessons arent exactly "cool" or rock and roll but they are a great experience
with the right teacher

[donostia13]

I still have the hand-written lessons given to me by my first teacher 23 years ago; he made an impression on me and enabled me to get a proper, focused start.

I've forgotten your name all these years later, man, but thanks! Thanks for the math tutoring too (oh, Mom )...

[KRosser]

Originally Posted by jzucker

Lessons are good for *THIS* reason: You *NEVER* know what direction your music will take you. As an example, my son studied jazz with me and learned to play over Giant Steps and other bop tunes. I also taught him blues/rock stuff and encouraged him to copy SRV. Later, he studied classical guitar.

NOW...He is a songwriter. Plays almost exclusively acoustic guitar and sings. However, his guitar playing is so great that there's virtually nothing he can't play on the acoustic which makes his accompaniments so much more full and interesting than if he had just learned to strum chords. For example, the SRV and Classical stuff has melded into a style where he combines slapping and popping stuff along with bluesy, folksy chordal accompaniment.

The reason a teacher is important (IMO) is that inexperienced players often make the mistake of thinking that the current thing they are into is the only thing they'll ever want to play. A teacher expands your horizons and gives you the tools to make something unique down the road BEYOND what your initial goals might have been.

Jaz

A book, video or website will not criticize you, correct you, put you on the spot or push you. I don't think it's possible to learn something deeply without putting yourself into that position.

[hottub]

+1 Jack !

[rustneversleeps]

Great thread. I took lessons from '87 to '92. During the middle 3 years, my guitar teacher Chris spent the majority of our time on theory, chord voicings, chord structures, et al, and a small amount of time on actually playing. Back then, I'd be zoning out sometimes thinking, "Man, all I want to do is learn to fingerpick Jim Croce and play Brian May solos." Years later, I can appreciate what he taught me and I can apply it to actually playing stuff. My last year of lessons, I had this guy Andy who knew just about every song out there and he taught me to listen to music as a way of learning to play. Sheesh, that was a long time ago!

[frankiestarr]

That's very true Mr. Jack.....

I have had a interesting musical journy so far....I have had a few teachers over the years, but one in paticular that I stayed with for a long time. When I heard him play, I wanted nothing more then to be able to play and sound like him....As many of us do, we all have our guitar heros...It was really hard for me to try to play and think like him etc.
The most important lesson I ever got from him was to be myself..... I went back to playing like me, and gradually incorporated some of the ideas from him into my original sound/style.......
He went on to tell me as we would go though volumes of material, what sounds good to me, might not sound good to you.....His teaching approach was to expose me to a ton of alteratives, and eventually I would sift through it and use the bits and peices that I liked......Now, I sound like Frankie and he sounds like Rich......
Words of wisdom to fellow guitarist.....You are unique and special, we all are differant and have differant strong and weak points.....Be yourself, and play it your way!
Didn't mean to get off the subject.....I agree with what Jack said! Just some passing thoughts/flashback from my guitar lessons.....

[robelinda2]

Excellent points made by all!

[j_uc]

Definitely... BUT the ability to assimilate is so important too, sooner or later you have to become your own teacher. I resumed playing this year after a 12-year hiatus. I feel I still haven't assimilated the message from the great teacher I had at the time. I remember the guy so well and still have the tapes. This is enough to get me going for the time being although at some point I know I'll have to go to another teacher. But now I'm in my 30ies and don't need as much as before someone to push me along.

[jzucker]

Originally Posted by j_uc

Definitely... BUT the ability to assimilate is so important too

when you are a young/budding guitarist you don't know who to assimulate from. You assume whoever your hero is that you'll only want to play like him. When my son Jeremy was studying Coltrane and Martino and SRV and Metal, he had no idea that it would uniquely effect his song-writing and acoustic guitar playing. That's the whole point. A teacher gets you out of your particular guitar fetish and exposes you to a plethora of material that will become useful to you when you outgrow your initial goals.

[tomkatzz]

So far I've had two teachers. What it boiled down to is that they looked to me for direction.

"So, what do you want to learn?"

Hey, you're the teacher! What do you have to teach?

Both of them simply took songs I liked, and tabbed them for me to learn.

I dumped them. I can buy instructional material from the Guitar Center that does the same thing for less.