[esp_dsp]

hey i have been playing guitar for about 3 years now and im starting to get good well i think im pretty good... i can play pretty much all of crazy train just not the one fill... and i was thinking about taking lessons i know most people take them first or whatever but i never thought there was a point in them i didnt think they would teach me anything i would really want to know.. but anyways if you think its a good idea for me to start taking them could you suggest a place in the hamilton area that has good teachers?

thanks:rockon2:

 

[Geek]

Go for it!

I'd love to take lessons, but no teacher would put up with me

 

[Renvas]

ya im kinda feeling the same way.. i feel like im not learning much from just reading stuff on the internet..

or rather im starting to get lazy and i need someone to push me..

 

[violation]

Never took lessons in my life... with all the resources online I really don't see a point. How long I've been playing and what I can play tends to surprise people but it's 'cause I play 6+ hours of structured practice everyday.

Watch John Petrucci's Rock Discipline DVD (by watch I mean download it like me, lol)... hands down the best DVD ever made for improving technique, speed and rhythms. He explains how to make a structured practice routine, you'll be amazed how far you progress after a couple months.

 

[dwagar]

I'm going to stand up for teachers.

No question, you can always benefit from lessons, IF you are willing to learn and practice.

There is no 'end game' to learning guitar, you will be learning your whole life.

Find a teacher that you can connect to, that will help you with what you are into right now, and you'll be miles ahead.

 

[Stratin2traynor]

I would recommend lessons to change things up a bit. Unless you have unlimited time to practice and an extremely structured approach, it is well worth the time to take a block of lessons. I took a block of 8 lessons a couple of years ago and it opened a whole bunch of new doors for me. Just started lessons with another guy last week.

I find they get me out of ruts. Plus it's very important to find someone who will teach you what you would like to know as opposed to only what they want to teach you. Hope that helps you out.

 

[I_cant_play]

I find they get me out of ruts.

I definitely agree with that. I was mostly self taught and took some group lessons to learn basics. Then I just spent a lot of time on the web and learning by myself and even though there is so much information on the web, I didn't feel I was progressing as fast as I'd like to. It's not that I didn't practice, but I just didn't know what to practice. Then I started taking lessons with a really good teacher and I noticed my skills improving significantly after just one week. Just make sure you don't get a teacher that doesn't have a plan and just asks you "what do you want to learn". I would sometimes ask my teacher to teach me something and he'd say that I'm not ready for it yet. I believe that that was the correct approach. However, after a few years with him, the rate of improvement decreased and I left. I've been without a teacher for some time now. I should start taking lessons again soon but I feel I'm not in as much of a rut as I was the first time. Now, that I have the basics and then some, I know what I have to work on and I'm aware of the weaknesses in my playing.

Also, there are some mistakes that I used to make that I really don't know how long it would have taken me to fix had I not started taking lessons. They were big mistakes and it would have been very difficult to fix it by reading about it on the web.

my point is, at least at the beginning, lessons are a very good idea..

 

[Renvas]

i think im going to take some advice and take lessons for 1 month durring my summer break.

since ive been playing the guitar for about a month and a half now. i preaty much got some scales. and cords down. But when i ask for lessons should i still start as a beginner and start from scratch and have the teacher reteach me cords and scales?

 

[dwagar]

your teacher should evaluate where you are at and start from there.

 

[esp_dsp]

hmm well i decided to start taking lessons my dad is really good friends with the drummer of freedom train(very popular cover band in my area) and he also works at L&M so i think im going to go talk to him because he said he could set me up with a good teacher so ill be doing that in the next few weeks should be pretty good :smile:

 

[I_cant_play]

my advice is, be really picky with your teacher. If you don't feel that after a month your rate of progress is going through the roof, find another teacher. If you feel that he really is good, I'd suggest you stick with him for longer than a month.

then again...I think I've been spoiled by having a really really good teacher that really raised the bar..

 

[Budda]

getting lessons is the best thing you can do to improve on your instrument, IMHO.

 

[Robert1950]

I recently started taking lessons for the first time. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[stratovani]

I'd definitely go with the lessons. Back when I was first learning the guitar there weren't many teachers around and I wasn't rich enough to afford one, so my uncle got me going by showing me a few "cowboy chords". The I started buying songbooks and learning the songs in them and playing along to the records. So when asked I always tell people my first teachers were John, Paul, George, and Ringo! Pretty good teachers to start off with, I might add!

 

[Kenmac]

I took lessons for a year from a guy in my apartment building back in the late 70's but I went off on my own after that and I have to agree with you stratovani that those 4 guys were great teachers as well. :smile: Also if somebody wants to learn about songwriting I always tell them to just listen to any Beatles album. That'll teach you more than any course.

I'd definitely go with the lessons. Back when I was first learning the guitar there weren't many teachers around and I wasn't rich enough to afford one, so my uncle got me going by showing me a few "cowboy chords". The I started buying songbooks and learning the songs in them and playing along to the records. So when asked I always tell people my first teachers were John, Paul, George, and Ringo! Pretty good teachers to start off with, I might add!

 

[jane]

I kind of wish I'd taken lessons when I first started... I've had formal training in classical piano and flute but while the theory translates to guitar, it's been much harder teaching myself how to bend, hammer on/pull off, tap, etc etc from videos/descriptions... I would really have liked to watch someone close up.

 

[Tarbender]

I would love to find a teacher that I can mesh with. I've tried 2 different teachers in the last 18 months but it just didn't gel.

Robert1950 - How did you find your teacher? I'm really stumped. I'm tired of spending money on teachers that are just not panning out. Was it "love" at first sight, did he ask you what you wanted? None of the guys I went to really had any structure to the lessons - sorry thats wrong - they were structured to what they wanted to teach me. HELP!

 

[Budda]

i guess i'm lucky - there was only one teacher in our town at the time (pretty sure that's still the case...dunno who that would be though ), and we got along quite well. he tried to show me more advanced stuff that was outside the music that i was listening to at the time, and so of course 5 years later i say to myself "damn, i really should have listened to him instead of practising that sum 41 intro so much" or whatever.

still need to jam with my old teacher before i head off to college, i'm pretty sure it'll be phenomenal.

 

[felenoral]

I have an instructor at school. Taught me how to read music and a whole lot of theory. I think instructors are great. They prevent you from being just another lazy guitarist and they open your mind up to many different styles.

 

[cglover]

for CG, yes you do.
For none-CG, it depends.