lessons or no lessons

tbillie41 · Unread post by **tbillie41** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:56 am

i'm guessing that this topic has been gone over ad nausaem on these boards, but i wanted to get everyone's opinion on the subject. i've been playing for about 7 months now, and i make small improvements everytime i play. i find myself recognizing chords in songs i hear, being able to play more songs, but i feel like i need to learn more theory, then i can argue with fatjack all day. 8)

when i was younger i played the trumpet and took lessons, but never learned much music theory. does anyone have strong opinions on taking guitar lessons? is it a good way to learn theory, or should i just read a website or a book and ask questions? if you recommend lessons, would you look to take them from an individual, or go to a place like guitar center or daddy's?

stlcardinal35 · Unread post by **stlcardinal35** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:23 am

I started by taking lessons through a guitar store by my house. I went through 3 different teachers (they kept quitting on me :wink:

), and they all helped me improve, but I don't think they taught me anything I couldn't have learned on my own. A lot of times for the lesson, I would just bring in a song, he would tab it out, and then teach me how to play it. That's nice, but probably not worth $15 for a half hour. Make sure you find out what kind of music the teacher plays before you start taking lessons, if that's what you decide to do, because he'll probably end up teaching you that kind of music. One of my teachers was really into blues and SRV, so he taught me how to play blues. Another was into jazz, so he taught me all kinds of jazz chords and progressions even though I told him I wanted to learn more blues and rock.

I guess it depends what exactly you want to learn with guitar. If you want to learn more theory, lessons are probably the way to go. If you just want to learn Dave's stuff or similar stuff, you'd be better off using this website and other tab sites. I never would have learned as many DMB songs as well as I know them if I hadn't discovered this site. You just need to ask a lot of questions to a potential teacher before you sign up for lessons to make sure what they're going to teach you is what you want to learn.

ryopan · Unread post by **ryopan** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:36 am

lessons couldnt hurt but maybe not really necessary. it all depends. i htink most guys on here are self taught. you can learn alot by yourself but when it comes to theory and stuff, learning that gets to be like homework and most dont bother w/ it. figuring it out yourself is rewarding buy maybe not as efficient as having theory explained to you. im learning it now because ive kinda topped out my playing w/out a strong foundation in theory. but you can get pretty far along w/o too much theory. so anyways, its all upto you. you can go either way and get good, just you may take a diff. route.
good luck.

Appfro · Unread post by **Appfro** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 12:13 pm

if you have the money get lessons....period.

Ando · Unread post by **Ando** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 12:14 pm

Appsoldier wrote:if you have the money get lessons....period.

Word.

Or if someone else would pay for lessons....

chosta · Unread post by **chosta** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 12:30 pm

*passes around the "chosta is a broke college kid who wants lessons" cup*

tjmac66pc · Unread post by **tjmac66pc** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 1:31 pm

i'd research for a well-known guitar instructor and not go to just some random guy...I took up the guitar as sort of 'a personal project' in which my goal is to learn on my own, for as long as it takes...but if i were to break that method, i'd wanna do it with a really good instructor

grock · Unread post by **grock** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 1:54 pm

ryopan wrote:lessons couldnt hurt but maybe not really necessary. it all depends. i htink most guys on here are self taught. you can learn alot by yourself but when it comes to theory and stuff, learning that gets to be like homework and most dont bother w/ it. figuring it out yourself is rewarding buy maybe not as efficient as having theory explained to you. im learning it now because ive kinda topped out my playing w/out a strong foundation in theory. but you can get pretty far along w/o too much theory. so anyways, its all upto you. you can go either way and get good, just you may take a diff. route.
good luck.

like i've said a couple of times today, i can't express how benificial it is to have some guys to just jam with. like once a week. i learned most of my soloing and inversions this way. plus it is really fun to be making music with people. even if all you can do is jam out G's and D's or if that's all the other guy can do, it adds so much. plus guys are always liking to show how good they are and will show you some hot licks.

i got a couple of jam groups. one i am better in (none of them have a good understanding of the scale) andin the other, the guys just blow me away (they are all bluegrass players). so really just get out there.

it's better than lessons cuz it's FREE!

GSR · Unread post by **GSR** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 3:48 pm

i'm getting bass lessons for christmas.....cos i wanna be good...

and sooner or later,,, i'm gonna run out of dmb songs. :oops:

fatjack · Unread post by **fatjack** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:00 pm

TRY lessons, but dont feel bound to them. if you take some lessons and begin to feel they aren't helping, just quit. try as much as you can to get better. if you are searching to get better and you really want to, its nearly impossible not to advance somehow

jeffro · Unread post by **jeffro** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:17 pm

How did you learn FatJack? from what I read on the boards you must be very well edjucated in the ways of music theory.

fatjack · Unread post by **fatjack** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:18 pm

jeffro wrote:How did you learn FatJack? from what I read on the boards you must be very well edjucated in the ways of music theory.

books and experimentation

tbillie41 · Unread post by **tbillie41** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:13 pm

i think i'll start my reply by saying that these boards kick ass. i love being able to ask questions like these and get honest, helpful answers. thanks y'all.

I'd been thinking of taking lessons because i thought that if i could find someone good to go to, i'd learn a lot that i might not learn otherwise, and some stuff i might not even think to try and learn on my own. on the other hand, i fear lessons because i don't like anything that feels like homework (must be that college dropout in me

). i've got a buddy who's been playing for a long time who i "jam" with sometimes, and he's been a big help. my other problem is that i have next to no time to take lessons.

anyways, thanks again for the replies, they were much appreciated.

ryopan · Unread post by **ryopan** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:16 pm

sho nuff. good luck man

fallon222 · Unread post by **fallon222** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 7:49 am

What are some ways to find teachers in your area? It seems like the music stores are alot more expensive than finding teachers on your own? Any ideas?

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lessons or no lessons

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