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Post subject: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:01 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:30 pm
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Location: clearwater, fl
Hello everyone, growing tired of my current non-growth rut i signed up for some classes with a local guitar teacher in hopes that it rolls into a fairly long term thing. I am not novice but not anywhere near where i want to be. My question to you all, what are some of the things i should be asking or addressing right up front. I have a few main goals and i have a few long term dreams but other than that i really just want to get proficient and become a more well rounded player.
What would you suggest i bring to the table other than an open mind and some excitement to become better?


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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:43 pm
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Listen , learn, and practice daily. Do those and you'll be the player you want to be.


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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:36 pm
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zenbone, good idea ! I think about lessons from time to time but my two guitar instructors are gone. My first passed away R.I.P. Luigi, my second has moved away and I haven't been able to locate her, Lynn if you read this call me.
zenbone, ask your instructor to work with you on scales and pick a difficult song that you really like to learn with your instuctors help. Every time you learn one of those really well then pick another. It will take a few weeks for the instructor to get you up to snuff on a difficult song but after the first year you should have 4 or 5 down then at the start of year two you can say you are working on a full set list of those types of songs lol. :D This will be fun for you !

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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:34 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Seems like no matter how long you've been playing, can always learn something from the right teacher. The first time I took lessons I had already learned chords but couldn't get my right hand to make them sound like a song. Just wanted to work on strumming techniques so people wouldn't have to guess a dozen times before figuring out what song I was playing! He kept wanting to teach me everything else. Wasn't interested in scales or anything like that then. Could learn something from him now but for that time he was the wrong teacher. Was pretty much a waste of money. I did learn some scales but was a long time before I actually started doing something with them. Other guys would pass an acoustic around the campfire or wherever and play songs(simple 3 chord progressions but didn't know that then). The girls liked it so I wanted to be one of those guys. Scales wouldn't have impressed the girls!


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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:55 pm
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You may or may not already know the pentatonic scales. That's the basis for most rock and something you need to be proficient in. But if you want to stand out a little better than the average player, then you need to progress from there to modes. Modes are the spices that makes your version of a song sound jazzy, or spanishy, or what every you want. So, I highly recommend learning modes. Especially mixolydian and dorian.
What I suggest you not do, is spend too much of the lesson time, learning songs. You can learn songs off of youtube. Use your well paid teacher to feed your brain with musical knowledge, so your brain can tell your fingers what to do and you won't be playing by the seat of your pants, which is what most of us do for a long time.

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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:34 pm
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:30 pm
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Location: clearwater, fl
thanks for the replies everyone, i will make sure to keep these in mind as i start out. I am excited to start formal training... i wanted to just use the internet and seek out all the learning tools out there but i really need a starting point. Internet lessons make my brain a little jumbled.

I am going to make sure i take time each day to review and push forward. I talked with my new teacher a little yesterday and got our initial schedule (30 minutes every other week). She wanted more frequency but i asked that we start with this and hopefully progress into either longer classes or more frequency. I need to figure out what works best for our time together.

Anyway, thanks again for your replies. I really value this forums members and feedback more than any other i frequent.


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Post subject: Re: First lessons in quite some time...
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 5:35 am
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I'm not sure what your goals are, if you mention these, maybe there's some suggestions we can offer..

I am assuming you're looking for technique or are you looking also for theory?

if you are also thinking about beefing up the theory aspect of your playing, I would off hand say, that If you don't already know diatonic structures, that's a good place to start. It sort of opens your mind up to the various chord voicings based on the key of any given song, and it's a big aid in writing your own music.

it also helps to unlock some of the mystery to soloing over chord chord changes using the various modes (eg: dorian, phrygian, etc) so in this aspect, some theory helps you do different things when improvising.

There's also the practical aspect to learn to play your major scales starting with any degree of the scale, that's really a good way to learn your positions up and down the neck.


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