Im lookin for a little advise on a few issues. Any opinons or help would be heartfully appreciated.
First - what are your experience with guitar teachers. I have tryed twice unsuccesfully to find a teacher that actually had some sort of lesson plan or clear path in getting me down the road. Let me make clear i will work my $@! of to accomplish goals i have. The first guy was one of the greatest musicians i have ever heard but man he was a wicked angry dude and he woudl give me some things to work on, i would practice 3-4 hrs a day and feel good about it, then he would forget what the hell he had me practice and test me on things i never saw from him and when i tryed to object he would tear a new hole in me. After this guy i swear i came this close to smashin my freekin guitar all over the drive way. He freeking destroyed me.

I put the axe in the closet and was pretty bummed out for quite a while. Well i love music so much and im not a quitter so i went down to the music store and picked up the blues you can use series of books. I went throught the programs in detail, continued practicing more than a few hours a day every day and learned more in a few weeks than all the time i spent with the angry dude. I was getting the basic blues and was lovin every minute of it.

Thinking i was missing out on some professional teaching i called a guy i knew in school that owned a local music store and signed up for some lessons. Fantastic guy, great guitar player but every time i showed up for a lesson he would ask me what i wanted to learn that week. I HONESTLY DIDNT KNOW I had told him i would like to start with the blues and bring that as far as i could but once again no real lesson plan or defined direction, I felt like i was just treading water again. I mean im paying money for this right.

Back to the music store and grabbed some clapton and Zep tab books. I can get through it on my own and it is satisfiying to know i am doing it myself but i do struggle. I can take me a great deal of time to work out a complete song to where i am fluid with it. I have noticed the process definitely gets easier as i go alone but again it aint easy.

Would it benifit me to look for another instructor?

Also how long does it take you guys to learn a particular piece of music and if you would, let me know how long you have been playin so i can gage where im at. I picture alot of you guys just listening to a song and nailing it right away. I know i will struggle for some time I guess im just looking for encouragement. My wife reminds that the music im attempting is written and preformed by some of best in the business - and shes right!

Thanks guys - really - i do appreciate you taking your time to read this.

God Bless, jimmy b

Hello Jimmy B,

I've had a few teachers over the years,
some I liked some I didn't but they all taught me somthing.
At 53 I still occaisionally spring for a lesson{I still need them}.
I suppose what I'm saying is I'm all for instructors but it's
OK to search for one you click with.

Just playing with knowledgeable people is a lesson in itself,
sometimes the best.

Have fun, I'm playing Christmas Carols in June.
Cause I can.

Cheers.

Christmas Carols in June? Maybe that's my problem, I have been trying to play them at the wrong time of year, Christmas.......

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

If you feel comfortable teaching yourself there is lots of material on the internet. Start with learning what note is where on the neck, some scales are good to know too. Learn to play chords at different places on the neck.

Personally I have tried several teachers and they just didn't work out the way I thought they should. Every few months I look around again. Keep trying to find a good one.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I have never had a teacher, and sure, I guess at times it shows. But have you considered some of the decent sites online or good DVD series?

For example, http://www.guitartricks.com/. They have 24 free lessons on line, or if your "frugal" like I am, join on the monthly plan, which is $14.95 a months and download the heck out of some lessons. Their lessons are structured as well, somewhat like a lesson plan. I cancelled after the first month satisfied with the things I had learned. Not a bad investment for 15 dollars.

Then their are DVD's. I have seen and participated in the rise of http://www.rockhousemethod.com/ DVD series. I purchased the first DVD at Guitar Center, a really complicated thing that was well laid out. I looked up the owner Joe Palombo on facebook and actually wrote about him on my website (http://newdilemma.com/) and they really loved that. One day while checking out Joe's facebook site I noticed he wrote free DVD for whoever wants it today. I wrote back shocked and he said it was true and which one would I like. I told him, and 2 days later the UPS truck rolled up with my DVD, for free! I love businesses that love their clients.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw those suggestions to you until you find a teacher you like.

I have picked up quite a bit on the net. And although my experiences with the last 3 teachers were not great i agree whold heartedly there is something to learn from everyone.

Im at the point where im pretty comfortable with soloing and fills with tunes and back up tracks. Familiar with playing up and down the neck and comfortable playing some rythm. I enjoy doing my own thing and when i finally learn a tune i love to pick it apart and add my own flair.

My stuggles come in learning the details in the phrasing or exact timing of the original tunes. I just wonder sometimes if there are easier ways to the learning curve that folks have learned along the way. Basically i will take the tune a few bars at a time and rought it out. When i get the notes memorized i go back and work on timing and phrasing and then go back again and work on playing fluid and with emotion. Then i put i down and move on.

this sound about right?

Mr New Dilema

Thanks for the info. I wiil check these out.

Worth checking out http://www.justinguitar.com as well. Covers quite a bit, guy plays great, instructs well, and the price is more or less honor system, donate if you can.

He also has lesson videos on youtube.

Jimmy b,
When I first learned to play it was the same thing. Lousy teacher at a music store where I bought my first guitar. I paid per lesson... both of them. He couldn't teach you to drink a glass of water!

From then on, I got a few books of chords and basic music/guitar playing and practiced. I learned more and more by really listening to music and looking at tabs and sheet music that I found at music stores. Keep in mind this was before the internet. Now it's much easier to find stuff on youtube or other websites. I stumbled onto http://www.justinguitar.com not too long ago and really like his methods, especially for beginners.

Once you learn some basic chords and scales you will pick up some common riffs. Just keep using what you learn and it gets much easier to pick up new stuff. Take you pick, Clapton, Hendrix, Malmsteen and SRV, they all played hours on end for years before they got as good as they did.

I've had lessons from this guy, Lou DiBello, for a number of years. He's an incredible guitarist.

http://www.myspace.com/loudibello

Tribute 2005, :-]

It is my personal belief that lessons with an instructor are the way to go; however, I was lucky and got a guy like Lou on the first swing, so I'm not used to that sort of frustration. I'd give lessons a run, but if you'd rather not, all the power to ya.

KRAD

Jimmy I never had a teacher so I really do not know the proper protocol for that way of learnong but anyone who says what song do you want to learn to me is just taking your money,and forget how good a player the guy is that dont make him a good teacher.How come the best ball players dont make good coaches or managers. You seem to be doing alright teaching yourself when you have the right tools. Check out licklibrary.com to me the best learning sight on the web. You can also order these dvds on there which would be perfect for you ROCK ESSENTIALS-ROCK CONCEPTS-ADVANCED ROCK GUITAR They are all by Danny Gill a great teacher ,player and former student of Joe Satrianni. These dvds all lead into one another and will keep you busy for a long time. There are also 3 HARMONY AND THEORY DVDS by him to beginner,intermediate,and advanced which are great and show you things you should know like what scales fit what chords the modes and so on. I would recomend you get the first 3 tapes I mentioned and the first Harmony and Theory tapes and spend good time with them and you will improve bigtime. Hey I read interviews with John 5,Zack Wylde and a few other top players who said when they are locked up in a hotel room they will go out and buy a bunch of instructional dvds usualLy not the style they play John and Zack grab country dvds and stay up all night learning.So I thought if its good for them its good for me I have about 100 dvds lol. Some are great some good and some downright suck. But I have what I thought would be useful to you and for where you are right now and I give them a big thumbs up. KEEP ON ROCKIN

Hey Jimmy B... wish I had something useful to add, but I just wanted to put in a good word for the right teacher. I had flamenco lessons for about four years from 1988 with a wonderful instructor who I still see from time to time. It's been too long, but nothing's more satisfying than making the trek up to his place in the mountains with a good bottle of red and trying to get through a few pieces. I haven't been able to keep my playing at the standard I'd like, but over the years I've acquired my own sound and it's this that he likes to hear when I turn up.

Last time I had spent a good year getting a piece down, an old one from the '60s by Sabicas (yes, I'm afraid that's how long it can take me to learn a piece properly these days... some I've been returning to every few years in the hope that one day I'll be ready, and some I know I'll never be able to do justice to)... it turned out to be from a album that he had listened to constantly on the six-week voyage from the U.K. to Australia, and I think it moved him to have a student come back after 20-odd years and play that for him.

I'll have to track him down again soon... I'm in a new relationship since that last visit, with a constantly expanding brood... there never seems enough time for anything (including flamenco guitar, it pains me to say), but a good teacher can be a lifelong pleasure. Another of his students from that period had a son who has become one of the country's most promising luthiers, and the guitar he built for my old teacher was beautiful. I'd love to be able to commission one from him. Anyway, point is, a good teacher becomes a nodal point in a large network of people who feel that they've got a direction in life.

P.S. My first teacher was the one who put me onto this flamenco player; he was my rock/jazz/everything else guy. Very influential for me in different ways, ones which are probably coming to the fore now that I'm trying to recapture my wayward youth.. heh.. all I remember about my first flamenco encounter, though, was disbelief that I was hearing these sounds coming from that guitar, and that it was this man who was producing them. I had to know more.

I'm GLAD someone finally put a post up about this. I am a relative newbie to learning the guitar. I have spent decent money and bought what I think is good equipment. I have a nice 2008 MIM Start, a VOX AD15VT amp, and a nice Epi hummingbird. Now, my quest for a teacher. I posted on Craigslist and only had one decent reply from a guy 12 miles away. Also some replies from some real jerks. Apparently, I was a butthead because I posted exactly what I was looking for. At any rate, I ended up at the local music store. The guy is a nice person and a great tech. He really does know his stuff. But, as far as teaching goes, I'm doubting his abilities. So far, he's given me some rhythm parts to some easy songs and a couple of chords (that I knew anyway). He'll write down what we go over on a 3" post-it note and that is my lesson plan for the next two weeks (yes, I do lessons every two weeks because of my time constraints). I have been to all the online sites and paid for the likes of jamorama and next-level-guitar. What I really was hoping to gain from the personal instruction was the guidance and structure of a one-on-one teacher. I wouldn't have thought this would be THAT hard to find. I'm begining to think the Holy Grail would be an easier find.
Best of luck Jimmy..keep us posted.

_________________
"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

I have had success learning from lessons offered at this site:

http://www.steviesnacks.com/

I like Anthony's teaching style, and he offers several great free lessons as well as downloadable or DVD purchase options for his full length lessons. These lessons have helped me tremendously to learn blues basics and get started on my way to finding my own sound. I learn to play songs in a couple evenings that would take me forever to figure out on my own. This helps me more by adapting and integrating the techniques I learn to my own playing style.

Above all, never get so frustrated with anything that you just stop playing!

Cheers, and good luck with whatever path you choose.