what to expect from private lessons?

i picked up a guitar for the first time in january, played a juvenile's acoustic for 6 months, then bought my first guitar, a squier affinity strat in july. since then i have pretty much just tought myself the ropes. i have a decent knowledge in music thanks to 8+ years of band, and a lot of it is coming back.

but basically i've hit a point where i don't know where else to go on my own. i've learned most of what i can learn on my own thanks to websites (such as this awesome one).

i wonder from anyone who has taken or given private lessons... what can i expect and what should i expect out of them? is someone just going to have me play chords and scales ad naseum? because i can do that on my own (and have been). or is there more to it?

Expect Corrections on your technique,expect different techniques,expect well applied theory,expect criticism and expect to keep learning no matter what

i teach guitar.

yes , if the teacher is any good at teaching he will teach you HOW, to play and not WHAT to play.
and yes. there IS more too it , much much more but "it" does not translate well into this lexicon(AKA its one of those "you have to be there" things)
and at least 80% of teachers out there = lazy, formulaic and 'store owned', lol.
Not Me
(but hell yer probubly at least 300 miles from this ridgeline)
+
good teachers will push you past exhaustion and critically question you practicing (i also make my 1st yr students [play a cheap acoustic, as elec spoils the fingers if applied too soon)

RAWK!
Cs

this sounds like something my brother said when he had lessons way back in middle school. he said his first teacher pretty much said "what song do you want to play?" and the guy showed him how to play that song. but then he said his second teacher was a lot better in teaching him actually HOW to play the guitar.

i guess the trick is to find a good teacher..

yea, if you get lessons i would suggest taking them from the professor at a university. they will probably cost more but will be way better than MOST others

i gotta disagree with ya there. a LOT of my students are college kids, and most can't find a non-restrictive teacher ON campus. a lot of them end up calling me as budget cuts destroyed UT's music program(part f why i had to disagree...)

BUT .. I live near UT (Go Vols!) and things are always a bit different here in the Smokies.

I would "shop around". any teacher worth his or her salt will give you a free lesson ... soooo weed through until you find the right teacher for you.

and nater2, it wasn't always "like this" .. back in the 70's and early 80's UT had a FANTASTIC Music program with many a fine teacher (i still hang with a few of 'em lol) but , as i said "budget cuts"x10
It seems that this country has tossed "the arts" overboard in favor of feeding the athletic department like a prized turkey that they think NEEDS more facetime on NBC, ESPN, etc...
(Go Vols!, indeed *sheesh*)

RAWK!
Cs

ok, well i would agree that a lot of college's have dumped music. i take lessons at OCU and i know of 1 or 2 other college's that have good music programs but i also live in OKC which has metro of over 1 million so that's probably why

i went to engineering school suffice it to say music was not their strong suit. neither was sports.

expect to have a good teacher... or your doomed

my doomed???

i bought my guitar from a local guitar center, but i'm still a little weary of those big stores. i live downtown now, and there is a guitar shop nearby that screams legit, so i have high hopes for them. with a website this crappy (www.gravitystrings.com) it's got to be good.

you can take any lesson you want (school, private, etc.) and it doesnt matter how much you pay to learn... its how much and how badly you want to learn and prisistance is key and when it comes to advice or tips you can always ask for like a video response on good ol' A-G-C youtube what you want to learn but pay is the last thing you want to do trust me

"persistance"

I improved a lot after getting lessons. I found out from my guitar teacher how to read notes, what different strings make a note, like when you hold a string down at a certian fret, how to pace myself and basically just lots of different techniques I don't think I'd ever know existed without him. If you haven't already I think it would be worth giving a teacher a go, see how well you improve with them. I never realized how many mistakes I made playing until I had one.

Try out more than one if your first is no good. I remember I had one who was truly awesome at playing, he even moved off to record for artists in London last year. But he really was awful at teaching new guitarists. He'd basically just try to play a song you already knew with you or do nothing but constantly take you through warm up excerises and nothing else. It was quite frustrating. But my second one wasn't as good at playing as my first, but he was still brilliant at playing. AND much better at teaching. Just be patient and you'll find a good one.

I'm not a very good teacher myself...I've tried and I ended just giving the guy(my friend) a book of basics on the guitar when he left. But I can give some insight on what to look for in other areas of guitar though.

You are all the proof i need, Josh.
No more lessons for me; what a waste of money.

at gx

i forgot how to spell it

@Jo5h,
You gotta be kidding me! No doubt some teachers are better than others, that would apply to any field of study but to say that lessons are not worth paying for is idiotic. The benefits of having personal instruction are well worth the expense IMO. You can't come close to learning everything you need to know by watching a couple of vids and fumbling around. And you say "trust me"? Why, because you are so AWESOME? hahaha You just insulted a valued member of this forum and based that insult on your VAST years of experience and what, your playing abilities? Man you gotta think before you type. Appologies are in order!
Phip

Haha, I think Carl laugh his ass off rather than get insulted by these kind of comments hahhah... "trust me" XD...

Yeah, every good teacher do it for free, who would charge for ones work for teaching someone? Long I am wondering, why teachers are paid in school, unbelieavable waste of money, you can learn everything on wikipedia and other websites anyway.

And how about all these doctors there? Im sure the surgeries went as good without any paid teaching, im sure there are couple books in library for free!... darn! people are diubadauba to pay things they can learn for free!!.

Oh yes, im pretty sure that you dont need any teacher to play a violin. Theres an exeptional amount of youtube videos! This is a FREE WORLD!!! ROckin on a free...

alright...yes mom, i go to bed. Im tired...

at phip

no cuz its not cuz im awsome
its cuz its hella expensive and there is better options

haha!

Lets Face it,cant live with It,but cant live without it,thats why this place is so awesome

@ phip

wait...were u being sarcastic?

"ohmgh" *facepalm*

@Jo5h,
the "AWESOME" part was sarcasm,yes. But the rest was serious. One man's opinion, but I believe there is NO better way to learn than from a master and I'll give an example.
I've been practicing for about 2 years now, making moderate progress because of time constraints mostly. I'll never be a "shredder" that's for sure and I'm ok with that because that's not my goal. But I have had some real issues with accuracy and I haven't been able to fix my little problem. Last week I had a video chat with Carl. The two of us were sitting in front of our cameras with our guitars just messing around and talking and I mentioned my problem. In less than two minutes he saw what I was doing wrong and suggested some corrections. I'm happy to say that over the next three days my playing improved 100% and my problem is solved. I can't thank him enough (THANK YOU CARL)! That's just one small tiny benefit you get from personal instruction. I know we all like free stuff, but free stuff is usually worth exactly what you pay for it!
Phip
P.S. @Carl, the check is in the mail! :)

Then please post a video of your "awesome" playing of those "awesome licks" you learned on the Internet (...and constantly brag about)!
I want to see the full fury of a 15 year old awesome kid playing awesome riffs on his awesome guitar upstairs in mommy's house.

@cs

lol lol lol

I think josh has a little bit of a Narcissistic problem!

...which is (bragging, bravado) usually a sign of deep-seeded insecurity -etc ...
but I'll waste no more type on the boy.

If you want my opinion, I personally think you ought to try a teacher out even if you have to pay. If you want to be the best you can ever be at guitar. I once thought I'd learn everything I had to from vids, now when I look back at those times I just have to laugh at myself. I was awful and just going nowhere. Sure, I'd learn a tiny bit, but almost a year of me self teaching like that was nothing in comparison to the rest of the time of my guitar playing I spent learning from a teacher once a week. That's when I made real progress. Vids and tabs will only get you so far.

Amen !!!

I took from the same wonderful guitarist (Terry Hill, R.I.P.) until he died... and also , for many years with Hector Qirko (no U.).
all told I took private lessons for well over two decades and i wish i could find a good one-on-one teacher NOW, but Hector quit teaching, Phil quit teaching, and so forth..
MY POINT BEING
I am a Guitar Teacher, by trade and STILL wish to have one on one lessons myself.
The moment a person scoffs at lessons or think they 'don't need them' anymore, that person becomes 'unteachable' and more times than not find themselves stuck in a rut.
I have found other ways to 'push my knowledge' and skills but they pale in comparison with a GOOD one-on-one session.

there ARE "bad teachers" out there, of course, just as there are bad dentists. ETC

Remain Teachable, Y'all !
there is ALWAYS more to learn...more than you could fit in a lifetime.

Finding a great teacher(don't settle for less)can be hard, especially those who work oin chain-stores and such, and they can be expensive (i'm cheap 85 bucks a month = 4 1-hr lessons that usually run 15-20min overtime, as i schedule 30min between students)
and they can be a drive in rush hour across town..
BUT
the next time you think : "thats expensive!" ask yourself a few questions

1- do you smoke?
2- do you have a toy like Nintendo or whatever else, like XBox(i dunno these things, i'm a full grown man , lol)
3- do you do drugs
4- do you have an IPod
5- do you have (talking to the under 21 crowd here) a cell phone
6- do you own whatever unholy device that plays 'Guitar Loser' and 'Loser Band' ?
i could go on but you get the idea.

If you have a Cigarette problem, toss them and you'll have money left AFTER your 'lesson money'

An XBox's price would/could = at least a year of lessons

Smoke dope or 'other'?
put that money into lessons instead!

and on and on ..........*

Basically it comes down to one very simple question:
Do you want to play guitar or would you like to be a Guitarist and a Musician?

LEARN!
Cs

I'd like to find a teacher, but, man, some of them are ridiculous for prices...

If I could make the drive to wherever you live Carl I would, because you are one cool old guy and are a hell of a musician!

@Carl

Haha... the comments here are getting heated.

I have been on the search for a guitar teacher for about 3 months now. I'm getting there... and I think I may have found a candidate. As soon as school starts backing off on me, I'm gonna check it out.

With your little poll, I thought it would be funny to answer it, even though I am not the under 21 crowd :)

1. Smoke... yes :)
2. Console systems? A Super Nintendo man!! It's the best.
3. Drugs... of course :)
4. Ipod... Of course not :-P ** Ipod :)
5. I do have a cell phone... it was free from the service plan :)
6. Other consoles?? Nope. But I love playing guitar hero and rock band... or in your case loser hero and loser band :)

Don't know why you hate on them so much. I love playing them. I've been hooked on DDR (Dance Dance Revolution for you non-gamers) since I was about 12... and Guitar Hero took one of my favorite games and one of my favorite hobbies and put them together. I love it :)

So ya!! If I were to not spend my money on alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes... I wouldn't be able to party as hard as I do. That's why I now work for the money I spend :-P Before I had to do bad things to get it.

@JustJeff

LOL !!!

loved the reply, hilarious.

reason i posted those "vices" was because if , say , you smoke. If you quit, you would have the money for lessons...etc
(not you-you but any "you")

Guitar Loser hurts players chops , I've had several of my students toss the game or trade, lol, "mean teacher!"
(also factor in me being 44 and all + when I have a moment to just "hang" ... not teach .. not practice but just hang, i'd rather take a walk or Harley Ride with my wife than sit in front of a TV)


@case211

thanks a lot , ya whippersnapper, you! .. move to east TN and Id love to teach ya! you are aways inspired and excited, and seeking knowledge.
good on'Ya (as we say round here)

@cs
I'm in Omaha, NE, so not extremely far, but hopefully I could find a teacher that is as cool as you, or maybe just move closer to east TN!

Besides, college is right around the corner...

well the riffs are pretty kewll -_-

I totally agree with everything Carl just said. lol I love having people here who are both helpful AND funny, what could be better?

@JustJeff, but I have to disagree with you about the nintendo! I hardly ever play on game consoles these days to be honest with you (I do about once every 3 months or so) but come on, the Play Station will always rule! (That's right, not the PS2, certainly not the PS3, but the old PlayStation...it has Spryro the dragon! That's worth spending precious hours playing on! :P)

the super nintendo was the best entertainment system ever made. end of discussion.

@gx and heather

I grew up playing on both...SNES into Spyro the Dragon on PS

Um... Mario Kart on SNES > Spyro on PS any day

TBH, I was playiing SNES earlier today... Star Fox ftw :) God, I realize how much better I was at games when I was a kid... I suck at these SNES games now :(

super nintendo f*u*c*k*i*n*g rules

@justjeff

I had the original Mario kart and mortal kombat!!!(what's with the 'k' everywhere)

I stand with PS. Spryro, Croc, Crash bandicoot AND GTA. That is what makes it better then the Super Nintendo! I personally find all that more interesting then being a plumber with a mustache who jumps around a lot anyway...lol!

...I bet Carl's reading our posts in discust right now haha :P