As a guitarist/musician, what would you like to see in lessons?

[Thared33]

Out of all of the lessons I've ever taken a look at before, there was always just something missing...

As a guitarist, or if you play any other instrument whatsoever -- as a musician, what would you like to see more lessons on? Any topics whatsoever.


Personally, I think guitar lessons in particular are bad about 'hey! *LICK OF DOOM!!* <-- play that!'

It doesn't break down the technique and go into HOW it is played.


What are some things that you'd like to see out there, and what do you think is lacking the most?

[jaxadam]

Well, I took lessons from this dude in Richmond, VA a long time ago, and his technique was pretty impeccable. I'd have to say that all I really cared about learning at that point was how to develop technique like him, and I quit worrying about learning killer licks. Although it is important to learn killer licks, too, but technique was where it was at for me.

The way he taught me, killer licks started coming easy, so it was all about the technique.

[Thared33]

Gotcha.

You mean picking technique, and fretting technique, etc? That's exactly what I mean.

Of course we can all see and know which frets to play on a guitar, but exactly what do we do to get to the level of actually playing it with ease? That's where technique comes in.

Sometimes things are much, much easier to play with the right kind of technique instead of... using nothing but downstrokes for something where you should use alternate picking :P

[jaxadam]

I learned from him pretty much everything I think I need to know about alternate, economy, and sweeping (well, and a bunch of other stuff). He really set the stage for me when I took lessons from other people, which helped greatly as well.

In everything I do, it all comes down to technique; you've got to know the proper execution to do something. It only makes learning other things easier.

[Thared33]

I've learned that once you train yourself, you won't be limited to anything and everything comes naturally.

Some guitar exercises may be quite boring, but once I think of all the ones I practiced in the past, I'm sure that every single one of them has paid off in some way or another.

The thing here is practicing/training yourself, so everything else in the future will come like a breeze and you won't be limited to anything.

Not only does practicing different techniques help you with playing material, it can actually broaden your compositions because you have just -that- many more options.

[jaxadam]

Originally Posted by Thared33

I've learned that once you train yourself, you won't be limited to anything and everything comes naturally.

The thing here is practicing/training yourself, so everything else in the future will come like a breeze and you won't be limited to anything.

That is exactly it. I won't say I'm the best in the world by any means, but I don't have any problem playing what I want to play, and I thing that is what is most important.

[Tubyboulin]

I like lessons where the instructor guy actually tells you fret numbers and stuff, and Like in paul gilberts DVD that had the Tabs at the bottom of the screen, and also its cool when the teacher tells you the theory behind the lick, and then shows you it in Context rather than just as an excersize.

[shreddersymphony]

Very interesting thread! I'll tell ya...I've tried so many times to find a good teacher and have always come up empty handed. I've been playing for about 5 years completely self taught and my quest for teachers was always futile. Here I provide a list of what in my opinon are things to really avoid if you're a guitar teacher:

1. Trying to teach the student on acoustic or electric exclusively because you prefer it. A kid who wants to learn metal songs or just the metal style of guitar playing is not gonna be interested in learning soley on an acoustic. I had a teacher once that flat out refused to teach me on electric because he thought acoustic was so much better for learning. Now, I understand that acoustic is harder to play and develops your fingers more etc, but i'm paying for the lessons and I wanna be taught on the instrument I already have and have gotten used to.

2. Way too much unnecessary chatter. It's cool if you wanna spend 5 minutes or so of the first lesson discussing influences, favorite players, finding out what the person wants in a guitar teacher (although this stuff should really have been discussed already by email/phone), but spending 25 minutes of an hour long lesson that I'm paying 50 dollars for doing nothing but talking about how great Led Zeppelin was...not acceptable.

3. Not catering to the musical faves of the student. This is an ongoing problem. Teachers that explain things well and are fantastic players are often in my experience primarily jazz players. You then run into the "jazz snobbery" problem, where they try to tell you that Metallica and Guns N Roses and Led Zeppelin is all super easy boring music and that once they started playing jazz they realized how simple and beneath them metal/hard rock/classic rock was. Not cool. If your student is a fan of Bands A, B, and C, teach him with that in mind. Later on if you want to introduce your own favorites and show them stuff they havent seen before that's awesome, but you will quickly lose the student if you make it seem like you think they're somehow music-interest immature.

4. Show, dont tell. When I was first starting (literally the first week i touched a guitar), the teacher I first tried told me in the first lesson: ok, so just put your third finger on the whatever string and then this finger here and strum that. Woah. I dont even know what the names of the strings are yet buck-o, slow it down there . The easiest way for a lot of students to learn is to SEE what you're talking about. Show the chord or scale slowly on your guitar, then see if they can follow. If not, think of something else like maybe moving their fingers into position on the fretboard so they can see what you mean.

There's more but this is all that comes to mind for now. hope this helps someone

[Real_Illusions]

Originally Posted by shreddersymphony

4. Show, dont tell. When I was first starting (literally the first week i touched a guitar), the teacher I first tried told me in the first lesson: ok, so just put your third finger on the whatever string and then this finger here and strum that. Woah. I dont even know what the names of the strings are yet buck-o, slow it down there . The easiest way for a lot of students to learn is to SEE what you're talking about. Show the chord or scale slowly on your guitar, then see if they can follow. If not, think of something else like maybe moving their fingers into position on the fretboard so they can see what you mean.

Actually, i find that quite the opposite. I can see how what you describe is alot better for teaching chords.. i definitly agree showing is better than telling, but i only think that for chords.

Ive learnt like, a hell of a lot from Paul Gilberts videos and one thing i noticed was he never plays the lick, untill after hes taught you how to play it. I think this is the best way to teach very impressive or complicated sounding licks, because it doesnt cause any disencouragement from how scary the lick the sounds. Ofcourse, people are going to prefer different methods of learning cos its just the way thier brain works, but this is by far the best way ive ever learnt to play something.

[Edgeless]

well as a self teached (sp) ive found that some techniques ive being working on i.e alternate picking (should be told in lessons soon before the student falls into the trap of downstrokes) im taking GCSE music at my school and many of the other people in the class have been playing for 4 years and many cannot alternate pick and there chord knowledge dosent extend beyoud open major and minor chords, also people should be shown that practice works, i practice 6-8 hours a day and i have reached i decent level in the year that i have been playing

[gu1tar]

Originally Posted by shreddersymphony

Here I provide a list of what in my opinon are things to really avoid if you're a guitar teacher:

1. Trying to teach the student on acoustic or electric exclusively because you prefer it. A kid who wants to learn metal songs or just the metal style of guitar playing is not gonna be interested in learning soley on an acoustic. I had a teacher once that flat out refused to teach me on electric because he thought acoustic was so much better for learning. Now, I understand that acoustic is harder to play and develops your fingers more etc, but i'm paying for the lessons and I wanna be taught on the instrument I already have and have gotten used to.

2. Way too much unnecessary chatter. It's cool if you wanna spend 5 minutes or so of the first lesson discussing influences, favorite players, finding out what the person wants in a guitar teacher (although this stuff should really have been discussed already by email/phone), but spending 25 minutes of an hour long lesson that I'm paying 50 dollars for doing nothing but talking about how great Led Zeppelin was...not acceptable.

These 2 are just absurd and unprofessional. But anyone can hang out a shingle as a guitar teacher whether they are professional or not.

Originally Posted by shreddersymphony

Here I provide a list of what in my opinon are things to really avoid if you're a guitar teacher:

3. Not catering to the musical faves of the student. This is an ongoing problem. Teachers that explain things well and are fantastic players are often in my experience primarily jazz players. You then run into the "jazz snobbery" problem, where they try to tell you that Metallica and Guns N Roses and Led Zeppelin is all super easy boring music and that once they started playing jazz they realized how simple and beneath them metal/hard rock/classic rock was. Not cool. If your student is a fan of Bands A, B, and C, teach him with that in mind. Later on if you want to introduce your own favorites and show them stuff they havent seen before that's awesome, but you will quickly lose the student if you make it seem like you think they're somehow music-interest immature.

Yeah, you will never hold the student's interest if you don't make it fun for them; and fun means letting them learn the music they like. Sounds like you've run into a lot of bozo teachers.

[shreddersymphony]

Originally Posted by gu1tar

Yeah, you will never hold the student's interest if you don't make it fun for them; and fun means letting them learn the music they like. Sounds like you've run into a lot of bozo teachers.

I find that most teachers are bozo teachers when it comes to guitar haha. A lota my buddies had the same problem when looking for one. I found one or two good ones but they meant 60 bucks an hour and a 50 minute commute each way, not worth it. I keep looking though b/c i wouldnt mind having a teacher for the advanced theory aspects of things.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Great thread.

The best teachers i've had tailored the lessons to the student. It really depends what you want to get out of the lessons. I like teachers who give you the tools and show you how to use them, but leave you to do the actual work on your own time, if that makes sense.

One thing that many teachers seem to skip (in my experience) is basic guitar maintenance and repair, which is imho crucial for the beginner to keep their instrument in tip top shape.

To be honest though, I think that every player that is any good at all is actually self taught. Having a good teacher can save you alot of time and point you in the right direction, but no one can learn how to play for you.

Rock on!

[Dragonforce1080p]

Herman li should make an instructional DVD he rocks.

[mi2tom]

I'd like to see the teacher pointing out my mistakes, and always give me something new to explore and is actually showing me how to play and improve myself when I practise alone instead of looking at the teacher and impress with his skill, there are lots of performer but when they teach they are crap.