I'm taking your advice: Now...what to look for in a teacher?

[mdlestat]

After diving in to the guitar recently, and seeing all there is to learn and all, I have decided to take the advice most of you gave me in my first post in this forum, and find a teacher to give me lessons to help me on the right path. I love playing, but see now, after feeling around blindly, that I would do MUCH better with guidance.

 

There are two places in my area listed in the phone book--- one is a big-time sounding place that I'm sure is great, but it's waaaaay too expensive for me to afford---160/month for one 30 min. session a week. Now I know that it doesn't take long to give an assignment, but that's ridiculous--- at least to me, and too $ regardless (don't laugh).

 

The other alternative is a man that seems very well educated in guitar (from what I could tell) with a lot of years experience, and focuses on a theory-based approach. He's around my age, from listening to him (I'm 27) but he seems to know his stuff from our conversation.

 

He only charges $10 per 1/2 hour or $20 per hour. That's a lot closer to what I can spend. (Again--I'm VERY tight on money capability)

 

My question:

 

I talk to him again tomorrow to discuss in detail what we will be doing and how he teaches.

 

What do you guys think I should look for in this guy? Questions I should ask? Pointers you can give?

 

I told him my tastes in music, and he is also a fan of much of it...also plays in two bands locally---so I know he's not on a different page there---but I want to know how to make sure this guy is a good teacher by asking the right questions.

 

Thank you for your help---

 

Matt

[Billster]

Job #1: Do you know how to read music (standard notation)?

 

Next, here are my top items for the beginning guitarist:

 

Learning to read music, focus on the first position scales to find your notes on the staff. Learn the notes on the page solidly, then you will have less to concern yourself with as you learn the fretboard. (You will only be finding the note on the fretboard, not also trying to recall the note on the page; you will know the note on the page instantly.

 

Approach rhythmic concepts like establishing solid time, and then working on increasingly smaller subdivisions (1/4, 1/8, triplets, 1/16, etc.) BUY A METRONOME NOW.

 

Understand chord functions, not just the fretboard shapes. It goes C, F, G for a reason, not just to torture your fingers.

[Steevo]

I'd say that you should commit to 4 lessons with the second teacher. In the course of those 4 lessons, most of your question about his teaching methods and style will be answered, you'll only be out $40 bucks and you'll have learned some cool stuff. If after 4 lessons you guys aren't hitting it off or your unsatisfied, go elsewhere. Most important is to just dive in...

 

Speaking of which, I need to startup my lessons again so I'll be calling about that today. Good luck! Later, S.

[A String]

IMO, one of the most important things you can learn from a teacher is theory. Some teachers will show you chords and a few scales but never really explain how or why. (I think it's because they don't know.) Make sure your teacher has a really good grasp on advanced music theory.

 

I would start by telling him what you want to get out of the lessons. (eg. I want to understand how scales and chords work together and what modes are etc.) Then, if he knows the stuff, he will say "Yes, I can teach you all of that stuff". If not, he'll have to let you know.

[Gator Wing]

He should spend time listening to you play and offering correction if you need it. Some teachers spend your lesson playing for you; it's one thing to show you a technique, another to show you how good they are playing the guitar.

[Bbach1]

I am really reluctant to give advice on learning to play, since I'm learning to play also. However, given my recent experiences with books and a teacher, I do have a recommendation or two. First, spend the $19 bucks on "Fretboard Logic SE" (SE is books one and two combined). Fretboard Logic . Why? Well, I had a bit of music theory in my background and when I decided to learn the guitar, I set out to understand how music theory related to the fretboard. I don't want to just learn some chords and some scales and some songs, I want to know why they work and what wouldn't work. I bought guitar book after guitar book. Chord book after chord book. It all seemed like it just didn't tie together well and seemed like endless memorization. Would I actually sit down and memorize 2700 chords? So I went to an instructor, who gave me the old 'root on the fifth and sixth string' scenerio to explain chords on the fretboard and taught me something he called a blues scale. He tossed around a bunch of scale names like Ionian, Phrygian, etc. and all I felt was that I still understood the fretboard very little. So, I thought I'd waste some more money on a book and bought "Fretboard Logic". Best fretboard instructional book out there. I've only had it for a couple days and I can't believe how much I've learned about how the guitar fretboard is layed out and how chord shapes relate to the chord names being played, and how you can build most any chord from those basic shapes. The more I practice his exercises, the less I feel lost on any part of the fretboard. I am just starting on his section on scales and It has already clarified a lot of that for me. I can see now that I'll be buying his book 3 and then his advanced lessons on cd. $19 bucks is just not that much to risk. If you want to understand the fretboard, you'll be happy you bought that book. Next, I'd make sure any instructor you hire will have a direction for you. Mine did not. I got very little out of all those ramdom lessons. I think a guitar instructor needs a syllibus outlining the goals you have and how he is going to get you there, and it definately should include music reading and theory as it relates to the guitar. I can't emphasize that enough. The instructor needs to be able to relate music theory to the guitar fretboard, which is really quite facinating.

I don't know who thought up the standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning, but it is really incredible how that lays out the entire fretboard for you. No wonder that tuning has withstood the test of time.