Re: Learning to play the guitar

"Stephen Calder" <calder9@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:46c8d6c6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RichL wrote:


Was it necessary to have the classical piano under my belt to get where
I
got without lessons (well, I had a couple). I would say yes, but it
certainly would have taken longer to get to the same level. I think I'd
have found myself having the same obsession, and given that, I probably
would have picked up the theory element on my own. As for the ear
training,
I'm not sure, frankly. But as I said earlier, I'd find it hard to
believe
that the number of famous players who said they did it on their own are
all
lying.



No, but they're special cases -- like you. Keith played blues records
over and over and copied the riffs, and this is one way to learn, but of
course there would have been no one to teach him what he wanted to
learn, so he was forced to do it the hard way.

Pride in being self-taught is a handicap if you refuse useful help
solely on that basis. I was self-taught because the money for lessons
wasn't there when I started out, but I did have teachers nevertheless --
anyone I could find that could play, even a little.

I confess that the financial issue was a factor...it was a choice between
continuing lessons and being able to put that Rickenbacker (which I so
craved back then, and still own) on lay-away. My parents had made it clear
that once I had a part-time job, I would be paying my own way, whichever
course I chose.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-teacher, it just didn't work for me in
my own circumstances, and I found ways to progress despite that. Even now,
since I have gotten back to playing more in a serious way, I wonder whether
a session or two with a good teacher might cure a few faults that have crept
into my technique. And now, with me likely to be older than most teachers
that I'd encounter, I'm less likely to see that old-school "I'm the teacher,
you're the student, you will do as I say" attitude that turned me off in the
first place. Of course that attitude has probably lessened in general,
although it's not entirely gone judging from the posts of one or two
regulars here (not you!).

My stance is that anyone starting out will benefit greatly from lessons,
no matter what their age. Even the obsessives will do better with a few
starting lessons. I would also encourage anyone who really does not have
the money to take lessons not to give up but to find other ways of
learning from fellow musicians (and the internet).



--
Stephen
Ballina, Australia


.

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