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Forum Home > Guitar For Beginners & Beyond General Forum > Playing The Guitar > Formal teaching doesn't work for me, fed up


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  #1  
Old December 13th, 2007
tina_ tina_ is offline
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Formal teaching doesn't work for me, fed up

... and now I'm going to struggle, big time. I guess I'm not the perfect student I'm good at scales but a bit thick at most other things. Some things I pick up very quickly and others I can't do at all.

I'm not the perfect age to get real interest of from a guitar teacher either. Does anyone else get the idea that they become a £ or $ sign when they enter the room? This would be great if I was rich!

There is one guitar style I love and I'm not doing too bad at that, imo which might be very different from anyone elses (slide). Without a half decent teacher I think I'll struggle though.

Maybe I'd be better putting my efforts somewhere else or maybe not .... does anyone have any ideas? I'm not gonna learn this stuff from monthly guitar mags and I don't use Paypal.

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  #2  
Old December 13th, 2007
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allthumbs allthumbs is online now
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I have been teaching myself slide for many years but, in the context of Dropped D or standard tuning so my knowledge is transferable from regular playing.
Focus on chords that have notes in a row so you can hit them with the slide. Build from there.

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Old December 13th, 2007
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fireblade fireblade is offline
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Hi Tina, I learnt everything I know about playing from Mags & the Net. There are some great sites out there (this one included) that will take you from beginner to advanced. The real benefit of this way over a guitar teacher is that you can go at your own pace.
The guitar handbook by Ralph Denyer is still a good source of info for me and I've had it since I started playing.
For me it gave me a structure to my learning as it runs through an order to learn stuff.
Solid walnut has put a good post on learning here

Playbook for Beginners and Beyond

Which does a similar thing.

Good luck mate & hope it goes well.

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Old December 13th, 2007
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Jomi Jomi is offline
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Hello Tina,

You're bound to get a few replies to this, I don't do slide myself but the information on this site is amazing, I'll sure you'll get the help you need. I absolutely agree with AT, - chords is the way, learn some simple tunes and songs and start having some fun, if you're enjoying your music it will drive you forward, good luck.


When all else fails, read the instructions.
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Old December 13th, 2007
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starsailor starsailor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tina_ View Post
... and now I'm going to struggle, big time. I guess I'm not the perfect student I'm good at scales but a bit thick at most other things. Some things I pick up very quickly and others I can't do at all.

I'm not the perfect age to get real interest of from a guitar teacher either. Does anyone else get the idea that they become a £ or $ sign when they enter the room? This would be great if I was rich!

There is one guitar style I love and I'm not doing too bad at that, imo which might be very different from anyone elses (slide). Without a half decent teacher I think I'll struggle though.

Maybe I'd be better putting my efforts somewhere else or maybe not .... does anyone have any ideas? I'm not gonna learn this stuff from monthly guitar mags and I don't use Paypal.
I'm getting a lot of negative vibes from your post Tina, so the best thing to do is focus on the positive aspects and sling the negatives in the bin where they belong, a perfect student is quite rare and the best teachers are the ones that can get the best out of pupils who struggle a bit more that's the acid test for a Teacher. If you and the Teacher didn't connect and you were working hard to improve then the Teacher must be partially at fault because they failed to help you with the weaker aspects of your playing
There's no such thing as a perfect age, there are guys in their 70s on here who have only taken up guitar recently, if they can give it their best shot all of us can. If your guitar teacher didn't give you attention because of your age then they're not much of a Teacher any way.
Now lets focus on the positives, you're good at scales and you do pick up other things quite quickly, so you have a list of things you can do, so you need to focus on the things you're not good at and practice them a little bit at a time, gradually you'll improve.
You're good at slide and the most positive thing is you can actually play guitar, there are plenty of slide players on here who would be willing to help you, I'm sure Kirk wouldn't mind.
You can ask any question here and someone will be able to help you out and there is a slide forum as well.
There are also a lot of free lessons on the internet, all it takes is a google search to find them.
I hope you don't quit because it sounds like you've laid the foundations for being a guitarist all you need to do is build on it, as Jomi says learn a few easy songs and tunes and start enjoying the guitar and the abilities you have already gained.
We all have doubts about ourselves but a bit of self belief goes along way, hope you get on ok and stick around if you get in a rut, stuck or just fed up someone here will be willing to help out

All the Best

Chris


You don't stop laughing when you grow old; you grow old when you stop laughing.
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Old December 14th, 2007
tina_ tina_ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starsailor View Post
I'm getting a lot of negative vibes from your post Tina, so the best thing to do is focus on the positive aspects and sling the negatives in the bin where they belong,
Your right Chris. Its not been a great week for me and my guitar. It only takes one bad lesson for what seems to be a very comfortable situation fall to apart very quickly (maybe it wasn't as comfortable as I thought).

I've had a knock but your right, there are some positive points....

I found a mag today with hours of lessons (inc some Dream Theatre and some slide) for £5. I'm sure 1 on 1 with the right teacher is better but this'll do me for now. I'm going to buy some easy music ... I know tabs don't cost but right now I need a confidence boost so I'll get a book with the correct tabs/music and a CD.

If I'm not paying for lessons I can afford a new guitar! I spent an hour in a guitar shop today - talking about the options (I might post them in the right place on this forum later). That does help

Thanks for all the replies

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Old December 14th, 2007
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starsailor starsailor is offline
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The vibes have gone Tina, that's cool, I'd like to see what you have in mind and you'll get some feedback from the Techs as well so it would be worth doing, glad you're back on form

Cheers

Chris


You don't stop laughing when you grow old; you grow old when you stop laughing.
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Old December 14th, 2007
tina_ tina_ is offline
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done

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Forum Home > Guitar For Beginners & Beyond General Forum > Playing The Guitar > Formal teaching doesn't work for me, fed up


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