[Chasba]

Hi, I hope this may inspire anyone out there who loves the guitar and everything to do with it. I have owned a guitar since I was 15 and am now 54. In all that time, although I learned the basic chord shapes, I never really got to the point where I could play anything. Also I couldn't fathom out how music works and how music theory relates to guitar playing. I tried all kinds of self-teaching methods, even now the tutorials on DVD, but got nowhere.

About to give up as being talentless, I finally decided to to give it one last chance and get some help (tuition, I mean, not a shrink!). I found a local teacher and already, AFTER JUST ONE LESSON, I find I can play a little and am starting to understand all that baffling theory. Now when I read all the good stuff on the Guitar For Beginners website, it all starts to make sense.

So, if you can, spend some money on lessons. Find a good teacher to point you in the right direction. Then start using all the self-help resources to back that up. It's never too late!

[Spyder F16]

Teachers are great for if you cannot figure something out.

I myself know much about structure from all the years of choir I had.

[mordent]

Hi to all.
Chasba you RIGHT! At first time i practice of self-teaching methods,but one day i
stop in my music evolution and i absolutely don't know what to do!by a fluke i to meet
with Tom Hess (hess.4t.com).And now i contend my results.
With a teacher i get improvisation skills,learn to use theory on practice,advance my aural
skills.So,your words:" if you can, spend some
money on lessons. Find a good teacher to point you in the right direction. Then start
using all the self-help resources to back that up. It's never too late!" - it's PURE TRUE!
Spyder F16, biggest part of practice - self-dependent working.But good teacher
makes results your work more productive ,and give right way in your growth.
Man,who never get lessons,self-teaching and become famous musicant - wery big rarity,
it's distinguishing feature of Great Musicants!

[allthumbs]

I tried two or three teachers. Didn't work well for me. I have a learning disability so I would drive my teachers nuts with my slow progress and boy did I feel preasure to meet their goals. I floundered around for many years before I found Kirks' Plane Talk method. That, I can learn. It would be nice to have a player handy for some quick answers when I get puzzled by something though. I think teachers in general is a good idea, it just doesn't work for me.

[bluesguy]

I have to say that my playing has improved so much in the last 18 months since I got my teacher. My teacher enjoys teaching adults.

I can also understand that for some folks a teacher would not work. Each person needs to find what works for them.

[Mick800]

I've been playing for two decades and have taught both guitar and music theory. I'm also an alumnus of Berklee College of Music. Knowing theory isn't a necessity, but it certainly can make things easier. I'm presently putting together a site that will incorporate some really cool teaching concepts. It's all free and there is some cool software you can download. Check it out at http://www.texotix.com
My students have always had great results from my teaching methods so I encourage you to stop by. I'll be adding lessons on a weekly basis, if not more often than that. Cheers!

[Mother Brando]

i started playing guitar when i was 11,i am now an old lady and found that after some 30 years i needed brush up lessons again, and who should be there to guide me but the same teacher i had,a true Master in every way! once a week for a year i have gone and it has made all the difference in my playing! and\ to all the females out there playing, it does't matter about finger length,hand strength,or that you have long nails. nails can be filed, strength can be gained and quickness in finding the notes makes up for the shortness of fingers! the more you learn to play the more you will know and the more you know the more you will understand that the guitar is a instrument that is limitless in possiblities,ESPECIALLY when you have a instructor!

[Kirk Lorange]

My experience with teachers was less satisfying. When I was 16 I went to a teacher in Montreal. I was already pretty adept and the first thing she told me was to forget everything I knew, that I was riddled with bad habits. She then spent the first lesson putting my foot up on a little stand and wrenching me into what she called the right position. All I wanted was to hear somebody good play something right there in front of me, so I asked her to inspire me. She declined, saying she had to get ready for the next student. This happened three weeks in a row and I then realized she couldn't really play anything herself, she just knew what was in the book she was using to teach. I stopped going and never went back to a teacher again. I started earning my living from playing about 3 years after that ... that was 1969 and I haven't done anything else ever since.

If you can't find a good teacher, try and play with as many people as you can ... you'll learn something from all of them, even those who are less advanced that you are.

[Pete]

""who should be there to guide me but the same teacher i had,a true Master in every way! "" ...and an Old Master, as well

My experience with teachers parallels Kirk's in every way, although four years earlier, in Australia, and with the difference that over the last almost four decades, whilst teaching literally thousands of people to play guitar, I have owned and run four Music Studios, all of them thriving busnesses except one where I employed a highly qualified Classical teacher, similar to the dragons that Kirk and I encountered, and within six months she had run the busnisses into the ground.
No degree of blinkered, play-by-numbers grade exams and diplomas can ever match interpersonal skills, the ability to play and teach multiple styles, talant and a love for what you do.