Tell me about Guitar lessons please

[lovetoscrap]

DH has always wanted to learn guitar. He bought a guitar over a year ago and tried to teach himself with books and videos but really needs lessons.

He signed up through a local music shop for lessons but after 2 it was obvious this wasn't the right teacher for him. The teacher didn't really watch what he was doing, would play stuff and tell him to repeat it and then get frustrated when DH couldn't do it perfectly. After teaching him 2 scales he told him to just start "improvising" when DH couldn't even play them well yet. He felt like the teacher was more showing off than really interested in helping him learn and working at his pace.

Anyway, the shop is being very nice and switching him to another teacher. But what is normal to expect from guitar lessons? I am only familiar with kids band and piano lessons. Should he be getting any type of written music? Do you learn scales and easy songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or should he just be trying to do Stairway to Heaven after a few lessons?

Anything you can tell me about what to expect from good guitar lessons/good teachers would be appreciated.

 

[java]

Well I took lessons as a kid- for YEARS! And yes in the beginning you do the boring scales- learning how to read music. Placement of fingers
The boring A-G-A_F over and over. The first year of lessons are pretty dull but you need to get that down to really move on.

And yes I had a show off teacher. But if you are paying for a LESSON. He should be learning something. I had a book that I had to practice out of.

I and I remember one of the early songs being "She's coming round the mountain"

 

[ckay87]

My son takes guitar lessons and is actually very into the technicalities of it. But his teacher also gives him fun music to play in addition to the boring lessons AND his jazz band music. He always has some rock song he's working on. I can't think of anything recent, but the teacher had him playing (most of) "One" by Metallica within the first year. So yea, it depends on the teacher. We also upped him to one-hour lessons which also helps accomodate all of that.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Hubby welcomes the boring scales and technicalities (he doesn't even think his hands/fingers are in the right places). This teacher just seemed to want him to be doing riffs and improvs at Van Halen speed at the second lesson and was not happy when DH wanted to slow down and try to at least master the basics and asked some questions.

But he wondered if his expectations of the lessons was not reasonable and he is just a "bad" student.

 

[GeorgeG]

Like with anything else, you have to find the right teacher. I do recommend lessons. Even though I've spent decades playing in professional venues, I was self taught and there isn't a day go by that I don't regret not having learned proper chords, etc.. I get by, sometimes quite well, but I would be so much better if I had taken formal lessons. I've even had friends try to teach me proper fingerings, but I was too set in my improvised fingerings to change. My loss...

 

[Buckalew11]

My nephew started lessons 4 or 5 years ago as a senior in HS. He took for about a year or so. He learns some stuff now from youTube, I believe. He is starting his SR year in college and my sister says that is all he wants to do is play!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My kids' guitar teacher is a school music teacher and also does private lessons for all ages and workshops for adults. He also plays weddings and other venues, so he's all over the board. You can tell he just loves it.

The one thing he told me when we started was that, in his experience, kids (and I presume adults, also), have to get playing pretty quickly or they get bored and may not stick it out. He had my kids reading music and playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on their own after a lesson or two (I was kind of amazed).

One of my son's friends who'd been taking lessons from someone else for quite a while was over our house one day and I asked him to play something for me. He only knew chords. I've never played myself so I can't say how it's "supposed" to be done, or even whether there are any hard, fast rules about learning to play. But what I can say is that, however my kids' teacher taught them, after a year of lessons they were both playing from song books quite well.

FWIW, I thought I might try to learn myself watching the DVD that came with the guitars. Big snooze fest. Now my DD says she's going to teach me. I'm not sure I have the desire to learn any longer, but it's fun to see that she can actually teach me if she wants to. Tell your husband to keep searching around for the right teacher.

Forgot to say that daily practice is a must.

 

[IDoDis]

My 10 year old DS has been taking (electric) guitar lessons for over a year. He gets lessons from a music major at our local university. He has learned the scales, had to practice chord progressions and started out with some basic songs. Now he's also learned several heavy metal songs. When people hear him they are shocked that he's only had lessons for such a short time. I pay $20 for an hour lesson once a week.

 

[GothTink]

My husband is taking guitar lessons and his first lesson focused on bar chords - that day he was playing a Green Day song, so....I think it depends on the teacher what kinds of things you tackle.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

A good teacher should teach at his pace while still progressing forward. I'd want a new teacher, too. My DH has been teaching for awhile and for his adults, he does want them to work on their improvising skills, but not on their first few lessons. They have to know how to play before they can improvise what to play. Right now, he should be learning scales, chords, and reading music (or tabs). Good luck to your DH. I hope he finds the right teacher for his learning style!

 

[Deb in IA]

DH has been through at least 4 guitar teachers in his adult life.

His current teacher, who also teaches our son is listed here, and is, by far, the best teacher they have had. You can read a bit about his style of teaching and his experience and try to find someone like that.

http://tomsguitarstudio.com/about/

 

[Tinkermom76]

my DS15 takes lessons and he was playing pretty quick, but I know he is learning the technical stuff cause I see him writing out music

 

[Feralpeg]

When I learned to play the guitar, I started out learning from books. I also bought music theory books. They really helped. Eventually, I signed up for classical guitar classes at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri at KC. I was really glad that I had learned the music theory. It was funny. The students who were regular conservatory majors were much better at the music theory, but couldn't play worth a darn. Those of us who were not regular conservatory majors were not that good at the theory, but we could play rings around the music majors.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If he truly wants to learn to play, he needs to find an instructor who will truly teach him. Sometimes when adults want to learn to play, they want to learn to fake it and some instructors only teach that. I have this issue when I take piano lessons sometimes.

It seems your husband's instructor expected him to be a prodigy since he might know some things already. It is a sign of a bad instructor. I am self tought on piano, but week in theory and practice, but for some reason--some piano instructors think that what took me 15 years to learn on my own was some mysterious overnight success. It is annoying.

My DD takes guitar and aside from her not practicing as often as she can, things are going well. She is taking lessons at a music school geared towards homeschoolers.

Perhaps private instruction would be better for your husband.

As for the boring repetition--that is the foundation of most any musical instrument. I can't tell you how often I am hearing the same thing OVER and OVER and OVER again with my girls' piano and violin playing (as well as guitar.)

It is simply foundational work and can't be missed. My 6yo desparately wants to learn piano arpeggios. They are humouring her a little, but it is really a more advanced skill on piano and she doesn't know her scales and chords, yet.

I find it helpful (for me) for instructors to speak to me like they are teaching my children. I get more that way.