I've had 2 guitar lessons so far. I wasn't sure how the instructor had planned on teaching the course. How was he going to present materials to students who knew how to read music and those who don't? Well, he simply layed out the music sheet and roughly tought us how to read. I was ok with it since I already know music, but it sure pissed the hell out of MT and now she isn't planning on going anymore. It is very boring though. We spend the whole time playing scales on the guitar and some simple music pieces such as the "ode to joy". We haven't learned to play chords yet, and it doesn't look like he's going to teach them until the very end. Which really sucks because we won't be learning any cool music. bleh...
2 comments:
That's interesting. Years back when I first learned a little guitar, my teacher taught me the way that I think is a lot more popular.
First a quick rundown on all the frets and strings, then generally getting to know the notes on the guitar (which is much easier when you have a piano background). And then into the chords. To me, the guitar is all about chording -- picking and playing lead guitar is secondary to me.
He had some planned pieces (generally easy) which help to practice techniques like chord transitions and picking (even finger-picking) and stuff. But the best part was that at the end of each lesson, I could pull out a tape/CD with a song i wanted to learn, and he would listen to it and come up with the chord progressions for it. So though I was learning some technical guitar playing, each time, I also got to have something fun to learn.
Too bad I sucked anyhow. :-P
Hey Head Dump,
I teach guitar in Seattle. 95% of my students learn skills by learning songs they love. It makes learning so much more fun.
I recently started a blog on my website about guitar teaching and playing. I posted a few entries recently--"How to Practice," "The Importance of Having Fun"-- that you might find interesting.
http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/blog/blog.html
I've also got tons of songs that I've written out for my students here:
http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/chords.htm
I hope you enjoy the blog. Feel free to join in on the conversation and link to my site if you think you'll be coming back. I hope it'll become a forum that people return to again and again to swap stories and tips, and I plan on updating every couple days or so.
Have fun with the music,
Rob
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