I've never had lessons, other than been taught stuff by friends who themselves have had lessons, but have had the itch to get some discipline especially after some guy recently picked up my acoustic (MY baby!) and did something quite similar to introducing a vicar to rimming, felching and erm, I dunno, Dutch ovens, all in the same night, but with different animals. Oh wait that gets done all the time in church. So, now my bitch of an acoustic doesn't want nothing to do with me claiming that I could never satisfy it the way that this guy did. Nevertheless I continue to strive away with the equivalent of good ole Missionary position, just to satisfy my own need to cum up with something prior to manhandling the electric (with which I have a great and dirty relationship, but kinda like an adolescant couple randy to do anything but still descovering where NOT to put it). Damn, what was I talking about, oh yeah lessons. Hey it's almost home-time now, sorry guys!

"How important have lessons been to you in your progress as a guitarist?"


...that's what I was meant to say. Please ignore previous bollocks.

Alternative instrumentalists feel free to answer as well!



('alternative'...hehehe!)

Self-taught sans 2 piano lessons and about 8 drum lessons.

'dre

I had more than two yeas of guitar lessons, it was very important because i was a punk, but it's not NECESARRy, i quit the lessons because i was more interested on things i find all over the net to study.

i have also never had a lesson, just learnt from books, i play guitar,drums keyboard!

MaggotBrain said:

Oh, OK, I wasn't sure...


I've taken some lessons on piano and voice, but could never stick with them. I've taken both private and classroom lessons. I need to practice more, I still have all my notes. I think I can teach myself a lot with all the notes I have, then I could take some more lessons.

We all hear that common cliche about folks who were taught with structure, particularly those classically taught, find it harder to improvise, so maybe most actual artists develope there own ways of expression because they're not confined to within the boundaries of hardcore music theory.

Yeah ok, that theory just makes me feel better!

Piano lessons...sex...I mean sax lessons.

Maggot, I'll say that Music Theory is very important.

Some people say that those who are self taught or are not as musically literate, are more raw and just flow, but thats usually from those who are too lazy to do the work.

U can never know too much. except my guitar teacher, he's crazy.
I totally recommend a teacher, cause even though u think ur doing better off on ur own, u may teaching urself the wrong way to do something.

Now not every teacher is recommendable, but in general its good to have lessons.
I'm 18 and i've stopped guitar lessons, mostly because my teacher moved away, which is good cause he is so great he should not live on cape cod.

I would like to always take them again, but i started and ended with him for about 5-6 years. so its weird now to be taught by someone else.
But i have the basis to teach myself anyways.

If ur self taught and happy, good for u, but never say that self taught people are better.
The greats that i have in mind were actually all taught.

so i had 5-6 years of guitar lessons
*i was gonna teach guitar this year, but i'm not settled enough to allow it in my schedual.
had a year or so of sax lessons way back.
i want to do vocal lessons.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 6 11:37:20 PST 2003 by Jem]

self taught and I learn more everyday.

Self taught doesn't mean I don't know music theory, chord structure or melody composition. I've learned all that stuff in the process of being self taught, but, unlike a taught musician, I've learned those things AS THEY PERTAIN to what I'm doing.

Yeah, I wish I knew a lot more about chord theory, and soloing, and modes and scales and doodaddery, and then I go into the studio alongside a full-on-schooled guitarist and think, holy crap, is there ANYTHING more boring than a Robben Ford clone?

Before you blast me because Robben Ford raised you from a pack of elves or something, I'm just saying, it ain't my cup of tea, and I immediately equate an educated (taught) musician with that kind of mutli-modal jazz-bloated style of playing. I'm sure if I knew anything about what the guy is playing, I'd dig the hell out of it, and then I'd be somebody that I don't like.

So. There you go. Beat me down. Call me whitey. I've been there before.

I've taken lessons but it never lasts more than 2 weeks. The reason is because by then every guitar teacher I've had is like "Learn every note on the fretboard by next week or we're starting over". It seems to me while learning the notes is important, I'm not paying money for somebody to quiz me on notes.

I was taught drums, my dad taught me bass but everything else is self taught

otan said:

I hope u didn't think i was beating u down. i said if it makes u happy, then good. some people use it well some don't care, and thats fine. i just meant people shouldn't say one is better than the other cause they both have pros and cons in their own ways.

Jimi was completely self taught apparently. And he was, is, and will always be the greatest ever guitarist...I don't care what wannabees you wanna throw at me, it just isn't debatable, until they invent a guitar with five necks, oh and clone someone with five hands I personally can't knock lessons though after watching classical/spanish dudes do their stuff. Totally mesmorising.


All you guys rock, I aint looking to compare effects on quality of music, that aint the point! I like your quote though Otan, "I've learned those things as the pertain to what I'm doing". I can empathise with that totally.
I also agree with Jems comment on self-taughters sometimes teaching themselves the wrong way to do things...something I find with scales a lot (like, why have I been going all the way up there when the same note is right there?). No I haven't learnt all the notes of the guitar. Just the ones I need

I am a trained trumpet player but a schooled but mostly self taught keyboardist. I firmly believe that a real musician should know music theory but not to the point that it chokes the life out of your creativity. I find that there needs to be a balance between know how and flow.I taught a friend of mine to play keyboards and he learned to play in Eb minor which if u do not know means that u use all of the black keys on the piano with is a perfect pentatonic scale and will sound good no matter what u hit.U only include a (b) and a (f) to complete the scale and voila an instant song using chords based on these notes like Eb minor 9,to a B major 7, to a Bb minor 7,to a B major with a Db bass.Try it none keyboardist and see for yourself.Get a chord book and find these chords.For those who had formal training, get more. For those who never had,get some. U won't regret it.

I've taken guitar lessons, singing lessons and a music theory course. However, I think I learned 50% of what I actually use from my father (who plays the guitar too), guitar magazines and books, 51% from just listening to records and watching guitarists play and 1% from the lessons...

Wait that's 102% erm you know what I mean.

hectim said:

MaggotBrain said:

Well said.

The other thing I was going to mention was that in High School and justgetting into guitar I went to the National Summer Guitar Workshop (or a name close to that).

I went for 2 weeks and was exposed to theory, great concerts up close with a Q&A session and some really cool musicans from all over the country. There were also some ego-driven asses but a really cool experience all the same.

The fact of the matter is the day that I think I know everything about anything is the day that hell freezes over. I love learning/growing and the day that I'm not will be the day I die.

about 13 years of sax lessons...

about 2 guitar lessons...

roughly 1 year of drum lessons...

and my main instrument these days is guitar...


go figure!

i think though, that all I learned musically on sax, I just translated to guitar.

If you find a good teacher lessons are great. They can show you stuff that might take you years for you to find yourself. I was taking lesson for 3 weeks and now there isn't a chord you can name that I can't find. And thats after 3 short lessons. Because I am a gigging musician I can't fit in his schedule anymore, *sob* but he was a big help in pushing me in the right musicial direction. Hopefully I'll find someone just like him or better to study with soon. I miss learning new things. A great teacher is the key. Anyone can take your money, but not everyone can open musicial paths.

csharp57 said:

mmm... i've been playing guitar for about six months now and i'm pretty good... i was self-taught for two months, then i got an asshole, impatient teacher who thankfully retired. i've been self-teaching since then and recently got a cheerful guitar guy who got me into john mayer... a good attitude is what makes or breaks a teacher for me, he's so patient and unarrogant, makes all his skills seem not far beyond reach.

he tabbed out let's go crazy and 1999 for me the other day, i will post the tabs up here sometime for y'all orger guitarists.

a good attitude is what makes or breaks a teacher for me,


You said a mouthfull. That is the main reason many try the lessons route, find a bad teacher and quit music altogether. That and expensive lessons.

MaggotBrain said:

I have a performance degree in Classical Guitar and I've been classically trained on piano and trumpet, but I also play jazz, rock, soul, blues, etc. and am a diehard improvisor. I think most classical musicians don't see improvisation as an option. Getting lessons to learn rock or something like that seems kinda silly to me because its so basic most of the time, that you can get what you need by playing with people and listening to records. Classical and jazz are a lot more complicated and I could see getting lessons for those. But having said that, Andres Segovia and Wes Montgomery were both self taught. I think it really depends on the person. SOme people can suss out a lot of this musical stuff on their own and others make better progress with a teacher. I have never taken lessons other than classical lessons but I can tell you that it helped my chops in other areas a lot and really opened my eyes to a lot of music that I woulnd't have known about otherwise. i honestly don't play tons of classical anymore but if you're looking for a way to jumpstart your chops or learn something new, I'd defintely say to see about getting some classical lessons.