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Post by ewheel on Feb 21, 2006 21:02:24 GMT -7
Hello,
I've been coming here a long time and reading all the posts. I'm a very new player trying to learn all I can and I could use some advice from some of you. Most of you seem to be pros and that's who I need to ask these questions.
I've been playing for three months after finally getting enough money together to get a Squier Telecaster and a used Pro Junior. It took me all summer. There aren't many teachers in my town and that's where my problem is. My teacher is a very good player and plays in a local band. When I first started out, it was ok. But now, when I have a lesson, he doesn't seem to be interested in what I'm playing or what I've learned. During my lesson he takes phone calls and everything gets interupted. He taught me how to read Tab and sometimes he'll just give me the Tab and leave the room for a while making his phone calls and lunch dates. The next week after I've practiced it all week, he doesn't even want to hear if I got it right. I don't know if I should just quit or just stick with him and get so good I MAKE him listen to me.
How did you guys get to where you are today. I know some of you are going to say just play, but what is more important, a good teacher or videos and Tab? I guess I'm frustrated, but I really have a desire to learn and don't want to spin my wheels.
Thanks,
Eddie Wheeler
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Post by foxx on Feb 21, 2006 22:36:40 GMT -7
I'm no pro, but I can assure you that the learning curve takes a while. Maybe you should find another teacher if you don't like going to that guy. Also keep in mind that if the guy is just teaching tablature, you can learn that on your own. Many would say that learning music or guitar from tabs is not even close to the best way. Learn the notes and chords, if not some music theory, you'll be a better guitarist that way. Information and inspiration are very helpful. Books and videos have helped me in the past, they are better than having no educational source. Learn songs, and play along with them. USE YOUR EARS AT ALL TIMES, THIS MEANS TUNING WELL, PLAYING WELL AND LISTENING TO YOURSELF.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2006 0:51:48 GMT -7
I think more than anything you need to believe in yourself. I would bring up your concerns about the lack of teaching going on in your guitar lesson to your teacher. If he is unwilling to change then find someone better. After all you are paying him to teach you. You are not paying him to answer phone calls and make lunch dates. I think that is pretty rude and inconsiderate. In the end it does not matter what he thinks about your guitar playing. All that matters is what you think about it. As long as your are enjoying it and having fun then that is all that matters. I think some of the most successful musicians and artist are the ones that love what they do and don't take it too seriously. When you start to take things seriously you will start to suffer. When you are getting better and finding the joy in playing your guitar, others will experience the same joy in seeing you play. It does not matter what you play but how you play. It seems you are already working pretty hard. Keep it up. Listen to as much music as possible and be open to as much good music as possible. Good music is good music no matter where it comes from. Watch videos of your guitar heroes. Stevie Ray Vaughn 'Live at the El Mocambo' is still doing it for me. Watching videos(live or instructional) can help you see how the pros deal with things such as scales, chord progressions and improvisation. Instructional books can be invaluable as far as the knowledge they impart to a player. In the end the best teacher you have is yourself. Trust yourself and you will be alright. PM me if you want a list of some great books that have helped me a lot.
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Post by joekondziella on Feb 22, 2006 4:08:29 GMT -7
Here's a couple of great ways to learn the fundamentals in a very thorough way and way beyond. I wish I would have had these thirty years ago. I try to use both of these every day to become a better musician. If you're not growin' you're dyin' guitarscalesmethod.com/ www.seventhstring.com
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Post by billyguitar on Feb 22, 2006 5:55:11 GMT -7
The videos and seeing people play live is always good. Things can seem so obvious once you see it done but you do have to have the knowledge to know the key they are in and what strings/notes they are actually playing.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Feb 22, 2006 8:27:53 GMT -7
Hello, I've been coming here a long time and reading all the posts. I'm a very new player trying to learn all I can and I could use some advice from some of you. Most of you seem to be pros and that's who I need to ask these questions. I've been playing for three months after finally getting enough money together to get a Squier Telecaster and a used Pro Junior. It took me all summer. There aren't many teachers in my town and that's where my problem is. My teacher is a very good player and plays in a local band. When I first started out, it was ok. But now, when I have a lesson, he doesn't seem to be interested in what I'm playing or what I've learned. During my lesson he takes phone calls and everything gets interupted. He taught me how to read Tab and sometimes he'll just give me the Tab and leave the room for a while making his phone calls and lunch dates. The next week after I've practiced it all week, he doesn't even want to hear if I got it right. I don't know if I should just quit or just stick with him and get so good I MAKE him listen to me. How did you guys get to where you are today. I know some of you are going to say just play, but what is more important, a good teacher or videos and Tab? I guess I'm frustrated, but I really have a desire to learn and don't want to spin my wheels. Thanks, Eddie Wheeler Well first of all Eddie, you are not doing yourself any favors sticking with that clod. You're paying for his time and he's off doing something else. Ditch him - he's not part of the solution, he's part of the problem. Back when I started out, there weren’t tabs, or any of the other cool stuff we have available on the web today. Yet I still managed to pull some stuff together by listening to records (yeah, the vinyl kind) and trying to find those notes on my guitar. That was a way slow method, but it did a couple of good things for me, not the least of which is that it required that I develop an ear. That helped a lot later on when I started joining bands. The down side to my method was that I didn't get any of the theory side of the music, and that hurt me later on when I had to go back and learn some of that stuff. I thought it was a waste of time in the beginning (hey, I was only 13) but music theory is the language you use to communicate with other musicians. If you don’t have the fundamentals, you won't be able to communicate when you're trying to tell your pals what you want to do in a song. By the way, you'll never get any fundamentals learning songs from tabs unless there is an accompanying explanation of what you are doing there. The other thing you need to keep in mind is that music is not just notes. Music is the space between the notes. In other words, there is an awful lot of timing involved in making good music. I was fortunate in that I had taken some drums in grade school and that has been extremely beneficial to me over the years. Rhythm and timing are critical for making beautiful music - don't just focus on the notes, start listening to the spaces between the notes - that's where all the magic happens! Finally, find yourself a teacher who focuses on this stuff, and is attentive. It might be a surprise that working musicians aren't necessarily always very good music teachers. A good teacher is going to start at the beginning with lessons about theory, timing, scales, chord structure, and he’ll pay attention when you come back. And learn to read music! I can't tell you how many times I wished I had got good enough at sight reading to just plop a sheet of music down and play it. You won't be sorry!
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Post by guitarman1 on Feb 22, 2006 9:53:01 GMT -7
Hello, I've been coming here a long time and reading all the posts. I'm a very new player trying to learn all I can and I could use some advice from some of you. Most of you seem to be pros and that's who I need to ask these questions. I've been playing for three months after finally getting enough money together to get a Squier Telecaster and a used Pro Junior. It took me all summer. There aren't many teachers in my town and that's where my problem is. My teacher is a very good player and plays in a local band. When I first started out, it was ok. But now, when I have a lesson, he doesn't seem to be interested in what I'm playing or what I've learned. During my lesson he takes phone calls and everything gets interupted. He taught me how to read Tab and sometimes he'll just give me the Tab and leave the room for a while making his phone calls and lunch dates. The next week after I've practiced it all week, he doesn't even want to hear if I got it right. I don't know if I should just quit or just stick with him and get so good I MAKE him listen to me. How did you guys get to where you are today. I know some of you are going to say just play, but what is more important, a good teacher or videos and Tab? I guess I'm frustrated, but I really have a desire to learn and don't want to spin my wheels. Thanks, Eddie Wheeler Mel Bay and LOTS of records.
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Post by Curt on Feb 22, 2006 10:05:18 GMT -7
Hello, I've been coming here a long time and reading all the posts. I'm a very new player trying to learn all I can and I could use some advice from some of you. Most of you seem to be pros and that's who I need to ask these questions. I've been playing for three months after finally getting enough money together to get a Squier Telecaster and a used Pro Junior. It took me all summer. There aren't many teachers in my town and that's where my problem is. My teacher is a very good player and plays in a local band. When I first started out, it was ok. But now, when I have a lesson, he doesn't seem to be interested in what I'm playing or what I've learned. During my lesson he takes phone calls and everything gets interupted. He taught me how to read Tab and sometimes he'll just give me the Tab and leave the room for a while making his phone calls and lunch dates. The next week after I've practiced it all week, he doesn't even want to hear if I got it right. I don't know if I should just quit or just stick with him and get so good I MAKE him listen to me. How did you guys get to where you are today. I know some of you are going to say just play, but what is more important, a good teacher or videos and Tab? I guess I'm frustrated, but I really have a desire to learn and don't want to spin my wheels. Thanks, Eddie Wheeler Mel Bay and LOTS of records. +1 LOL, I've never took a lesson, but wore out my Mel Bay book. Here's a stupidly simple tip, one I wish someone would have told me when I started out 30 years ago. GET A TUNER and always tune up, then you'll be ready to play along with your fav CD's, There is some great software available too, The amazing slow downer is a GREAT tool. There is a thread on here somewhere. Be deligent, keep the faith and here's a quote from Charlie Daniels that I drag up when I loose faith; " there is only 12 notes in music.." Curt
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 22, 2006 14:54:06 GMT -7
Charlie Daniels that I drag up when I loose faith; " there is only 12 notes in music.." Curt Curt - GREAT quote man! Eddie - keep workin' hard! You're probably ahead of me as I'm still a hack despite the fact that I've been playing over 10 years... I've always found I progress more as a player when I set goals for myself and make sure I stick to them... Example: get through a lesson every three days in whatever book you're using... Learn a new song from start to finish once a week, etc. A great way to do the later of the two is to get something where you can jam along with the CD -- like a Behringer V-Amp with the modelling and the CD input... They're only like $70 if you get a factory 2nd at zzounds.com I say save the money you've been spending on that "teacher" and invest in some more tools to teach yourself... method books, something to jam along with, a tuner, etc... Those are all good tools. The internet is also a great resource for finding all kinds of great instructional material and suggestions on how to play. My experience with teachers early on was always the same as yours... They don't really help you learn any faster, and they're not really paying attention to you 3/4 of the time, but they're more than happy to take your money. I'm sure there are good teachers out there, but out of three tries with three different teachers, I never found one... The last teacher I had I ended up teaching HIM as I'd progress through my "lesson" book.
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Post by ewheel on Feb 24, 2006 6:45:40 GMT -7
Thank you all for the advice and tips. I quit my teacher and I'm going to work on some videos and books. I don't think my teacher was ignoring my playing now, I just think he just ran out of things he could teach me. He was real nice about it and showed me which books and video to work with. My Dad built a shed for me to be able to practice and a place where me and my friends can play. I've got one friend that's learning the drums and another that's playing the bass. It probably doesn't sound to good when we play but it's a lot of fun and we can get loud and not bother anybody with our noise. I told my buddys about it just being 12 notes. My Dad said when you're starting out you play a lot of bad notes, but you've got to do that to get to the good stuff. I think that's why he built the shed. It's for all those bad notes. What I want most to do now is be able to come up to the house and play my Dad a good song. I owe him that for giving me a place to play.
Thank you all again,
Eddie
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Post by Curt on Feb 24, 2006 8:01:18 GMT -7
Thank you all for the advice and tips. I quit my teacher and I'm going to work on some videos and books. I don't think my teacher was ignoring my playing now, I just think he just ran out of things he could teach me. He was real nice about it and showed me which books and video to work with. My Dad built a shed for me to be able to practice and a place where me and my friends can play. I've got one friend that's learning the drums and another that's playing the bass. It probably doesn't sound to good when we play but it's a lot of fun and we can get loud and not bother anybody with our noise. I told my buddys about it just being 12 notes. My Dad said when you're starting out you play a lot of bad notes, but you've got to do that to get to the good stuff. I think that's why he built the shed. It's for all those bad notes. What I want most to do now is be able to come up to the house and play my Dad a good song. I owe him that for giving me a place to play. Thank you all again, Eddie Rock on man, it'll come together and ain't nuthin' better than when it does. Playing with other people is the best way to learn and your Dad is real cool for helping you. As a dad myself..."Thank you" for wanting to give him something back. Curt
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Post by Bill on Feb 24, 2006 8:12:25 GMT -7
"What I want most to do now is be able to come up to the house and play my Dad a good song. I owe him that for giving me a place to play."
Very cool, Eddie. Love it when my son plays me a song. Good luck!
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Post by billyguitar on Feb 24, 2006 15:44:58 GMT -7
Playing with more advanced musicians will give your working knowledge of music a great shot in the arm. Don't forget to practice your bends and vibrato. A bend needs to have a destination, a specific note or not depending on what you're shooting for. Clear notes, good bends and good vibrato will go a long way towards making better music.
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Post by foxx on Feb 24, 2006 18:18:55 GMT -7
This is really a great forum. A great bunch of guys, professional or not, are here and giving sound advice to everyone. Thank you all, and thank you Dr. Z. I love my Mazerati!
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Post by bluzsteel on Feb 25, 2006 7:03:32 GMT -7
turn up your fav cd's turn up your amp and play alnight long.......practice Major and Minor Pentatonic scales along the way as well those two are where I grab my solos from
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