So ive had my guitar for a year, and this is what i know so far
-Pentatonic scale ( i have most of the extensions memorized )
- Most of the fretboard
- Power chords
- the basics chords ( A-G chords)

My sister went out and got me 4 guitar lessons, and i already went to one, which was awful. He showed me some blue chords ( E7,A7,D7) and the first shape of the pentatonic. waste of money, and it was only 30 minutes long.

I wanted to know what I should TELL him to teach me, because what he showed me was so basic, it made me not want to go anymore. I wanted to ask him to give me tips on transcribing ( tabbing out songs by ear), playing blues lead, and some his best exercises for pull ons, hammer ons, etc, so i can practice it.

does anyone know what else I should get him to teach me?

Whatever you want - but if you don't really know what direction you wanna take your playing, don't fucking give him shit about teaching you simple stuff - if you aren't gonna help the situation by saying "this is what I wanna do - this is where i wanna be in 2 months" then you don't deserve help.

Other than that - lessons are not necessary unless you want them to be. Could ask him to teach you theory? Or to help you write material? Or if you can already do that, don't bother with a teacher.

Not flaming you - but have just a little bit of common sense. If my students come to me and didn't specify, i would drill them on House Of The Rising Sun for a month until I notice a progression - it's not my problem that they find it boring.

i respect the honesty and i will tell him my goals the next time i see him ( Tomorrow, Actually ). i just figured that for 25$ a lesson ( mind you, its only 30 minutes long), i would get more out of the lesson than just three chord shapes, and the first pentatonic shape I already knew.

i think most teachers want you to know the fundamental basics of either the way they want you to, or just in general. he can risk having to go back and teach you all the stuff over again. give him a few lessons then judge him...esp. if you did not tell him what you DO understand. He COULD be a terrible teacher but you gotta give him a chance first

yea if I am teaching anyone a new instrument, I at least go through and review the essentials. Its boring but it ensures the student knows the basics and can progress along with those and rise to the next level while still keeping the fundamentals down.

so if someone came in and wanted to sprint, i'd make them walk first and then guide them to a sprint.

I am thinking about getting some private lessons myself... I am not sure how to approach the music shop in general its a bit intimidating and kind of a daunting task. I dont really want lessons, just some technical advice.. because i know for a fact i hold the guitar wrong, and I probably have terrible picking technique, im 99% sure the way i hold the neck is all wrong too, But id kind of feel like a bit of an A-Hole if i went into a lesson and told the guy "look i already have the tabs and resources for things i want to learn, i just need to show me these few things in the next 5 or 6 lessons." i agree with you on the point that 25$ for a 30min lesson is a bit pricey, esp for someone my age who is not filthy rich and has other financial obligations, But I can look at it from the teachers perspective as well, theyre probably criminally underpaid and I would feel a douchbag if i went in there and said I need 5 lessons because i have a few questions that really can only be answered in person. I doubt everyone thinks the way i do, but i would feel like i was wasting a teachers time if i only wanted to stick around for a total of 6 or 7 hours worth of facetime, its not like the guy cant use 350$ but imagine u went to an algebra teacher and said "look, ill give u 350$ for 7 hours of lessons", it would put a serious burden on them, especially if theyre a good/challenging teacher, because theres no way to cover all that ground in 7 hours, even if u were to practice 10hours at home/1hour in class, ud be lucky to get through 1/10 of the book with a meaningful comprehension level..


I think what i may do is Look online for someone who gives private/inhome lessons, and see if i cant talk it over with them on the phone, buy 5-10 lessons to be fair, but make it known im only interested in lessons for a short time, to get a few questions/problems worked out and reevaluate my current situation. Ill feel like a dickhead but its not like the guy on the other end cant use the money, and if it turns out well, then i could always buy a lesson here and there if the guy has time.

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Dec 10 2011 06:18pm

do you not have any buddies to jam with? im only going to this instructor because the lessons were given to me as a gift.

i dont :/ To be perfectly honest tho i feel like i could be doing more damage than good with my current practicing. I mean I am improving but later on down the road i dont want to have completely reset the way i hold the guitar and the pick and the neck and all of it.. you should see the way i play.. i may post up a picture later if ic an get my hands on a camera. I think i hold it in the "classical" way, because when i started playing it I was in a computer chair with arms, and that was the only way to hold it. Soemtimes when i play it now tho, my chin almost rests on the body of the guitar though, and I can tell sometimes its not very comfortable the way my wrist is positioned, lately i have been having alot of trouble doing pulloffs from pinkie to index, because i dont have enough space sort of.. plus my pinkie is weak and uncooperative

im no expert, but play the way you want. if you really feel your technique is bad, put your ego aside and start over again, using "proper form", and going slow with chromatic scales and pentatonic. i'm doing this now

ya im feeling like i may do that, if i had friend i could just ask would be even easier, but i feel like trying to buy a few lessons would work as well. The other problem is, just running thru scales is about 80% of my practice now, and i feel like im missing alot lol.

/e if someone could recommend a very nice like book/dvd kind of learning system, that would be nice, im not really sure where to go from here. Most of the books etc are targeted at beginners, and not to toot my own horn here, but i think ive moved a bit past that now. Just seems like an instructor could be priceless at this point, i just dont really have the money or the inclination to go to one every week

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Dec 11 2011 01:53pm