Well had my first guitar lesson......Not sure how it went.

If I had it to over again, I would go back and start taking lessons from a guy like Mark from the very beginning. When I got my first electric, I started lessons with a guy whose musical choices were completely at odds with what I wanted to learn and we butted heads from the get go. He was a great player, but a horrible teacher. I quit after about 6 lessons and it's been all me ever since. Despite the fact that I somehow got lucky enough to find some success as a musician without proper training, I'm sure I would be a thousand times better had I sought the right instruction early on. I have probably the worst "technique" on the planet and I wouldn't know a pentatonic scale from a flux capacitor.

Over the last several months, I've been quietly studying up on Marks site and have learned a great deal. I am totally indebted to Senior Wein.

Do yourself a favor and find yourself the right instructor to help you along the way.
 
Sounds to me like he didn't realize that he was going to have a challenge on his hands. Lots of people overstate their experience and prowess, because we tend to think we are better than we really are. I found it interesting that you realized you know more than you thought you did, but not surprising.

Give him the chance to step up and deliver and see what happens. He may end up having more to offer you than sight reading and modes, or he could end up asking you for lessons.

As an aside, theyre are so many more resources available now for self taught players than there were 20-30 years ago, so explore the net.
 
Saturn! I'm seeing what you're saying about coming off scary, something happening to me,
as I get older.... and older.... ouch!
At first I noticed younger girls behind cash registers not noticing me... sigh...
and now my Al Pacino "Scarface" imitation is going over a little too well...
I'm not all bad. I might have some residual cuteness going...
even if some friends are now calling me Mr. Furley.

as always, John Watt
 
Eminence_Front said:
The hardest thing for me about lessons is asserting myself. You have to be really honest about what you want out of the lessons... Sometimes good instructors aren't great players (great = phenomenal.). . .
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I've only taken lessons twice. Both times I came in with a very specific problem and goal to solve it. Both times, I got what I needed out of the first lesson. After that, the goals and directions of the lessons were handled by the instructor and that didn't work out for long. I quit both times after only a few lessons.

Perhaps, I should have continued to make new goals and assert myself with my instructors. Or, maybe I should have continued to try different instructors until I found the one who fit me best.

Saturn, hopefully, this guy ends up being a good fit for you. Otherwise, I hope you seek out somebody who is the right instructor for you. I hope I do the same. :thu:
 
Well lesson 2 was tonight and I have to say it went much better. I kind of realized what he was going to do when I looked over the notes from the first lesson and when we started I told him I know where he is trying to go. He said he kind of thought I would figure it out. He admitted the first lesson was kind of rough but he figured out I was a really advanced player and he made a good analogy. He said it's like I have all these years of music knowledge and concepts and I took them and put them in a coffee can then shook it up and threw them up in the air and just pick up the pieces I need when I want them. He said we're going to jump ahead and start putting all the pieces back in order. We jumped into playing some interesting triplets and double stops but also talked over the basics of what we were playing. It was kind of funny he was playing Amazing Grace demonstrating where he was trying to take me and I was playing back Randy Rhodes riffs that were the same concept. It was kind of fun and interesting. So I have more hope going forward that we will make progress. Still not going over anything I don't know but like he said we were putting the first piece back where it belonged.

I'm actually looking forward to next week to see what he thinks the next piece is.
 
Saturn said:
Well lesson 2 was tonight and I have to say it went much better. I kind of realized what he was going to do when I looked over the notes from the first lesson and when we started I told him I know where he is trying to go. He said he kind of thought I would figure it out. He admitted the first lesson was kind of rough but he figured out I was a really advanced player and he made a good analogy. He said it's like I have all these years of music knowledge and concepts and I took them and put them in a coffee can then shook it up and threw them up in the air and just pick up the pieces I need when I want them. He said we're going to jump ahead and start putting all the pieces back in order. We jumped into playing some interesting triplets and double stops but also talked over the basics of what we were playing. It was kind of funny he was playing Amazing Grace demonstrating where he was trying to take me and I was playing back Randy Rhodes riffs that were the same concept. It was kind of fun and interesting. So I have more hope going forward that we will make progress. Still not going over anything I don't know but like he said we were putting the first piece back where it belonged.

I'm actually looking forward to next week to see what he thinks the next piece is.
Click to expand...

that's cool. you figured out where you needed to be and now you're both in the same headspace. that's the most important thing.
 
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