I have been attempting to learn guitar for about a year now. I have learned from videos and I know all my major and minor scales, pentatonic scales, chords, chord progressions, etc... I can play songs from tabs, and I'm taking a class on how to read music. The instructor tells me that it will help me understand the music and how to learn for myself. However, I met this kid at Guitar Center that just learned to play by himself. He was incredible. He was playing Hendrix and Van Halen, etc.. He knew all the tricks and he was shredding it up!!!

My question is for all you professionals and great guitar players out there, "Am I doing the right thing?" Should I stay in the class and learn to read music or what should I do to learn and get better? How do I learn the effects and tricks and all that stuff? I know that sometimes you have to get lucky and come across someone who'll take you under their wing, however, that's not the case here.

Thanks in advance:

Frank

That question is going to get a lot of opinions as answer's. There really is no straight up answer. It's all opinion. I myself am self taught, which to me, makes you develop your own style. I can't read music, just tabs, but I can play Eruption.....You don't have to be able to read music to be good or great. My opinion of taking lessons is that your going to learn the style of the person teaching you. But at the same time, taking lessons takes the guess work out of learning. You get a clear path on what to do in certain situations. If your wanting to learn theory, the best thing to do is take lessons, but if your wanting to develop a unique style, I'd suggest keep on learning on your own.....

I think that the value of lessons will be dependent upon your teacher and your relationship with them. A good teacher can help develop your style whilst showing you the quickest way from A to B, avoiding "bad technique" that is limiting speed etc.

I have been playing for 20+ years and took 6 months worth of lessons (for the first time) about 3 years ago. It was quite a rewarding experience and taught me the basics of music theory. Some of this has been helpful!

However a bad teacher... bin them fast !

Me, well... having got the modes and various minor scales down, I will expand my chord vocabulary and finally learn to read music via multi octave arpeggios. I am starting to expand my tapping also and that is an area I want to spend some time on. I can do most of this with a book however, if I manage to find a good teacher, I can just speed it up a bit ! (bad pun I know !)

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First, I'd like to thank you for you input, it is really appreciated. Secondly, let me ask you, how does one build their style. Basically, I am asking if you do not have a teacher, how do you learn how to piece together chords, notes, arpeggios, etc... into forming songs and developing a unique style.
For example, I try to use my scales, chords, and arpeggios into creating melodies and tunes, but most of the time it sounds horrible. What I'm getting at is for example, James the lead singer and songwriter for Metallica couldn't point out a note on the guitar by name (self-admitted in an interview that I saw) nor read sheet music if his life depended on it, however, the guy creates great music. He writes almost all of his string parts for all of his songs. My question is this, how does he and other like him do it???
This is a question that haunts me all the time. Maybe you could shed some light on it.

Thanks again:

Frank

How does James do it? Well, he writes really simple songs, lol! He uses mainly power/simple chords.

You can really only learn to write songs by practicing writing songs and working on your theory. You'll learn what works well with what after time. Teachers can only expedite this process.

About developing your style, that just comes with time. You'll play thousands of licks; the ones you like will stick with you, the ones you don't will get removed from your repetoire...

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- Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Universal Re-Monster

Slash learned all by himself. Thats not to say that since slash did it, we can all do it. Everybody is different, if lessons are working for you put it on the side and do other things....just play songs and you will learn that way. Its important though to have some feedback. I believe a good mix of both would be best.

Being someone who has been self taught, the only thing i regret is someone who could give me feedback to make the process faster, but hey, thats why we have the great people here at Guitar tricks! .

Finally advice, its about fun and exploration of your skills, but without fun its nothing.

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WWSD? What would stevie do?

I think the right path or should say the way to go about it is, never stop learning. Continously try different things. Theres more than a life-times worth of knowledge in music, so don't stop learning. Delve into theory, learn tricks from different guitarists (guitartricks is a gold mine for that), learn other's songs and try to understand them (the arrangement, scales and modes, harmonies, and so on).

Some people can learn on there own and some can't. Having someone there with experience will help you, especially with technique problems or just any questions you may have along the way. Learning on your own is good too, but I would suggest getting books and some videos so that you have something to work on.

Learning to read music definitely helps, I myself have gotten into that lately. I have definitely seen improvement, more in my comprehension and grasp on what I'm playing. I feel like I've finally gotten the missing piece in place.

As for songwritting, I think of it as a craft. The more you know or more tools you have the easier it is to punch out songs.

Just keep at it man

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