Private Guitar Lesson

Hi everyone,

I'm so glad to find this forum. I wish I knew about this site long a time ago. Well, I'm a beginner guitar player. I'm very excited; I'm taking my first guitar lesson tonight.

I want to ask all you guys who are experienced players about taking private guitar lessons.

How many in here actually took private guitar lessons? Did you enjoy it? Was it worth the amount of money you paid for for what you get out of it? The reason I ask is because I'm a little tight on budget right now but it's what I wanted to do a long time ago and don't want to wait any more. I want to be as good as I can as quickly as possible to save me some time and money.

Anyhow, how long did it take you to get where you wanted or get good at the guitar? Did you learn music theory/notations too, or not? What did you learn first, guitar techniques or guitar theory or both? Did you just learn one style of guitar playing or all styles? What would you do or recommend to a newbie like me to get the most out of private lessons? If you could go back in time, would you take private guitar lessons or would you not?

I apologized for asking so many unreasonable questions. I'm just very curious about something that I'm going to spend a lot of money on; and it's been so long that I haven't had any type of lessons. I took a short piano lesson a while back and I've been playing the piano for a little over a decade now and just wondering if it's any similar or different to piano lessons. And again I'm still very excite about my first guitar lesson tonight. Any advice or feedback would be much appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read and anwer my questions. Have a great day.

Hi, I don't think your questions are unreasonable at all. Those are the questions that should be asked.
I'm not a true beginner as I've played acoustic guitar before. Just by learning chords and a few tricks from friends. Nothing special. To cut the story short, that was about 20yrs ago. Recently, I've decided to take lessons. Mainly, electric guitar lessons. I wasn't sure if that was the road to take or just learn from online websites like this. I had my first lesson (1/2hr). It was nothing special, just basics, but I've already learned a couple of things. So yeah, I think taking private lessons is going to help a lot. What helps me now are a few things:
1. Private lessons (1/2hr lesson for me each time for only $15. Once a week)
2. Learn from websites like GT.
3. Read all you can about what you need to know from other websites. For e.g if I don't understand what is scale, I lookup at google and found the definition of scales.

Also, practice, practice and practice. There is no shortcut to being a good guitarist. I had to tell myself be patient. Set aside 1/2hr each day to practice.....if you can practice more than 1/2hr, sure, why not. Just don't let guitar practice get in your normal life.
Hope this helps. Good luck buddy!

I first started the guitar because my Mom enrolled me into a program at school. This was more of a public class, than private. I moved to another public class after that, then 3 years later I had a private instructor. I think if you are just starting to learn, a GOOD teacher is a good investment. It's one thing to read something on the internet and try to apply it, but to have physical help is way more beneficial. A guitar teacher will not only show you how to play, but he will always be right there with you to quickly correct any mistakes you make and help you to avoid picking up bad habits.

As far as theory goes, my guitar teachers never really focused on that. It's the 1 thing i regret about my instructors. Learning theory is a lot easier if you learn as you learn to play the guitar. Now I am having to go back to basics and learn theory on my own, which is a lot harder.

So I recommend that you get a guitar teacher that knows what he's doing, and can teach you theory as well. Even if it isn't for a very long time, you will learn a lot during the time you do have him available.

I guess it really depends on how bad you want to learn.

I took lessons years ago. I think I took 4 or 5 lessons before I gave up.

A month ago I decided I wanted to play again(and really dedicate some time to learn). I bought a guitar and signed up on this site.

After a month of playing(as little as 10minutes somedays and as much as a few hours on other days), I now know A-G major, minor and maj7 chords and just got through scales. I'm able to play basic easy melodies like xmas songs, and intros to a lot of other songs.

I don't think you need to spend the money on lessons as long as you Want to learn to play. The great part about this site is you can take lessons 10 hours a day if you want and you're still only paying the monthly fee. Take a lesson at 4am if you want.

I think you'll learn a lot quicker using an online site. I sure did. It's a lot cheaper too.

when I started playing back in grade school, my school offered cheap lessons because you would learn from someone older than you that played at our church (it was a catholic school). looking back, I really wish I had started with lessons from a real teacher and not the girl I learned from. her teaching approach was horrible, and I really think it set me back right from the start. after a year of lessons with her, I moved onto a real guitar teacher and it was 10 times harder trying to learn stuff she skipped over than it would've been to just start from scratch.

basically what I'm saying is that I think it's a good idea to at least start out with lessons for a year or so with a good teacher. after that, if you think you're self motivated enough, go get a book and continue to progress. when I was 13, I wasn't mature enough or wanted to get better badly enough, so I needed someone to sit me down and tell me what I need to learn each week. now 10 years later, I am working through a soloing and theory book at my own pace and I'm really enjoying it.

my advice is to take lessons at first. that way, you teacher can catch you if you tend to develop any bad habits. I tried doing it myself, then later took lessons and found out that some of my bad habits were slowing me down. (it took a few months to re-learn)

anyway, good luck! and practice, practice, practice! :)