Attention : all guitarists who have taken lessons

Teacher yourself, like me 8)

If you have been learning for 3 years you should at least have a base, so teaching yourself won't be that hard.

i quit taking lessons after 1 year cause the teacher was a huge druggieSuper-Penguin

dude me too

i quit taking lessons after 1 year cause the teacher was a huge druggieSuper-Penguin

Don't knock it, tell you try it.

I took 2 years from a classical guitar teacher and 1 year from a rock n' roll teacher.

Find a good teacher, you won't regret it.

Ive been taking bass lessons for nearly 5 months now. My original teacher left 2 months into it and i got this new dude. His style was different than the old teachers, like he had a knowledge of what i wanted to play, which was metal and rock and stuff. This new guy played sorta like jazz and stuff, and i cosidered quitting becuase i really didnt like him, but he soon proved pretty good. He has taught me all sorts of stuff i reckon the old wouldnt have, and he pushes me to do as best as i can. Usually half the lesson is him trying to figure out wat i wanted to play becuase i cant print out the tabs he listens to the song on my ipod and trys to play it, which is boring just sitting there waiting for him, but he does get it, and sometimes adds his own little twists to it. Youve been playing for 3 years now so u should be able to pretty much teach urself. Over half the songs i know how to play i taught myself.

Ive been taking bass lessons for nearly 5 months now. My original teacher left 2 months into it and i got this new dude. His style was different than the old teachers, like he had a knowledge of what i wanted to play, which was metal and rock and stuff. This new guy played sorta like jazz and stuff, and i cosidered quitting becuase i really didnt like him, but he soon proved pretty good. He has taught me all sorts of stuff i reckon the old wouldnt have, and he pushes me to do as best as i can. Usually half the lesson is him trying to figure out wat i wanted to play becuase i cant print out the tabs he listens to the song on my ipod and trys to play it, which is boring just sitting there waiting for him, but he does get it, and sometimes adds his own little twists to it. Youve been playing for 3 years now so u should be able to pretty much teach urself. Over half the songs i know how to play i taught myself.

freek666

How many years did you take lessons for? My teacher has been an impatient jerk for a while now, and I want to quit. I have been playing for 3 years now. Do you think I should quit? will I regret it if I do? how long did you take lessons?kurtoronie

Perhaps he's being an 'impatient jerk' because you don't do what he asks you to do, and he's getting sick of it. As a teacher, it is incredibly frustrating to try to teach a person who comes back every week making the same mistakes he was making two months ago, and still not practicing as asked.

Some people aren't cut out for musical study because they lack discipline, and thus find it impossible to practice properly. They just spend all their time trying to pick their way through pieces which are far beyond their technical abilities, developing bad habits along the way and learning nothing. You may be one such person. Is so, I would suggest that you need to initiate change in the way you study music, not dump your lessons.

Judge yourself objectively. Do you practice the music you're asked to practice (putting enough effort into it to learn it properly... practicing isn't playing it for five minutes before your lesson each week having spent the rest of the week playing things you were not asked to practice)? As a student, choosing repertoire is not your prerogative, because you will just start to pick a bunch of works you like with no regard whatsoever for whether or not they are within your technical grasp, nor what they will do for your musical development. Have you come back to lessons over and over again having failed to address errors that were pointed out weeks ago?

Now if you can honestly say you've been a good pupil, doing what you're asked to do and putting plenty of practice time in on those pieces you were assigned, perhaps there really is an issue with your instructor. If so, do remember that not all instructors are the same. Some are more talented than others, just as some musicians are more talented than others. This is especially true of popular guitar, because there is not as rigid an educational system to pass through to become a popular guitar teacher. People can sign up with me, resting assured that I have expertise in music on account of many years of post-secondary training. They can also recognize less individuals on account of their lack of training. But there are no Masters degrees awarded for rock guitarists, and so there's little evidence of whether or not someone is really qualified to teach. Lots of music teachers shouldn't be teaching at all, since their own abilities and understanding is limited.

If your teacher is qualified and you do what he or she asks, you will succeed as a musician. If your teacher is not qualified, or you fail to do what is asked of you, or you attempt to learn the instrument on your own, your chances of reaching your full potential are very slim. It's your call.