Being Logical and Taking Your Time

The method to your teacher's madness!

It happened again the other night, a student who "wants guidance" but doesn't recognize it when he's getting it. Here's what he needs to be looking for and listening to.

Why do we play songs at the lesson?

The best thing a music teacher can do for you is listen to you play, then play the song with you. This helps you learn to make music with other people, understand why timing is important, and it helps you get over nervousness/stage fright. Yes, I know, you play better at home. THAT'S WHY I'M PLAYING TOO!

I can't make the song sound like the recording.

The recording has been made by professional musicians with thousands of dollars' worth of equipment. In addition there is more than one guitar on the record and someone is singing or otherwise providing the melody. You're supposed to be playing rhythm guitar which means keeping a steady beat. A common beginner mistake is to try to strum with the phrasing of the tune to the song instead of a straight rhythm part.

Beware the evils of internet overload.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record about this point, watching You Tube videos of a "guitar teacher" showing you how to strum, how to play chords or whatever, you have no idea who's teaching you. He or she may know exactly what they're doing, or, they may not be a much better player than you are. Keep in mind that a good guitar player isn't necessarily a good teacher.

Take your time and learn it right.

The key to learning guitar is not multi-tasking. My emphasis is on teaching and learning each technique as a separate function. Don't worry about palm muting if you can't change chords in time. Don't worry about complex strumming patterns until you can play the song up to speed.

Summing it all up.

Learning to play guitar or any other instrument is a time art. Hurrying through so you can learn the next technique catches up to you in the long run. In the words of Ringo Starr: "You know it don't come easy."