Internet Guitar Lessons-Blessing or Curse?

Are you improving your guitar playing by using the internet?

I have a couple new students who love surfing the internet to find beginning guitar information. The good news is that there's plenty of information out there, the bad news is that a lot of it isn't presented in a logical, understandable way. Consider how long you've been playing guitar and then decide how helpful some of these sites are. For example, if you've been playing for less than a year you probably don't need to work on complex scale patterns, barre chords or dig too far into music theory. A lot of it depends on what kind of music you'll be playing and how involved you want to be in the construction of the music. Some people love knowing everything about the theory while others just want to play.

Who's doing the teaching?

There are many good teachers out there, but there are even more that don't appear to have ever given a lesson. The fact that you can play well doesn't necessarily mean that you can teach. I've seen many flawed examples of teaching guitar from players who mean well but don't realize how complicated their simple explanations are. There's an idea called the "curse of knowledge". In a nutshell, I'm explaining something to you that I think is perfectly clear while you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Can the internet substitute for a live teacher?

In my opinion, yes and no depending on the student. The ease of understanding, the logical approach, and the ability to evaluate progress are the advantages of lessons with a live teacher. Your guitar teacher can spot bad habits, help with trouble spots, and most importantly, encourage you. A lot of progress depends on the feeling that you're getting somewhere. The guitar student who has played other instruments or who uses a combination of teachers can benefit from both experiences.