If you were new to the guitar......

[Tony W]

I'm beginning lessons again after a failed experiment a year ago. I've met an instructor that I like, and committed to at least a month's worth of lessons. I set achievable goals for myself, so I'm not going to be Hendrix right off, but instead I want to sit around a campfire and play for an hour or 2 and keep my friends entertained.

My musical interests are generally simple rhythm songs that everyone knows:
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
Jack Johnson - ok not everyone knows him, but I really like his work
Guns N Roses
Hootie
CCR
Allman Brothers


I wan't to play the rhythm, maybe throw in a few solo's, and eventually progress... but not til this goal is met.

Now for the actual question
I want my instructor to know exactly what I want, but am open if he takes me a different direction. Should I tell the instructor what I want, or let him lead me in what ever direction he likes?

[Kody]

Your list is right up my alley~ I know songs by all of those bands~what a coincidence!  I'd say tell your teacher your goals~ that'll give you something to work for right of the bat...

[Farmjazz]

Do you want to learn "music", as it pertains to the guitar, or just a tune here or there, or this band or that band's material? I've found that chasing songs around is a big trap. It never ties the student into the big picture of music. You won't get very far in a month's time, (once-a-week?), by just learning a strumming pattern, or a lick or two.

Give yourself at least six months time, practicing diligently, and see how you do. Once you learn theory, and the specific musicianship of the guitar, you'll be able to play anything you desire. Have your instructor balance the lessons with theory, and songs that help support the theory, so there's some practical application to help you grasp the concept(s).

I know there are some on this forum who would disagree with learning theory right off, but I took that route myself, (self-taught), and I don't recommend it. Just get started, ask questions when you don't understand something, practice a lot (the most important thing you can do), and you'll do fine.

Be patient with yourself. Impatience is the number one killer of good guitar instruction. Things don't sound great right off. You have to develop the muscle memory and hand/arm strength to do it right, and this takes time.

[Glenn Mitchell]

I'd venture most guitar players are self taught to a larger degree.
I think of the old joke "How do you shut a guitar player up?...Put sheet music in front of him." 
I've taken several runs at instruction on several styles and it always helps broaden your abilities but there is no replacement for lots and lots of home study.
The main concern I've had with formal lessons is that many (Not all by any means) musicians who call themselves "readers" seem to have a problem with "feel" perhaps because they seem to think they are proficient if they simply read well or perhaps reading and playing at the same time is by definition, divided attention. And that is hard on Feel.
Eventually you have to throw away the books (Or memorize them)  and play from the heart.

[The Reverend 48]

I agree with Glen..I threatened to learn to play all my life but was put off with all the theory involved.....But I decided to have a go and learn at my pace ie always have fun and enjoy playing..With the advent of you-tube I just search for the subject I fancy, look at the lesson if I don't like the instructor or find the subject to hard, I move on...I will never be a virtuoso player but I am loving this musical journey........I'd save my money till you have mastered a bunch of chords some basic understanding of guitar technique then you can find a specialised instructor to take you further........

[3guitarsEddy]

Hey Impudent1
Try the website justinguitar he has plenty of learning tricks to follow and all he wants in return if you can afford it is a small donation. If you like CCR welcome to the club, been an admirer of John Fogarty since the late 60's.  How ever you learn its all down to perseverance on the strings.

Good Luck

Eddy.

[Tony W]

**Sorry about the length of this post, it turned in to a column piece**

Great information, and a wide range of perspective. Unfortunately I was training all day yesterday on IP based security cameras, then spread sand for 3 hours after work in a friends round pen for his horses. Gladly I did that with a backhoe in lieu of a rake.

Ironically I didn't strum the guitar more than 10 times during the lesson. I listed my goals by short term, mid range and long term goals. The mid-range goal was to understand theory and how it applies to the fret-board. I walked away from the lesson happy.

the first thing we went over was a quick chord progression. I am fairly automatic on: A C D E F G even throwing in minors. The transitions are good.

He asked if I could strum bar chords. I've tried, but not with much success in the past. Hand strength isn't a problem, but fatigue is (technique and practice will resolve this).

This is where the lesson got interesting. While I played bar chords very cleanly, I admitted to not understanding them. that is no longer the case! I now have a basic understanding and practicing them will no longer be useless.

Farmjazz -  I found your post intriguing. Everything I do in life, I want full understanding of what I'm doing it. This ranges from building a sun-room to my golf swing. Hell, I've spent 3 months dissecting my phone, learning the OS and improving how it works.

Glen & 48 - I'll agree, every guitar player I've ever met is self taught, maybe a few lessons here and there. I've tinkered around with playing for 5 years on my own, and I couldn't make a single sound that was worth listening to. This is probably the most exciting thing about guitar for me. I've never met a challenge that gives me more fits than playing a guitar. Athletically I'm gifted. I'm fairly gifted in technology, I understand it easily. The guitar has kicked my ass for half a decade. I've sworn off playing 10 times. I've never encountered this level of frustration before, and that is precisely why the reward is SOOOO much sweeter in the end.

Eddy - I found that link from Witchita's site. I'll gladly donate. The biggest thing I learned from his site thus far is how to practice. Trying to play the same song over and over... and over again has been my MO. I've impeded my own progress by doing this. Perseverance shouldn't be an issue this time around.

[Tony]

There's an awful lot of good advice that's come up here and I'm not going to disagree with any of it.  I think one of the problems for adult learners is the balance between the music that you can play and the music in your head.  When you are a teenager you don't know a lot of music.  You pick up an instrument and there is a style of music that you are into and you go at it like a demon. That's what music means to you and you are doing it and getting better all the time.  It doesn't work that way for an adult.

You've been listening to music all your life and there's a lot inside that is going to find a way to get out but your fingers don't really seem to be helping you right now. I decided that I would start to play at forty after buying a few thousand albums and singles in the previous thirty years.  I never thought I could play, I thought you had to be a 'musician' to play.  So I bought myself a harmonica, learned to read the notes (not sight read) and that takes an afternoon, then a chromatic harmonica, then I started to build a repertoire of jazz standards that I liked.  They were melodies that I could sing (in private) already.  Did't get very far but things went on and I ended up on guitar, always trying to get out the stuff that was inside.  I picked up some theory, some history, some licks, whatever but it never seemed to be at the right time to do what I wanted to do. But the knowledge and the ability was getting inside too even though it didn't feel that way at the time.

I have just finished three years of playing rock music with a trio (practice band, we didn't gig) and I don't like rock.  I liked the other two guys, they were already friends, and I was getting better as a guitarist and I was playing some ok leadlines at the end of it.  Then I didn't have band numbers to learn and I was on my own again.  Felt a bit lost but started to run through a few of those standard melodies again, on guitar this time.  And it started coming out.  And this morning I was teaching my daughter how to play 'My Funny Valentine' on a melodica.  And I realised that I knew all this theory stuff about how to read and how to analyse and practice a piece and stuff.  It felt great.  I stopped feeling like the guy who was struggling to remember the chords to The Rolling Stones' 'Loving Cup' and immediately went and worked out a bass line for a thing I had been doing that was really wooden and it came to life a bit more. 

And the point of this confessional ramble (apologies for rattling on) is that, just as much as the guy who gets up and blows you away with phenomenal guitar chops, you've got the music in you and all that's happening is that you're building up ways to get it out.  Learn some theory, learn some riffs, learn some scales, do it slow and then it will get faster.  Spend the time on your instrument. They're the things that everyone has to do but what will come out of you is your music and nobody teaches you that.  You have a lot of music in you and that guitar is just helping it to get out. 

Hadn't meant to get inspirational/boring here but I get this way after midnight sometimes.

[Bluesberry]

And the point of this confessional ramble (apologies for rattling on) is that, just as much as the guy who gets up and blows you away with phenomenal guitar chops, you've got the music in you and all that's happening is that you're building up ways to get it out.  Learn some theory, learn some riffs, learn some scales, do it slow and then it will get faster.  Spend the time on your instrument. They're the things that everyone has to do but what will come out of you is your music and nobody teaches you that.  You have a lot of music in you and that guitar is just helping it to get out. 

Tony, this is so right what you are saying here.  This is my experience also. I have listened to music my whole life, never really tried to play an instrument.  I started in guitar 2 years ago at age 42.  It took a while (the first year I didn't really feel like I was a guitar player so much but kept on working on it), slowly all this music that is in my head is finally able to come out.  Everything I have learned has built around the music in my head and how to get it out.  I am glad to say that after 2 years of working  at it I can   finally play some of the stuff in my head.  It is a great feeling to let it out, I am rewarded by playing guitar a whole lot now, it is one of my greatest thing to do, play guitar.  Your post is right on the money from my experience also.

[Tony W]

Tony & Bluesberry - Yeah. Inspirational yes, boring no. I could type for a week and not articulate my position any better. Truth be told, there are at least a thousand songs that I would like to play. There are maybe a hundred that fit my ability level, and out of that 20 that I actually like playing, but can't play all the way through. Of those Zero that I want to play every day because it gets a little mundane.

FYI I'm pushing 37.