Learning with a guitar teacher vs learning online Part 2

We worked on fixing this problem I had with timing by playing with a metronome and playing the part together.

This wasn’t the first time playing the riff with another guitarist, however it was the first time playing it with another guitarist who can communicate back to me.

I had played it along with instructional videos, but the problem with that is that they can’t hear what you are doing so can’t offer guidance on how to improve.

This is a massive part of the learning process since your own ears can be deceiving, giving yourself a false sense of what sounds right particularly at the early stages of developing your craft.

That’s why it’s so useful to have a teacher in front of you, guiding you along the way. And being able to change the rhythm for you almost instantly so that you are giving a chance to have a break, or slow down, or speed up as well.

Or change the key so it’s more comfortable for you to get into the groove of your playing.

After my first session, I left with a huge amount of confidence and drive going forward, and I managed to play the riff accurately for the first time.

He was able to point out my mistakes and offered advice that I would continue to use even after playing for nearly 12 years now.

Playing with someone else and having them give feedback on your progress is a huge motivational boost and will undoubtedly make you a better player.

I had him as my teacher for 2 years and eventually went on to music academy where I was trained by professional musicians for 3 years.

I would not be the same musician that I am today without those initial guitar lessons, and I would have continued playing the same mistakes over and over until I convinced myself that it was right.

I am forever thankful to my parents for paying for those lessons and will urge any beginner to use a guitar teacher.…

Learning with a guitar teacher vs learning online Part 1

Learning with a Teacher vs Learning Online

There is often quite a lot of debate when it comes to the question “should go to a guitar teacher or learn using online sources?”. To answer this, I will have to go back 12 years to when I first started to learn guitar. I have used online videos and tablature to improve my guitar playing, and still do to this very day.

However, I went to a guitar teacher after around 2 years of trying to figure things out on my own, and what an eye-opening experience it was. I was 14 years of age and my teacher was an incredibly good rock guitarist, and an even better critique of my inaccurate and out of time playing.

I was learning the song ‘Black Night’ by Deep Purple, watching instructional videos and attempting to read tablature for the first time, and thought it was sounding pretty good. I excitedly went to a teacher after learning it, and as it turns out, I was wrong.

I started playing it, and only a couple of notes in he told me to stop. I was thinking “oh man, this is gonna be a long session”. Instead it turned out to be the best first guitar lesson I could have asked for, propelling me to push myself further and exceed my own expectations.

My guitar was out of tune, which was why he stopped me in the first instance. I was able to correct this and continue with the song. He stopped me for a second time after playing the opening riff once through only to tell me that my timing was off.

This was something that my untrained ear would not have noticed had I carried on without a teacher.

Incidentally, this was a huge turning point in my short playing experience as he was able to point out this imperfection in my playing and offer a way of negating it. 

From that moment on I realised my guitar learning journey was about to be very different with a guitar teacher rather than facing this journey on my own. …