Gibson lessions

[RaysEpiphone]

I believe the first thing I found on the Gibson site was the lessons page, most notably Arlen Roth. Hes got a nice blend of Blues Rock and old Rock and Roll witch is some of my favorite styles to play so I can say that I've learned from this series of videos and thank Gibson for featuring them.

[Izzy]

I have never had lessons. People in my family play by ear. I did have a friend teach me songs and give me tips when I started out and his input helped me a lot. Not sure that counts as lessons, but it is close enough for me to assume lessons could be useful.

 

There are some incredible artistss who never took lessons and maybe not being constrained by the formality made them superior players in the end. Who knows?

[Guest Farnsbarns]

I've never had lessons unless you count my reed playing father teaching me wwhwwwh and whwwwhw, 1st/3rd/5th and 1/4/5 on a cornet about 8 years prior.

 

I can definitely say that giving lessons has been one of the most eye opening and rewarding guitar related things I've done. highly recommend.

[milod]

I think a lot has to do with where a person might be in terms of music knowledge before starting.

 

Or... what style you're looking for.

 

E.g., if somebody is just starting with no musical experience whatsoever, regardless of age, I think some sort of structured curriculum would be good whether it's toward playing Bach or Bluegrass.

 

OTOH, if you're already into music enough to read a bit and are old enough to research for yourself, unless you're looking toward being a classical guitarist or an advanced jazz guitarist, I'm not sure it's that important to have a "teacher" per se as long as you're taking advantage of stuff like the Gibbie lessons here and similar material on Youtube, etc.

 

Also... I think a lot of artists who theoretically are self taught have all picked up "music theory" if not technique by simply being around other musicians.

 

m

[Jeff-7]

I read the title as Gibson lesions...

 

I started taking lessons at 10, I think they helped a great deal. I'm still shoddy at reading music and there's still an unfathomable amount of knowledge that I haven't attained yet. At the least I think lessons could help those who might be looking to expand their knowledge or get pointers on technique.

[quapman]

I for one am a huge believer in lessons, learning, theory basics,, etc.

I may be musical, but I don't have the best ear and there is no way in hell I could ever

hear a BMaj7b9 and be able to form it on my guitar. I'm not that good.

 

So I need to be told. I need to learn that chord first and play it a couple hundred times and then maybe perhaps I can hear it and recognize it as a BMaj7b9. But there is no way I am going to form that on my own.

And I really doubt the majority of people could.

 

I won't say all but I would say the majority of my advancements in guitar have come from some form of learning whether its from lessons or just talking to people. Very few will just pick up a guitar and figure it out without first being shown how to play some basics.

 

That being said, every time I venture off to learn something new, I go backwards for a while. And I don't benefit from what I have learned, until I forget what I learned.

 

Make sense?

 

I think, the best part of learning something new, is forgetting it. And then being able to retrieve it without even thinking about it. That is the key to success.

 

Also,

The best thing I ever did for my playing was a couple decades ago. I made a bold move(I thought) to stop trying to sound like any of my heroes, and simply playing from my soul. I stuck to the little structure I knew about chord progressions and the pentatonic scale and just played. I wasn't learning covers so I could just let go and improvise. We had our little band and we wrote 25 plus originals. We liked what we heard and we had fun. And we got tight.

 

For the next 10 or 15 years I all but stop playing. Maybe pick it up 3 or 4 times a year after some rums at my brothers.

 

Early this year my kids piano teacher asked me if I would accompany the piano for a song at my kids piano recital. I thought if those little kids had the courage to get up there I could brush off the rust, learn a simple tune and get up there with them. That got me back into playing.

 

Today, I don't know a ton of covers, I know a few. I don't gig. I'm currently trying to learn Little Wing.

I have resumed lessons and continue on my journey. I have no delusions of grandeur. I'm in it for me.

I may post my efforts here on the Walk the Walk thread if I think I have anything worth posting or just to hear what people think. This is not my living, it's my hobby. And I like it that way.

 

The internet is full of shiny things and lessons and things to learn. But if you're like me, I am only a mouse click away from the next shiny thing. So I find it hard to stay focused. Lessons keep me focused on one shiny thing until the next lesson.

 

 

Would I recommend taking lessons? Yes. Learn as much as you can. And then do your best to forget it all and just play.

 

 

Sorry for the ramble. I'm just really happy to be back playing again. And practicing as much as I can fit in as life goes on.

[RaysEpiphone]

I guess there is a fine line between structured/proper lesson's and just doing research on your own. I have always relied on my ear but there has been times when I was questioning what I was hearing and ended up searching Youtube or a few other site's that have words and chord's for many many song's. Some are right and some are just way off from the original song, that's when I use my ear's for deciding witch source is correct. The Youtube page's I find are titled "lesson" so I am taking lesson's from some one in that respect and I did take guitar lesson's from some one for a week or so back when I was 17. I never had a lesson for drum "kit" thou I took "snare drum" class in public school when I was in the 5th grade for a semester but didn't get behind a full kit until almost 5 years later.

I use my book of 20K + chords if I find a song with some chords I don't know or aren't sure about so I'm guilty of using books for learning as well.

[hellion102792]

I've been playing for around 7 years. I taught myself for 3 or 4 of those years before finally getting a teacher when I wanted to get really serious. I've always been a predominantly play-by-ear kind of guy since violin lessons in 3rd grade, but just mimicking what I was hearing didn't help me build a useful amount of true skill.

 

While I had learned a bunch of chord forms and whatnot on my own, he pointed out a whole slew of bad habits that were really hindering my playing (picking style as well as how I was holding it, fingerings, my random playing rather than knowledge of scales, etc).

 

It definitely can't hurt to take lessons, at the risk of sounding narcissistic I feel like I've made a whole ton of progress with my playing after taking those 3 solid years of lessons. Before I couldn't even stumble my way through a simple early-Beatles solo, now I'm able to push feeling and character into solos and chords with relative ease.

[Dave F]

I've been playin' for 50+ years and I'm okay, but I'm blown away by some of the younger players. I started taking lessons a few years ago to give myself something to do while waiting on my daughter while she was taking piano lessons. I got hooked. My daughter is now grown and I've went through a few teachers. Most of them move on to bigger things. The guy I'm taking lessons from now is half my age and I really enjoy taking lessons from him. My biggest problem is time. The lesson is usually the only time I'm putting into it. The biggest thing I'm getting out of the lessons is how to breakdown songs and figure them out. You're never to old to learn.