What’s this week’s guitar lessons question? Let’s dive straight in…
Question: When I was a beginner, my teacher would give me assignments to do for 1 week.
Then, I would practice 40-60 mins daily and by the next week I would have it pretty good. After becoming "intermediate" exercises are taking much longer to master… what to do? it seems there’s no end to it.
My teacher said in 2 more years I will have a very strong foundation in guitar playing. Is he exagerating?
Answer: As a beginner, your instructor would give you fairly simple exercises to work on that you could master fairly quickly. Now as an intermediate player, the lessons become more difficult and require more time and effort to complete.
2 years is a conservative estimate. It could actually take much longer to develop a "very strong foundation" in playing. This is not a race and you should not be concerned about how long it takes you to get to a certain level, or how "hard" your lessons have become. Immerse yourself in the experience. Join or form a band with other people your age that are on a similar level as you are. Practice as much as possible and try learning other things than just what your teacher shows you. I tell all of my students to spend a couple of hours each week learning some songs or any other things that are interesting to them. As an instructor I can only help them develop a strong foundation in playing. It is up to the student to "fill in the blanks" and make the effort to really learn what I show them. When a student comes to me and says, "I figured this out" or "I was messing around with this" I get very excited because it shows that this is a student who is really into playing the guitar. I will often take a whole lesson to expand on what the student has "discovered". This makes the process much more enjoyable for the both of us. It allows me to use their interest to help them better understand a technique, or a bit of theory, or some aspect of playing that we may or may not have already covered.
A learn guitar question that should definitely interest you all this week
Question: I want to learn how to play an acoustic guitar but is going to guitar class or taking lessons a ‘necessity’ or just a bonus? can anyone be self-taught, i’m sure theres video links on youtube i can watch to learn how to read music tabs, thats all i need to know right?
Answer: Guitar is among the easiest instruments to learn on your own. This is one reason for its popularity. Get a book, learn some chords, go from there.
Of course if you know people who play, who will come over and show you a few pointers, that would also be good. Much of guitar ‘lore’ is passed on from one guitarist to the next.
If you take lessons (I did for a while) the teacher will teach you to keep your left thumb on the middle of the back of the neck, which gives you more freedom to move your fingers over the fingerboard. But self-taught guitarists wrap their thumb over the top of the neck to get a tighter grip. Watch guitarists on TV, even famous ones, and you see most of them wrapping their thumbs! These people are self-taught.
The hardest thing in starting to learn is that you have to develop strength in your left hand to hold down the strings against the fingerboard. At first your hand gets sore after only ten minutes or so. So you can’t practice longer than 10 or 15 minutes (but you can do this several times a day). It takes a few weeks to build up strength in your hand. So be patient. If it’s a steel-string guitar you also build up callouses on your fingertips.
A tough learn guitar question this week. Let’s dive straight in
Question: Besides band etc would it ever benfit anything like ie primary teaching or anything?
Answer: It builds up strength in your non-dominant hand, increases hand-eye coordination and awareness of your body (playing leads), makes playing modern songs more fun (in my opinion), and it makes you look cool 
We’ve had a reader question come in on the subject of guitar lessons. Let’s take a look:
Question: Where are some good places? Private or group lessons? About how much do both cost? THANK YOU!
Answer: Group lessons sounds like fun. Around here private lessons for an individual are about 15 bucks for a half hour and you have to pay for a month at a time, that’s 1 lesson a week. The internet has quite a few good resources for free lessons as well. It could save you some money as opposed to paying a guy 15 bucks to tell you the string names and how to hold a pick. I’m just saying at least browse the internet if you haven’t already. Of course a one on one lesson with a real person is better so long as that person knows their stuff. Here is a video that shows how to read guitar tab:
http://www.fuzzymonkeytabs.com/howtoreadtab.html
and here’s a video teaching simple guitar tab for Fur Elise by Beethoven: http://www.fuzzymonkeytabs.com/furelisesimple.html
Another learn guitar question has come in this week. Let’s tackle it straight away:
Question: ive had a few lessons (none on sweeping).tought myself mostly everything from videos and tab books.ive learned shreding,pinch harmonics,and alot more by myself,but im having problems with sweeps.will i be able to teach myself?
not sure what catigory this should be in
Answer: Certainly if you are able to learn harmonics and ’shreding’ you’ll learn sweep picking the same way. All you need is a metronome like this free online metronome: http://www.fuzzymonkeytabs.com/resources.html
Keep the learn guitar questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: Do You Have to Learn Acoustic Guitar to Be Good at Electric Guitar?
Answer: No, that’s retarded.
In fact, the best acoustic players on earth are probably terrible electric guitar players.
This week’s question is as follows:
Question: I want to start playing the guitar and i need to know a good, easy song that a 12 year old can learn in a day. I have been thinking Lazy Song but idk if its hard. plz help!
Answer: Start off learning riffs so some good ones would be
Kinks-You Really Got Me
Deep Purple-Smoke On The Water
Lady Gaga-Just Dance
White Stripes-Seven Nation Army
They’re easy you’ll have no problem if you practice.
What’s this week’s question? Let’s dive straight in…
Question: I really want to play Guitar, Bass and electric guitar. But I afraid to tell them! Any idea of what can I say?
I don’t have Guitar yet.
P.S. The music school is actually in front of my house
Answer: Try asking them for a tuna sandwich on rye and see how you get on.
Another guitar lessons question has come in this week. Let’s tackle it straight away:
Question: Just started teaching guitar via Craigslist, and got a request to teach 2 women at the same time, for an hour. I’ve been doing 15 bucks an hour for one. Should it be 30?
Answer: I would charge between $15 and $25 for the combination./
Well here’s a question I just had to answering straight away:
Question: I held a Violin at the store a few days ago, but I found the neck to be far to small for me, as I am used to playing guitar. I really, REALLY want to learn Violin but I don’t think I would be able to get passed the tiny finger placement.
Do violins come in varying sized necks, or should I try another instrument like a Viola? Or another suggestion?
Assuming I end up purchasing a violin, I want one that won’t break as soon as I play it, but I also do not have very much money. Approx. < 200$ Does anyone know a place, either online or a chain retailer, of which I can get a fairly trustworthy instrument without breaking the bank?
Answer: The neck may seem tiny and fingerings small but you will adapt easily. You can not expect to play well for a while. Even after knowing another instrument you need to start like all other beginners. You will advance faster, but will go through every problem that the others would have.
Check
www.sharmusic.com
for good instruments in your price range. They also tell you what to look for in an instrument. Good to know even if you do not buy from them.
