Were You Self Taught ?

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

Entirely self taught by ear a long time ago. It should be noted that any good musician is self taught to some degree. If not, he is only as good as his last lesson and will never surpass his teacher.

Agreed. Even though I took formal lessons for close to four years, it didn't stop me from learning from books, videos and of course good old YouTube whilst training my ear, taking in as much music theory as I could and playing with others.

Formal lessons a great foundation though, for me anyway.

[ghostnote]

Self taught. I had some lessons when I was about 10 - I don't remember any of that stuff, though. I loved the guitar, but I was sitting in my room practicing "O Sole Mio" note by painful note while my buddies were outside playing baseball in the field next to my house- I could hear them through the window. After awhile I'd had enough and didn't pick up the guitar again until I was in my teens.

[JakeStone]

Self taught... Started when I was 16. My cousin was a semi-pro musician and loaned me a Harmony Acoustic and showed me some stuff.

I did take some singing lessons when I was in my late 40s. That was the only money I ever spent on lessons (well worth it).

[Kerbie]

I had some of both... I had lessons when I first began playing, but they didn't last very long. I think it was less than a year. After that, I had wonderful experiences with other instruments, so I benefitted from a significant transfer of learning. Then about 40 years after the first lessons, I began taking off and on again, just kinda tweaking things. That was an excellent decision because I lucked out finding a great instructor. I also enjoy learning by books, so I've done a lot of that over the years.

One of the best things I ever did was a take a friend's advice and go to the Swannanoa Gathering. I've been 7 years in a row... what a fantastic learning experience.

[KenL]

A friend of mine and I bought guitars at the same time (Alvarez and Sigma dreads) back in 1973 and taught ourselves and each other. He was really good at figuring things out by ear. Plus we had a HS teacher who was an excellent player and he taught us a few things.

The friend and I still get together and play once in a while even though we live in different states now.

[Gasworker]

I am still self taught. It is one thing that I would change. I think there is value in lessons.

[Trawlerman]

Self taught via YouTube. What an incredible resource. I so appreciate all the channels that helped me - too numerous to mention.

[Big Band Guitar]

We are really all self taught. Teachers can only help us learn.

[Silurian]

Yes, with a bit of help from justinguitar.com. No formal tuition.
Some might say it shows.

[RP]

I took the occasional lesson over the years but am essentially self-taught....

[The Bard Rocks]

I like to think I am self-taught. But not really. When I started (1960), I'd played saxophone for some years in elementary and junior high, so music reading was old stuff. I got a couple of books to show me chords and picking patterns, bass runs, that sort of thing. By the time I got to the 3rd book, I learned I had more fun just playing music than learning it. I am still waiting for time to get to that 3rd book.

But zero instructors, zero listening to records or tapes, zero U-tube, zero group lessons... I always felt I needed to do this MY way. Would I be a better player had I taken advantage of such things? You bet I would, but this was something I'd wanted to do as much on my own as I could, so I've stuck to that path.

On the other instruments, I skipped the books. Like Wade says, there is a lot that transfers over, things like creating muscle memory, picking and strumming patterns, listening for the coming chord changes..... You get an idea how you want something to sound, and then pursue that.

[CASD57]

Mostly, Self learned I had an instructor, that became a band member within 6 months...
After that, I mainly learned on stage because even tho I still took lessons from him we mainly talked the last gig, the next gig and what song I was going to bring to the next practice
The biggest thing he taught me in class was barr-cage chords.
On stage, that's where I learned how to stay out of the way...mute when I didn't know a chord... lol

[JeffreyAK]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

...It should be noted that any good musician is self taught to some degree. If not, he is only as good as his last lesson and will never surpass his teacher.

True, and likewise, any good musician is "taught" to some degree, whether that is formal lessons from a teacher, reading books, watching videos, picking things up from friends, relying on musical training on another instrument, etc. This topic comes up periodically, but it's never clear what "self taught" really means given the degree to which everyone is both taught in some way, and has learned on his own.

[Swamp Yankee]

Self taught. When I was 13 or 14, I picked up my brother's guitar and opened a CSN&Y songbook with chord diagrams. I knew the songs by heart, luckily, as I have no idea how to read music.

Back then, 1970 or so, we didn't even have videos so everything I picked up was by listening or watching others play. I got so far as to develop a decently solid fingerstyle then waning interest saw me selling my guitar.

I didn't get back into guitars until I tried a GS Mini in a store in 2014 and fell in love with it. Now I kick myself for going so many years without playing.

I have used Youtube now and then, but mostly I learn songs by chord / lyric texts and then working it into my own style.

[Goodallboy]

As far as leaning the basic chords, like many, I learned that on my own.

My education really began about 6 mos. in, when I met an accomplished singer-songwriter who moved to our small town. I attached myself to his hip and a year later we had a band (I played acoustic rhythm guitar) and that went on for several years.

40 years later I’m still learning and occasionally I’ll take a lesson on a particular subject.