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Old 01-12-2020, 10:01 AM
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Methos1979 Methos1979 is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Seacoast, NH
Posts: 8,091
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I played drums my whole life up until my forties before transitioning over to guitar. As such I knew how to read drum music, which basically is only good for understanding time. I'm pretty much completely self-taught on guitar so just learned chords and songs. Any attempt to understand music theory or read music was just a bridge too far for me.

Several years back we bought a nice electric piano for the house as my daughter always wanted to learn to play the piano. I signed both her and I up for lessons from a local teacher that is very well thought of in the community. Needless to say, my daughter never did take a single lesson but I took lessons for almost two years. It was like a lightbulb going off. Music theory makes complete sense on a piano! It really took my understanding of guitar to another level.

That said, as an adult with a full time job and other responsibilities, time was a factor. And as the piano helped push the guitar to new levels the guitar started to require more time. Basically I had to decide between putting the time and effort into playing the piano or playing the guitar. Since I had an acoustic duo with my wife and we had dreams of playing out, I chose the guitar. It was the right decision and we are now a fully functioning, gigging act.

But sometimes I wonder just how much farther along I'd be on the piano had I had the time to stick with it. Get yourself a good teacher. Like anything, it's slow going at first but very much worth the effort for your guitar playing. At least that was my experience.
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