Guitar classes

[6twenty7]

What’s your opinion on guitar classes or getting instructors. I’m 30 years old and I go to a guitar class for 45 minutes once a week for 50 bucks a session. I feel like 50 bucks is too much. Some of the weeks I come in and I feel like my instructor is just phoning it in and telling me to work on this section of the piece. My friend goes to an hour class for 60 bucks a session and I feel like she’s not improving much either. There are certain weeks when I learn something valuable or a more efficient way of playing certain passages, but that’s not how all the classes are sadly.

Would it be better to find like some type of community college course that offers 2-3 classes a week. Right now I’m super motivated, I learn songs pretty fast and practice 3-4 hours a day. I like working on 3 to 4 different songs each week and when I’m in class I only get to work on 8-10 bars of one of the songs. I can easily not take the class saving money, but I’m a big believer in finding a good teacher to help motivate and push me to become a better guitar player.

[der Geist]

Try some of the online courses. For the price of 2 or 3 weekly lessons you can get full access to many of these sites for a full year. They all usually have holiday specials as well. Check out-
Truefire.com
Jamplay.com
Activemelody.com

Many, many more. There are a lot of threads on this forum regarding this subject if you care to search.

[Ken Carr]

It does sound too expensive to me. I think that in my neck of the woods (northwest Florida), private lessons are around $30/50 minutes. If you are that motivated to learn and if you have some natural talent, then you can learn on your own and save the money. Thanks to the internet, there are more resources available today than ever before. Sure lessons can help, but think of how many wonderful players are self-taught. You can invest that money into a better guitar.

[JonPR]

I say, go for the community classes.

Downsides
1. there's no guarantee the teacher will be any better - although they ought to be (if the community class is run in a college).
2. You get less personal attention, and the bigger the group the more of a problem that is.
3. You may get a wide variety of skill levels. Slow ones that hold the class back, advanced ones that get bored and leave. Personalities too: maybe one or two irritating ones that ask dumb questions all the time (and those are typically the more advanced ones wanting to show off).

Upsides:
1. Cheaper!
2. You meet fellow learners.
3. You get used to playing with others.
These last two should outweigh all the downsides. You might end up forming a duo or a band. And you also learn from each other, as well as from the tutor. You might find out about open mics and other gig venues in your area. You become part of a community, essentially. The most important reason (IMO) for being a musician: to play with and for others, not just for yourself - to communicate, in a way that only music can.
And of course, in all that networking you may hear about other one-on-one teachers that could be a better deal than your current one. Maybe the course teacher themselves will offer personal tuition on the side.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by 6twenty7

What’s your opinion on guitar classes or getting instructors. I’m 30 years old and I go to a guitar class for 45 minutes once a week for 50 bucks a session. I feel like 50 bucks is too much. Some of the weeks I come in and I feel like my instructor is just phoning it in and telling me to work on this section of the piece. My friend goes to an hour class for 60 bucks a session and I feel like she’s not improving much either. There are certain weeks when I learn something valuable or a more efficient way of playing certain passages, but that’s not how all the classes are sadly.

Would it be better to find like some type of community college course that offers 2-3 classes a week. Right now I’m super motivated, I learn songs pretty fast and practice 3-4 hours a day. I like working on 3 to 4 different songs each week and when I’m in class I only get to work on 8-10 bars of one of the songs. I can easily not take the class saving money, but I’m a big believer in finding a good teacher to help motivate and push me to become a better guitar player.

That sounds a little pricey to me too.

Before you go running around finding something else, define what you mean by "better."

What are your goals?
How far are you from them?
Are they realistic?
Are part of your goals dexterity based?

How much do you practice and what are you practicing?

What style do you play?

[JBCROTTY]

$50 bucks per class is steep. I took a couple of community college guitar classes (Intermediate Guitar and Blues Guitar) with similar goals in mind - maybe get a little better and pick up a few tips and techniques.

The cost was $110 for 6 classes at the college (I’m in Southern California). While the instructor could play and knew what he was doing, the pace was too slow and the students who had not worked on the material from the previous week or who were not skilled enough to be in the class destroyed the entire experience. The instructor had to spend time helping those students and the rest of us just ended up working on the class assignments by ourselves or in small groups.

I would strongly recommend a one-on-one instructor or online resources. I have made more progress through You Tube and JustinGuitar than any other instruction method. There is a plethora of online content to help you - you will find many threads about this if you search.

Good luck - stay motivated.

[Riverwolf]

I have completed courses from

Justinguitar
Jamplay
Guitar Tricks
Coursea
Totally Guitars

And a few others that escape me.

Over the years I also sprinkle in some one on one lessons.

I feel that once you have all the basics down and are motivated then youtube is all you really need.
Also it really helps to find friends and weekly jams to play with others.

[DenverSteve]

There's a reason some of the best musicians are graduates of the best music programs. Music instruction should be more than "instrument" instruction. A good music teacher should be teaching you about fundamentals, theory, music progression, your instrument, performance...... It sounds as if this isn't the best teacher for you. To me the cost isn't the issue. If you don't feel you're progressing - and you feel you're putting the hours weekly to accomplish your goals - then it may be time to change teachers.

[reeve21]

It does sound high, but the bigger issue is you aren’t getting any value. Look for another private teacher. Learning guitar isn’t well suited to group lessons imho, and if you go totally online you won’t have structure and feedback which is where a good teacher can really help.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by 6twenty7

I like working on 3 to 4 different songs each week and when I’m in class I only get to work on 8-10 bars of one of the songs.

I wanted to point this out.

If you're strumming, there's no reason to do only 8-10 bars in around an hour.

If you are flat picking or playing finger style, that's another story.

Quite often I will spend 15 to 20 minutes just on a handful of measures (finger style). Mostly due to learning muscle memory and musical interpretation at the same time. If your sight reading is wrong, you have to scale things back until the music is being played as the composer intended.

How you hear yourself play may not be the same as what someone else hears, thus the concentration on the few measures.

If I was 30 years old again (I wish), with no family responsibilities and worked reasonable hours, I could easily spend 3-4 hours a day practicing.

[why2]

For the first time in 40+ years I just booked a guitar lesson this coming Sunday. The instructor has a solid musical education background with multiple stringed instruments. I chose her because of her diverse expertise and I currently want to improve classically which includes my sight reading abilities. Finger style Celtic is also an interest.

Rates: $30/30min, $40/45min, $50/60min, and group $35/60min.

First lesson will be private for 45min. Goals as stated above plus more theory and possibly some composition. I'm hoping that we will be able to move this old guy forward.

why2

[DesertTwang]

Originally Posted by 6twenty7

when I’m in class I only get to work on 8-10 bars of one of the songs.

That doesn't sound an effective class to me. In my opinion, you shouldn't be working on any bars during class, that's for home study. Your teacher should teach you basic concepts, technique, how chords work, some theory, how the fretboard is laid out, that kind of stuff.

And he should give you the tools and the techniques to enable you to tackle the songs by yourself at home, and work through the bars on your own.

To me, this sounds like your teacher gives you fish, when he should teach you how to fish.

[lfoo6952]

Not sure what you mean exactly by "guitar class". Is this a classroom setting with multiple students? If so, $50 per class is expensive.

If you meant individual instruction, then it is not expensive. You just need to find a different instructor.

I am not in favor of community college classroom lessons. You won't get the individual attention that you need. I've been there and done that.

I second Truefire.com. Look for holiday specials. If lucky you can buy a package of lessons for only $5.

[6twenty7]

Originally Posted by TBman

That sounds a little pricey to me too.

Before you go running around finding something else, define what you mean by "better."

What are your goals?
How far are you from them?
Are they realistic?
Are part of your goals dexterity based?

How much do you practice and what are you practicing?

What style do you play?

1. My goals are to be able to play more pieces, learn new songs. Also big factor is to work my way towards the really hard classical pieces that require tremolo and harder techniques.
2. I feel really far from it, but I make it a point to practice every morning and right before I go to bed. I bought pumping nylon, 120 right hand studies and practice left hand independence, arpeggios, tremolo and right hand speed everyday before working on anything else.
3. Maybe it's my personality and I know some of the pieces I listen to takes years to master, but it makes we want to get there even faster. I'm being impatient and know it'll happen over time.
4. Dexterity is an issue, but I feel every extra few minutes I practice it helps a lot.

5. I practice about 3-4 hours a day. When I wake up before anything else I like to do stretches. Then left hand exercises. Individual finger movement to double. I like doing spider up and down the neck at least once. After wards I do Slur exercises. After left hand is done, I do 2 pages from my Giuliani right hand studies book. Scales with metronome and then some finger burst workouts with metronome. IM, MI, AM, MA, IA, AI about 5 minutes alternating through all my fingers. Last I focus on some tremolo for a couple of minutes. This whole thing can go anywhere from 20 minutes to even an hour, but I feel better knowing I got to practice these just in case I don't have a chance to practice later.

During the day to night I work at an Alzheimer house and can practice guitar there too. My client loves hearing music and can sing a long to Bob Dylan songs which is really cool. I get to work on some of my pieces I've been working on during these times. I love working on movie score pieces and a lot of joe hisashi studio ghibli songs.

Night before I go to bed, I practice some technique quietly trying not to disturb people. Planning on getting a silent guitar soon. I spend an hour or until my eyes wont open looking at music theory, some sight reading and guitar neck memorizing videos. I have ear training video class I haven't gotten to yet that I've been wanting to watch.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi,

I have been playing since the mid sixties.
I have experienced a number of guitar teachers, and attended a bluegrass camp studying with some of the best on Dobro, Mandolin, Guitar, and singing.

Frankly - I never learnt anything of value from any of them.

I realised that the better a performer is, the less likely they will be a good teacher

One teacher way back told me - "you are not the sort of person that can be taught - but you will learn". I think that was the best and truest advice I ever had - guitar wise.

In some ways - going to a teacher passes over the responsibility of your learning from yourself to someone else.

I now run my own Acoustic Music club, and watch others, most, less experienced than me, and I listen to them and see what is holding them back - it may be musical knowledge, right or left hand technique, or, mainly, confidence.

I used to charge to giving lessons - (£25 per hour - which was usually 90 minutes)

Now, I just meet them at the bar and give them just a little frindly advice, or invite them over to my place where we have a laid back couple of hourse and I politely and respectfully , show them what is missing.

I realise now that we all have our limits but the most limiting aspect is ...confidence.

Save your money. Find someone possibly a friend whose style you admire and ask them for a little time.
Also maybe some of my Y/T videos might help, and I'm alsways happy to take questions.
I'm delighted to get questions on Y/T and frequently delighted to hear that I've helped people.