Let's celebrate our guitar "instructors"

guitargabor · #1 03-17-2022, 04:58 PM

Hats off to all of my previous "teachers" !

Over the past 26 years I have learned from all kinds of guitar players.Pros like Jorma Kaukonen and Steve James.Also from musicians at jams.

All have added to my appreciation of the instrument.Even my very first teacher,who almost forced me to learn classical style helped improve my skill as a player.

Rick Taube,who owned his own shop taught me for 11 years.His only 15 minutes of fame was opening for Greg Brown many years ago.

There we're others who had the patience and corrected my mistakes....

I would be interested to hear from the group.

Who were your instructors and did you enjoy the experience?

Mine deserve full recognition.

tbeltrans · #2 03-17-2022, 05:34 PM

I only took a few in person lessons some years ago that didn't amount to much.

My teachers would have to be Robert Conti first and foremost, and then Jake Reichbart, both through their books (Conti) and video lessons (Reichbart).

I highly recommend both.

https://www.robertconti.com/

https://www.jakereichbart.com/guitar...r-lessons.html

Tony

srick · #3 03-17-2022, 06:13 PM

Toby Walker has been my guide for many years.I have been fortunate to have taken quite a few live classes with him over the years.

tbeltrans · #4 03-17-2022, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srick

Toby Walker has been my guide for many years.I have been fortunate to have taken quite a few live classes with him over the years.

Toby Walker is great too. I have a bunch of his lessons, but my focus is on those teachers I mentioned. Sorry Toby, I didn't intend to forget.

Tony

rllink · #5 03-18-2022, 07:53 AM

I was with my first teacher for a year, 2020 through 2021. He was local but we were doing Skype. He was very good in the beginning and really laid down a good foundation for me but then we drifted apart as far as our musical interest. I didn't want to go the direction he was taking me and he didn't seem particularly interested in taking me the direction I wanted to go. Also it came to a point where we could get off Skype and meet face to face but the circumstances were such that I did not feel comfortable doing that with him. But I did learn a lot from him and appreciate the time he took with me and mostly his patience. We parted amicably.

So I took a break and went on my own over the winter. Then just last week a long time friend and guitar player told me that he was going to cut down on his gigging and start giving lessons. He is most definitely playing the kind of music I'm interested in and so I told him to sign me up. I'm his first student. We had a lesson on Wednesday and I feel real positive about it. We are both about the same age. Also the circumstances are such that we are comfortable doing them face to face. So all is good.

Bob Womack · #6 03-18-2022, 08:22 AM

When I was in junior high, my first teacher was also my youth group leader. Because I was a lefty playing righty, my right hand didn't want to cooperate. My first teacher gave up on me after about four or five lessons.

The radio, my record albums, and high school bands, were together my second teacher.

In college I studied classical guitar for a few semesters with a retired vice counsel from Venezuela. He was very patient and kind. We worked through the Julio Sagreras method. It went a long way towards whipping my right hand into shape.

My fourth teacher, the most demanding, has been the school of hard knocks. Class of 1970-2022.

Bob

mr. beaumont · #7 03-18-2022, 08:31 AM

I've only had formal lessons with one teacher, a guy by the name of Ray Sapko, who is still teaching in the near Chicago burbs. He made me love playing.

Years later, I'd return later to teach at the same studio I had taken lessons, and I received an impromptu jazz education from the shop's owner, Joe Guido (RIP).

For both of these fellas, I am forever grateful, they gave me a gift for life.

jricc · #8 03-18-2022, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

When I was in junior high, my first teacher was also my youth group leader. Because I was a lefty playing righty, my right hand didn't want to cooperate. My first teacher gave up on me after about four or five lessons.

Bob

Another lefty playing right here. My first guitar teacher Ronnie Prestia, wouldn't let me play lefty, so I learned righty on a right handed guitar. I'm grateful that he made me change, there are a lot more options for right handed guitarists. Not many lefty guitars in shops.

jseth · #9 03-19-2022, 01:45 PM

Coming of age in the 60's, starting guitar in the late 50's... never did have any lessons, BUT I've learned from SO MANY players through the years that I couldn't begin to list them all.

Each one was important at the time, and imparted tips and techniques that are still with me today! I've always looked at guitar playing as very similar to "The Oral Tradition", where stories, wisdom and folklore are handed down from one person to the next, usually an elder to a younger...

Before the whole "You Tube" thing, there was really only one way to learn... from other players! I'd see/hear someone doing something that I thought was cool, and I'd watch closely and even ask them if they'd show me "how you do that?"... was good for me in many ways - keeping me humble, forcing me to develop relationships and care for them, and also to impart the importance of "passing it along' to other players as they came to me...

I frequently think of, and give vast appreciation to all those ones who have taught me, given to me, through guitar and through life...