Guitar lessons worth it?

Hello everybody I just wanted to get peoples opinions on this. I have been playing guitar for about a year and a half now just teaching myself the basics and going off of youtube tutorials. Now I am proud of how far I have come but I feel I am now stuck and I cannot get any better, I actually havn't been playing a whole lot this past month because I am discouraged. I am 23 years old and would like to know if guitar lessons are worth it. Will I get out of this hole alone? How did you learn? How much do lessons cost usually?

I have a friend that learned very fast using Rocksmith for PS3 (think Guitar Hero or Rockband but with real instruments and real notes). If you don't have a PS3 you can look for Rocksmith videos on YouTube and you'll see it's a very effective way to learn new songs.

If you need help u2u me.
I have taught guitar and might be able to help.

Here is a thread...I hope it helps and if you need help...I am a u2u away.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It all depends on what you want out of it, and what you can put into it.

If you have the motivation, learning songs by ear, slowing them down with a slow downer app, trains your ear incredibly well. A great teacher can fill in gaps, correct mistakes (starting out you might not get all the right notes,) show what more can be done, focus you on articulation, accents and subtleties etc... An average teacher (and it varies in music stores,) will get you through the material, but not really open up your eyes and really focus on your sound, rhythmic feel, and articulation.

It's up to you. A great teacher is irreplaceable. An average teacher is a partial replacement for your own self discipline with the widely available tools of the internet. IMHO

a reply to: DrumsRfun

Hmmm what is u2u exactly? and I should have specified it is acoustic guitar I am playing

It is often worth it to get some guitar lessons off a really good guitarist no matter how advanced you are. Because they might be able to show you some things you didn't know. No one knows everything about playing guitar- there is so much to know and so many different styles. I find that buying a new piece of equipment always gets my interest going again. And maybe join a band as it forces you to play better and you will enjoy yourself. That is unless you join a band with some ego freak ex junkie lead singer who stabs you in the back........... I'm not bitter though. Just kidding. It was the keyboard player.
Just find some dudes who are into the same music as you. I was self taught basically but had friends at school show me stuff. I have done many hundreds of gigs now and earned some good money so keep at it. If you really want to learn you will.
cheers

This is just my opinion, but, I feel like there are those who were meant to play guitar, and those who weren't. I took lessons for years as a kid, and never had the ability/drive to take it further to do my own thing. I just played sheet music. Then I see my cousin pick up a guitar and 6 month later, he is playing stuff from the radio and sounds as good as they do.

If you fee like you are one of the ones who is meant to play, follow it and put all you can into it. I feel like it's an instrument that can project feelings better than any other. (besides a blues horn in a smokey dark club)
Again, my opinion.

a reply to: network dude

Thats the thing networkdude, I do feel that I am meant to play but I need help to learn more.

I should also say I am not learning music theory, I am just going by tabs online and by watching people play on youtube. Could I be stuck because of this?

I've been playing guitar on and off for 5 years, and I'm 23 as well. A teacher is only good for these reasons.

1)you aren't motivated to doing anything by yourself
2)you are at a point you feel can not be passed(which you can pass)
3) you are trying to Learn theory/a song in the quickest/most efficient way possible.
4)somebody to critique you on form/feel/ and other things that normal lly would take you a while to figure out/develop if at all.

Before you get a teacher ask yourself... What is it that you really want to learn?
90% of anything you want to learn is possible online.
There are ear training programs/tabs/even lessons.


My suggestion is to go to lick library.com (or Google it) and learn some of the songs on there.
They have some intermediate songs, and then songs I like such as...
For the love of God,Tender surrender...etc

There are some really good players teaching you advanced songs there.

But again, just ask yourself what it is you actually want to learn.
And if you have the discipline to actually learn it on your own Google is a very powerful tool.

You can also ask me anything on here if u have any questions.

I'm not the most knowledge able, but I was a guitar nerd for 2 years and have about 50+full pages of theory/licks/ideas/chords written out so I'm sure I can be of some help.
Either way good luck on your journey!

Edit: the breakthrough song to learn on guitar is Canon Rock. It will take you to the next level.

As mentioned already, it all depends on your goals and expectations. I can't really say much about lessons as I have never had one. I have taught myself to play blues, flamenco, and classical. I can honestly say that when I play, I have no idea what I am doing but it sounds good. I have written a few songs as well. Teaching yourself can free you from the basics and allow more creativity. I know people that have had lessons from youth through college. They can play many popular songs and it does sound nice. If you ask them to toss out a freestyle solo, they are lost. They can only replay what someone else has already wrote. There are benefits to lessons as well, I am sure. No matter what you do , don't get trapped! Stay creative, experiment, try notes that should not go together, have fun with it. Music should be an expression of the human soul.

Hi Shepard,

I've been playing the electric guitar since I was 16, now having 12 years of experience, although what I wrote applies to acoustic guitarplaying as well ofcourse (or to learning to play the violin, drums, tame wild hamsters etc.). I practiced for 3 to 10 hours a day, so I invested lots of time in it. However, no matter how much time you invest, you must learn some basics to avoid learning things the wrong way.
I've had guitar lessons (on both an acoustic and electric guitar) for about 3/4 of a year. As a result of the amount of time invested, I made quite a lot of progress in that year. So, amount of time invested relates directly to proficiency imo.

The most important thing after having learned the basics, is drive. You must have a very strong motivation to learn things that seem utterly impossible at first. You have to be very persistent and play EVERY day (if you can), for at least several hours grinding techniques you struggle with (I presume you struggle with all techniques and that's perfect. Because the more you struggle, the more you have to be motivated to overcome those struggles and you learn to work and invest time and effort in developing your techniques, playing style and sound. This creates a mindset that can bring you very far if you desire).

To address your question: are lessons needed and worth it? Needed? Depends on you tbh. Worth it? Absolutely with a proper (!) teacher. I think it's quite normal to experience a very flat learning curve at times, but these are the moments where you need to focus to get better and prepare your mind and body for making more progress later on. This is very important, and a good tutorial/teacher can facilitate this progress. Also, learning different styles, doing different things will help you avoiding a fixed playing style/routine and feeling bored when playing. Finally, the feeling of not making progress is sometimes, and more often than not, just a feeling.

Feel free to ask me more if you like.

Regards,

T

a reply to: MrMaybeNot

Was that a joke answer? No offense, but learning random songs from a video game is not the same as knowing how to play guitar.

I have played rocksmith before at a friends house and it is fun, but gets old quick and won't provide you any real knowledge to actually play the guitar.

a reply to: -Thom-

hey thom thanks for your input, very helpful. I do get bored with what I do know how to play so I like the idea of switching up styles but I feel I haven't mastered what I know. I may be over thinking it, maybe I should just shut up and keep playing lol

originally posted by: Shepard64
a reply to: network dude

Thats the thing networkdude, I do feel that I am meant to play but I need help to learn more.

Give it all you can then. Pour your heart into it. As for lessons, I would suggest finding someone who is miles better than you are now, and see if they can offer any assistance.

One thing I have learned that is universal, is surround yourself with people whom you aspire to be like, and you will find yourself advancing towards your goals every day. Good luck and when you make it big, don't forget the little people.

If your stuck and can't go any further the only way is lessons,as your not learning any more

It's too easy to get into bad habits and if corrected early they are not a problem

Theory can't be neglected as well,and YouTube doesn't cover that very well

So take some one on one lessons,get some theory under your belt and enjoy music


Once you have theory,no bad habits on guitar-you can find your own voice and won't need teachers

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: Shepard64
a reply to: network dude

Thats the thing networkdude, I do feel that I am meant to play but I need help to learn more.

Give it all you can then. Pour your heart into it. As for lessons, I would suggest finding someone who is miles better than you are now, and see if they can offer any assistance.

One thing I have learned that is universal, is surround yourself with people whom you aspire to be like, and you will find yourself advancing towards your goals every day. Good luck and when you make it big, don't forget the little people.

ETA: Thom seems like the kind of person you should be jamming with.

a reply to: Shepard64

Yes lessons are worth it. If you find a good teacher, they will help correct little flaws in your technigje. Just that alone can make playing guitar that much more fun as you will be able to do lots of riffs,licks or songs that you werent able to do before.

Practice with Nirvana songs.


Helped me as a teenager.

No, they're a waste of time, you can teach yourself.

I've been playing nearly 40 years now (about 13 when I picked it up).

Like most folk, I had private guitar lessons.

Good fun, had a laugh, great bloke.

Until I suddenly realised I wasn't actually learning anything I couldn't have learned myself...easily.

I was just paying some bloke to be my mate...basically paying for half an hour of his time every week.

We'd talk sh*t for half an hour then he'd remind me of the time and tell me to practise a certain piece for next time.

He made a nice living out of hoodwinking people.

This is what you do if you want to play the guitar; no tutor will tell you this because it's so simple (and free lol).

Learn the chords A through G. The seven basic chords.

Go away and learn those chords for a few months; when you want to play something, you will find there are one or two chords in the song you aren't familiar with.

Then you come back to me and I teach you the minors and sevenths.

And THAT'S IT.

Everything else is down to practise, pure and simple.

How good a guitarist you are is directly proportional to the amount of practise you put in.

I'm a pretty good guitarist but that's only because I practised a lot.