Going to school. How to make the most of it?

[newtwanger]

Hey guys,
I just signed up for weekly lessons to make my guitar playing suck less (with the dream to one day not suck at all).

I've tries twice before (10 years ago and last year) but both turned out poorly; Teacher would play something, give me tab, tell me to practice.
I can do that with tab online.

Here's where I'm at right now:
I have very good pick control.
I know the pentatonic boxes all over the fretboard.
I know the cowboy chords.
I know the power chords.
I know I-IV-V using the above chords.
I can play several songs by learning them note-for-note but not understanding the relationship of these notes at all.(Mostly Led Zep and classic rock).
I can sit with a song and figure out what chords and notes are being played BUT is it an A A7 Amin7 Amaj ??? whaaa?
I can learn anything I see in youtube "teaching" videos, but don't understand why these notes go together.

I can't:
Play solos over 12 bar blues as I don't understand the lead notes relationship to the chord being soloed over.
Make something up that sounds like proper music.
Understand what this arpeggio business is.
Feel like I'm a guitarist as I can only copy stuff I've heard.

Hopefully some of you teachers out there can help me to "ask the right questions". I've been assured this teacher is not like the others. This is a highly regarded school and the teacher has the musical range of Blues to Rock to Neo-Classical, which works for me (I wanna be John 5 )

help!

[garytelecastor]

Ask your teacher to explain the harmonic relationship in chord structure. Have him explain the 1,3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. This will open up things like you won't believe. It is all about harmony and intervals.

[klasaine]

Learn to read music, or work on reading it better. It's an excellent discipline that will help you to improve everything else you're working on. It will also afford you the opportunity to expose yourself to so much great music that isn't available in TAB.

Practice with a metronome - scales, arps, licks, songs, rhythm patterns ... whatever.

Learn some theory: major (and minor ) scales, the modes 'of' the major scales, basic triad construction, and some "basic" chord progressions and WHY they're basic and important and useful (I vi ii V and I IV V, etc. 10,000 tunes based on these two progressions along with a few substitutions).

None of this "sounds" very fun, romantic or 'rock & roll' but it will get you past where you are now and make you a better player.

[Boubou]

Which part of Quebec are you from??
I am in Laval. just did 2 semesters of lesson. A bit disappointed, though i did learn a lot. Courses end next month, was thinking of trying out a few lessons with another teacher over the summer.
Also thought of ordering Mark Wein's book, looks good. You seem a little more advanced than me, if you find someone that suits you, let me know, depending on where you are at.

[newtwanger]

Originally Posted by klasaine

None of this "sounds" very fun, romantic or 'rock & roll' but it will get you past where you are now and make you a better player.

Well, I've got the torn jeans, the old amp & guitar and several leather jackets so the rock-n-roll part is covered . I really am looking for the theory to tie it all together.
I can read music somewhat, it just kills me not to understand the theory behind what I'm reading.

Originally Posted by klasaine

Practice with a metronome - scales, arps, licks, songs, rhythm patterns ... whatever.

Got that. I have a Line 6 guitarport and Guitar Rig 3 both have a metronome feature. When I practice I plug into the PC instead of my RP250 and Amp.

Originally Posted by Boubou

Which part of Quebec are you from??

I'm on the South Shore. The school's in St-Hubert. I followed some of Mark Wein's online stuff, it was very good.

I did the "Australian Guitar Lessons" stuff for a few months which helped but found it a bit "sloppy" and the "Playing Through the Blues" online lessons were not bad too.

I have 2 Greg Koch instructional videos that are amazing but I'm not to that level "yet".

[klasaine]

Great! It sounds like you know what you want to do and how to accomplish it. With a good teacher you should be on your way.

[drewsblues]

Originally Posted by newtwanger

Here's where I'm at right now:
I have very good pick control.
I know the pentatonic boxes all over the fretboard.
I know the cowboy chords.
I know the power chords.
I know I-IV-V using the above chords.
I can play several songs by learning them note-for-note but not understanding the relationship of these notes at all.(Mostly Led Zep and classic rock).
I can sit with a song and figure out what chords and notes are being played BUT is it an A A7 Amin7 Amaj ??? whaaa?
I can learn anything I see in youtube "teaching" videos, but don't understand why these notes go together.

I can't:
Play solos over 12 bar blues as I don't understand the lead notes relationship to the chord being soloed over.
Make something up that sounds like proper music.
Understand what this arpeggio business is.
Feel like I'm a guitarist as I can only copy stuff I've heard.

Bring that list to your first lesson. You've pretty much set yourself up with some realistic goals already (well... maybe not John 5... yet); you just need to let your teacher know what they are.

Also, I'd ask the teacher to "teach you how to practice." Nothing is more frustrating that being handed something and told to "go learn it." Your teacher should give you a game plan with each piece of material you are given. You should be working up to systematic approach to learning any new piece that come across, whether it's a solo, a passage, an entire song, or complete improvisation. In my opinion, this is one of the most important things a good teacher can offer.

Like the old saying, "Give a person a fish and they eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for life." -- or something like that -- you want the teacher to give you an approach to learning anything you hear or imagine; not just the stuff that they hand you in class.

The other thing I'd add is that the teacher is probably only 10% of the equation. The other 90% is you and your desire to apply what you are taught. If you can't put the time in to practice, don't expect to see much improvement or success. You get out of it what you put into it (the whole money thing notwithstanding).

My $0.02....

[charlie cash]

I would bring your list of what you know and what you don't to the teacher. This will show him that you are serious about what you want to learn, give him a starting point and some of your goals, and will allow the teacher to talk about what should be added to the list.

[stephwills]

Originally Posted by drewsblues

Bring that list to your first lesson. You've pretty much set yourself up with some realistic goals already (well... maybe not John 5... yet); you just need to let your teacher know what they are.

+1 on this. I started lessons 2 months ago. During our first lesson, the instructor asked about my background and I explained that I'd played drums and pretty much all forms of percussion for ... holy cow, almost 30 years. I don't think he really believed me until we hit the rhythmic structure of the right hand, which I laid waste on (the only high part of the lesson, I assure you).

Just remember, the instructor know absolutely nothing about you and has to assume to worst. If you show up prepared and ready to assist in laying out a lesson plan, that really puts you on down the road.

[Larry F]

There is a time for most musicians when they need to buckle down and work on drills. You'll need to get those scales, etc. down cold so that you don't stumble over them in the future. Once the memorization is out of the way, doors upon doors of sound relationships will be open to you.

[newtwanger]

Thanks guys! I think I'll bring this list and some snippets of your comments to my first lesson and see what we can make of it.
Since I started building my esquire in December I've been playing my tele or the esquire at least 1 hour a day (2 on weekends) every day. Two reasons actually; practice and to de-sticky that damn nitro neck .
I can play many passages and licks, but if I can't make up anything for myself worth a damn, I'm just not happy (yet).

Tonight was a 24 bar solo from "Playing through the blues". I got it 51% licked... Tomorrow we'll see....

[Boubou]

Originally Posted by stephwills

I explained that I'd played drums and pretty much all forms of percussion for ... holy cow, almost 30 years. I don't think he really believed me until we hit the rhythmic structure of the right hand, which I laid waste on (the only high part of the lesson, I assure you).

Hum! how about 30 years of chemistry????

[newtwanger]

Hum! how about 30 years of chemistry????

Well I find chord shapes and molecular structures quite similar

CO vs CO2 (add the extra oxygen molecule and it's completely different)

Asus2 and Amaj (add that extra fretted note and it's a completely different chord)

OK, it's a stretch but you know what I mean, if you're smart enough to be good at something, you can make relations to help you be good at something else.

[GoldieLocks]

You need to forget that you know the blues scale (for awhile).

Tell your teacher that you need to learn the Major Scale. And all the chords that go with it.

Then tell him that you need to learn the minor Scale. And all the chords that go with it.

Then ask him to explain to you how these are used to write songs.
Then ask him to explain how the blues scale is part of the minor scale.

The same way you learned the blues scale patterns...you can also learn the minor/major scale patterns. (3 notes per string instead of 2). But now you have 7 pattern shapes instead of 5.

If he doesn't understand any of this - GET A NEW TEACHER.

[klasaine]

Truer words are seldom spoken.

[automaton_2]

This is a pretty interesting thread for me, I am starting lessons (for the first time since I was a kid) next week, or the week after.