Best Way To Get The Most From A Guitar Lesson?

[Fretz]

Hi Fretters

So I've started taking guitar lessons again recently. A new music school
opened up near where I live so I thought I'd give it a go...hoping it'll speed
up my progress, etc. But it's amazing how fast that hour long lesson goes by,
and although the teacher is very knowledgeable and skilled, I sometimes
leave wondering if we could have used the 60 minutes in a more efficient and
beneficial way.

Because I'm not a complete beginner my teacher allows me to
steer the lesson and suggest areas I'd like to/need to work on and we take it
from there. But with so much of the technical information available on the
internet these days, I'd like to use the 60 minutes face time with a
professional guitar player to focus on areas that can't be addressed with a
quick google search :)

So I thought I'd open this one up for discussion as I'd say a lot of you guys
have been in the same boat and maybe you figured out how to get the most
out of that one hour a week?


Cheers
Fretz

[Eric]

I am kind of in the same situation, and I don't claim to have mastered this, but I will share what I do, anyway.

I'll frequently just bring in whatever my current goals are. This can make me seem kind of scatterbrained, as these goals switch a lot, but I figure that's what the teacher is there for. If I'm trying to learn a song for the jam night I participate in, I'll tell him. If it's a lead for some song in church, I'll tell him.

This is a relatively new method for me with lessons, but I think it's going well. I mean, some accountability is good, but ultimately you shouldn't be fighting your lessons -- they should be helping you.

Surely there's something you'd like to improve on, right? It could be a technique thing (e.g. sweep picking), a song you would love to be able to play, better ability to make up solos for songs, songwriting, etc. Hopefully your instructor would be able to help you in all of those areas.

I hope that helps. Like I said, I'm no expert, but this is just my latest take on how to deal with lessons.

[GuitarAcademy]

It's best to take 1 or 2 areas and focus on them to get the most out of your money and time. What are the crucial areas that you feel you lack in?

I am a real life teacher and also run my own online guitar school. Because I teach hundreds, I don't know if I like the idea of the teacher letting you steer the lessons. I think its fine that he wants to cater them to you, but I think a good teacher, for your benefit needs to have some sort of end game in mind, your total development as a musician.

GA

[Fretz]

It's best to take 1 or 2 areas and focus on them to get the most out of your money and time. What are the crucial areas that you feel you lack in?

I am a real life teacher and also run my own online guitar school. Because I teach hundreds, I don't know if I like the idea of the teacher letting you steer the lessons. I think its fine that he wants to cater them to you, but I think a good teacher, for your benefit needs to have some sort of end game in mind, your total development as a musician.

GA


Hey GA

Yeah, I agree!

Maybe it would be better if I was to simply outline my long term goals and then allow my teacher to steer the lessons/me towards those goals?

[Jx2]

Ive taken several lessons over the years both guitar and bass. 9 times out of 10 on guitar I find guys like your teacher. And honestly I felt it was a waste of money for me. By letting me steer the direction, Id bring in something I wanted to work on and normaly he'd get me going in that direction. But as far as explaining how that could fit into my own stuff, I was basicalyl leaving with just being able to play whatever I brought in. And I felt understanding what Im doing was just as important as being able to do it. I have ALOT of bad habits, and am thinking after my lay off lookin for a teacher for a few months. But Im just curious if it would really help if I found another one of these guys. The guy I got bass lesson's from was the bomb, he'd ask me for a song and Id tell him. We'd sit down and work on that song and any technique used in it he would explain in the next lesson. So it was one lesson learning a song and the next lesson or few lessons exploying the techinque or style used in it. Ask for that....