The Learning Curve.

[mark wein]

This weeks "vlog" is about how long it really takes to learn or advance on the instrument. No actual guitar playing but the task of "frustration management" is a daily one for me not only as a teacher but also as a musician trying to improve myself.

[Tig***]

You hit the nail on the head about how adults expect to pick up and learn something new almost instantly. I bet informing students with real world expectations helps prevent disappointment. There is no way we will learn it all, but we should always be discovering something new.

No matter where we are in our playing and learning path, we are always just scratching the surface. The learning curve is more like a perpetual learning staircase, full of advances and plateaus of all sizes and durations.

[mark wein]

You hit the nail on the head about how adults expect to pick up and learn something new almost instantly. I bet informing students with real world expectations helps prevent disappointment. There is no way we will learn it all, but we should always be discovering something new.

No matter where we are in our playing and learning path, we are always just scratching the surface. The learning curve is more like a perpetual learning staircase, full of advances and plateaus of all sizes and durations.

Thanks!


I end up being as much a performance coach as a guitar teacher sometimes, but thats what we all need every once in a while to get over the hump...

[sunvalleylaw]

I am there for sure. That is how I started. After all, I used to play piano as a kid, right? So I ought to be able to kick *** on guitar in a few weeks. LOL! That's about how I started.

More realistic now. Now I just need large chunks of time during hours when I have focus and energy to pursue all the things I want to get good at, and remain good at. Again, LOL!

[Eric***]

That was excellent, Mark. I was actually just talking about my own frustration with my lessons last night, and it was almost verbatim what you said adults want: teach me this -> I'll learn it instantly -> done, as opposed to a process.

It's good to hear that sort of thing from someone like you, even if I should know it intuitively on some level.

[mark wein]

That was excellent, Mark. I was actually just talking about my own frustration with my lessons last night, and it was almost verbatim what you said adults want: teach me this -> I'll learn it instantly -> done, as opposed to a process.

It's good to hear that sort of thing from someone like you, even if I should know it intuitively on some level.

As adults it should be obvious to us but we never see it that way. I'm as bad as anyone else, too. Sometimes you just need to go to your lesson and let the instructor work you through something as "directed practice", too..I don't think that every week needs to be new content since you can't really make use of new material that frequently but longer intervals between lessons leads to "mission drift".

[mark wein]

I am there for sure. That is how I started. After all, I used to play piano as a kid, right? So I ought to be able to kick *** on guitar in a few weeks. LOL! That's about how I started.

More realistic now. Now I just need large chunks of time during hours when I have focus and energy to pursue all the things I want to get good at, and remain good at. Again, LOL!

absolutely.