Very good topic Robert.

I had an excellent teacher. First of all he has a music / teaching studio in the basement of his house. Very nice atmosphere. My teacher kind of analized me within the first couple of lessons and then presented me a plan on what we can work and which aims we will set on a step by step basis. Realizing what I could already play and how we can sort the things. He called this a "drawer system". Blues to blues, Rock to Rock and then mix it. His approach wasn't very technical, he wanted you to develop a general knowledge like for e.g. building chords, listening to other instruments, transcribe music, recognize chord structure when listening to a song. I always had homework to do with the aim to understand what I play. He said I only believe that you can play something when you can prove that you understand it, everything else is "drilled circus monkey" playing! For example, one day at the beginning of a lesson he said okay let us play Little Wing or Hotel California in a totally different key and please play every chord arpeggiated!!!!! Bang my friend! There you go, how about that? If you did not understand the relation between chords you were lost :-)

We analized Hendrix's and Vaughan's playing style in detail, researching their backgrounds and finally being abel to know why they played the way they played.

Further to that I myself found it very important to be able to spend the lesson talking to him about general musical things or sometimes personal issues without touching the guitar. This changed my general attitude and respect towards muscial companions and it let me grow. He was able to make me a better player and a better person.

I took lessons with him when I was 14-15 years old (Metal) for a year and then when I was 24 years old for another year. We did a year study in blues rock and jazz, sidereading and some other stuff.

What I appreciated most was that he was always prepared. The lessons did not start like "okay we stopped with Pentatonics" let us go on there, no no he was able to foresee where I would be after I had done my homework so every lesson started with a challenge and I was happy to pass it because I needed prove for my improvement.

To me he is still the best German guitar teacher and without him I would not be the musician I am today. I am considering taking lessons again with him to become a better songwriter.

What I want to say is that I do not only claim from a teacher that he shows me all tricks, I want a teacher to be a Sensei, a Master, a person you look up to.