How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

interesting, I like the quotes

I would say ya learn covers, but also learn other stuff like how to make songs and solo decently

I have been having fun using my fretlight and bought the advanced lessons and it is not like tons of theory or wackamole or anything, just a good tool

the more you learn the better you smooth the canvas; you dont have to use all the paint colors though for each painting!
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

To a point I agree. That's why really it's teaching people technique and how to use their body as an instrument, and giving them the tools to then fly by themselves. That and maybe, only if they want, one day a year you can refresh their memory or provide dedicated teaching. Otherwise, it's "do it yourself".

If they want theory, that's good, but they would probably get it better at a music college. I am glad I got lots of music theory at college.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

Hold up, who is this guy? I don't suck at guitar. :(


But seriously, it's true. Tools are great. Fundamentals are great. Theory, scales, chops, etc. All great, useful, productive things that mean absolutely nothing if they aren't applied musically.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

My PhD is in Human Learning/Skill Acquisition with a fairly equal emphasis on Cognitive and Motor skills. From that perspective, I completely agree. Same thing applies to martial arts. Fear the man that has practiced 5 techniques 10,000 times, not the man that has practiced 10,000 techniques 5 times.

Yngwie has a great response when people asked how much he practiced and he says "Never" and he is talking about the very same thing.

I'm writing a music book right now that really emphasizes exactly this principle as well.

The TRUE importance of a teacher is to
a) Provide structure to your learning (Such as 1st pentatonic, then modes, THEN harmonic minor....)
b) Provide feedback on areas of strength and weakness.

If you do not 'train' yourself to do things, you won't learn. And if you don't practice making 'music' you also won't learn.

This is part of the reason I say any beginner needs to learn just Open chords, power chords (root/5th) and the pentatonic minor. They are fast, simple and easy and a ton of all the music you have ever heard is based on ONLY those things. More music, less 'technique'

I would also say you need to learn to sing and play period.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

Article summed up in five words: "Specialization is better than generalization"

Duh.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

I don't usually fault the teacher or the book. I recently took a beginner's guitar class and learned several new things. There's always a lesson to learn if you want to. It also showed me that on some levels, I'm still a beginner. But I sort of like being in that position - keeps me hungry.
 
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Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

Distractions being #1. I believe that.

As much as I envy the younger generations for their access to a world of info on the net, I'm glad I learned to play in a time when my cassette boom box was the only thing in my bedroom. It sucked having to wear out cassettes to learn guitar, but at least there were no other distractions. It was just VH, Rhoads, Page, Gary Moore, Yngwie, SRV and me sitting there figuring stuff out.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

Dabbling in everything will eventually lead to mastering nothing. The endless supply of distraction/dopamine hits provided by the internet makes it very difficult to deeply focus on anything these days.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

He's putting all guitar teachers into one bag, so the author has a personal bias but ok lets roll with it.
He's right about internalizing one or two concepts rather than half assing many.
He's right about process being more important than just learning songs or licks.
Just remember that not all teachers are the same, and that learning comes in many forms. Bear in mind also that this "self taught" musician who wrote the article is in fact placing himself in the role of a teacher.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

That being said, I was thinking about it today, and sometimes you need to be forced to learn a piece of music to expand your versatility / creativity. I had to learn Schubert once on piano in music college. Didn't like it, but it expanded my horizons.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

According to this maybe I'm on a good way to be a bankrupt teacher because I'm teaching no theory at all just to play and enjoy basic things by instinct then discover their musical interest by themselves :)
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

In my opinion, music theory is very good, but it's for a different time. In music college, music theory is a class, separate from private lessons. You go over technique, but not theory. Want to learn theory? Find out what book the local music college uses for teaching theory, buy it, read it. Music history is also good, but not for lessons, so again, find out what book the local college uses, buy it, read it.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

I think he starts out even on the wrong foot saying "career" ...he SHOULD SAY for those that want to work really hard and not get paid and spend all their dough on gear, here are some words of advice on doing just that!

...

funny thing about the author of this article, RE:

About the Author: Johnny Lee is creator of NOBSGuitar.com, the best-kept secret of self-taught guitarists from over 73 different countries. Today, it has become one of the premier sources of accurate information, useful knowledge, and uplifting inspiration for scores of self-taught guitarists. Johnny's lessons have appeared on top guitar websites such as Ultimate-Guitar...
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

I didn't read the article but I can say that a combination of both lesson and self teaching will both help greatly. I'm currently in college taking music classes and the theory has really made me a better musician being able to truly understand what i'm hearing and how music is put together.
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

The Author makes some genuine points. Unfortunately his agenda is really evident and that always dilutes the fundamental truth. Can't put us all in a box.

In my experience, most players just play for fun or hobby which is natural of course. It is a lifetime commitment. Few actually have a heart driven desire to be great musicians or pursue 'musicianship' as a craft or career. Those who do will thrive right now with the availability of instant learning material. It has never been a better time to be a student of learning.

Distraction is indeed a bonafide problem in regards to results. The massive online stimulation can derail alot of people and send them on different bunny trails. That said, I have found that those who are clear on what they want, learn how to get focused and stay focused. Results come fast. Clarity of purpose is key for me and my own learning. Clear goals guide your actions.

Cheers and respect,

RG
 
Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

I have a question , how distraction destroys guitar hopefuls time and time again?
 
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Re: How to murder your guitar career as a beginner...

He makes a comment about only needing a few lessons and then they can teach themselves.

This is not entirely true either. It seems that way, but it's not. Universities give continuing piano and voice lessons. One of the reasons for this is to help the individual refine and perfect their technique and their songs. I know this from my junior piano recital in college. I learned the songs, or so I thought, until my teacher watched me play them and had some things to point out that I wasn't doing properly. The result was that I got far better at the song.

The problem is we're human, and no matter how hard we try, there's something we can improve on. Having a very good teacher to watch your technique, who knows the song better than you and can point out things that are in your blind spot, is worth the money. Maybe not as frequently as with other instruments, but still, I periodically take lessons for specific songs to get feedback.

The problem is, in my opinion, too many teachers go off on rabbit trails. I've had to stop taking from a guitar teacher before when lessons degraded into jam sessions. A good teacher would push the student to learn a song and come back when they think they've got it down, etc.
 
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