guitar lessons?

Question

is it easier to teach yourself to play the guitar or have a guitar teacher help you. i am about to start to do guitar and i am woundering which is easier. i am still trying to find a guitar teacher for over the summer because i won't be able to have a guitar class in school for maybe another year or two.

Answer 1

It will always be easier to have an insturctor teach you.

Sure you could teach yourself, but you will likely struggle harder unless you already have a background in music.

Give it a shot though, if you aren't making enough progress on your own then seek some professional help.

But lessons for music aren't exactly the cheapest thing in the world. Anything from 30-100+ dollars per half hour.

Answer 2

Well now! As a professional guitarist and teacher of guitar, I am heartened to see that the majority of your answerers said "teacher!" Good for them. You can probably guess that I'm going to say teacher as well. Ok, TEACHER! But why, why not 'teach yourself' as some seem to think. Yeah, everyone plays guitar right? Isn't it easy? Wrong! The guitar is a difficult instrument to play well. Sure, anyone can bang on a few chords. Anyone can toot, bang, and beat on any musical instrument and declare it good.
Now here is the reason you need the BEST teacher you can find from the very beginning: You are going to save the most valuable thing of all. Your time! If you "teach yourself" from books or videos, what are you doing? Trying to copy something from someone who may know , but they aren't there to correct your errors. If you learn from "a friend" who isn't very qualified, what are you doing? Learning it wrong from someone who also doesn't know. Why will this waste time? Because when you finally hit a plateau, and you can't get any further on your own, you'll be coming to me. Then you will have to fix a LOT of the common errors that people make. And, they are a dog hard thing to fix. Your hands will be frozen in the wrong positions, and it will take you five times the time to get them out of that frozen position as it would have to get it right with a good teacher from the beginning.
There is a lot more to say about this, but I will keep searching for "guitar" under the advanced tab. If you're interested, go to my Q&A page and search for answers to this and general music questions.

Answer 3

The best, and cheapest, way is to teach yourself some of the basics - this way you can decide if you like playing enough to make a big investment... Buy a "how to" guide and learn some basic chords and songs.

If you decide you really want to learn more you can then find a good guitar teacher... Go to a local guitar shop and ask around for "the best" teacher in town. Keep in mind that "the best" teacher may only take anvanced students - so you may have to start out with someone who is willing to teach you... Do not, I repeat, do not pay a beginner teacher more than $10/hour.

Answer 4

Teacher :
Good point : You'll learn a specific about guitar and he/she knows how much your skills to go to next level
Bad point : Waste your money, guitar can be learn with autodidact and you just need a guitar book with an encouragement to learn it

Learn Yourself :
Good Point : You can explore about guitar as far as you can, and somebody can't hold you with a homework, or a "you don't try that, you're not good enough. Open page 69 and play again the song I gave you yesterday" said.
Bad Point : Waste your time, you don't know how to advance to the next level, and you're easy to get lost your hope because there's no people courage you and teach you together.


The decision : You can choose the right choice. If you choose the first one, exercise a lot so you can advance to the next level quickly and don't get your money waste too much. If you choose the second one, don't get lost hope when your finger hurts or the finger placement is bad. Remember, "master was made, not born"

Answer 5

Absolutely pay for some guitar lessons from a quality teacher with experience you can verify. Expect to pay at least $30-$40 per hour. You need to at least get a start of a couple lessons so they can point out the obvious so you don't start making mistakes that become difficult-to-correct problems. I found this local teacher describing what to expect at your lessons:
http://www.elireisman.com/portland-guitar-lessons.htm

Avoid cheap lessons from people teaching out of their homes trying to make a buck - you will get what you pay for! If they don't have a studio and a website then they probably aren't too serious and probably have another day job for obvious reasons.

Answer 6

I'm teaching myself right now. I find it really easy. Just finmd a good book, practice hard and you'll be on your way. I have only been practicing for a few weeks and i can already play a couple of easy meaningless songs. tablatures are the easiest route to go. It is a lot easier than reading the music in my opinion and i play the clarinet. But if you get a good guitar and a good book and have somebody who knows how to play , even a little bit, you'll be fine. =]

Answer 7

Teacher

Answer 8

I've tried both. I don't seem to stay as interested in it when I'm doing it by myself - and I could be doing it wrong. When I had a teacher, I learned a lot better technique (holding the strings down, how to hold my fingers/etc.) than when I was just trying to do it myself. I guess the best thing would be to try to find a good teacher and see what they can show you. If you hate it, you can always quit.

Guitar is awesome! Good luck!!

Answer 9

Probably easier to have lessons, but I didn't take lessons, and I'm playing fine. I have taught myself the guitar, bass, drums, piano and I am still figuring out the bagpipes.

Answer 10

it's easier to have a teacher, cause they have experience and they can tell you if you're doing something wrong. you don't want to practice the wrong thing. i taught myself the bass, cause i knew how to play the guitar a little. if you know one, it's easier to learn the other.