Finding a good guitar tutor?

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Moodyblue
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:03 pm
Location: Hemel Hempstead

Finding a good guitar tutor?

Postby Moodyblue » Sun Apr 28, 2019 11:35 pm

This is a bit of an appeal if I am honest. I first picked up the guitar in 1984 and as we mostly all do, had a series of lessons each and every week to help me on my way. The tutor was a local guy who would turn up every Tuesday evening for an hour and tab me out whatever I would ask for. This lasted for a few years until circumstances changed and I stopped having lessons.

Roll on to 1992 and I once again decided to take up lessons. This time from a guy called John Mizzarolli who was/is a pretty good electric player to say the least. Not the best of teachers but he knew his stuff. Again this lasted for a few years until I could no longer afford the fees.

I had a few different teachers on and off in the interim but none of them seemed to work very well for me and I didn't feel I was getting what I needed.

Roll on to 2019 and here I am, hopefully a much better player and of course, the quest to improve never dies BUT...what I now discover is that I cannot find a teacher who specifically teaches what I am looking for. It seems the internet has taken over and online lessons are the 'in' thing nowadays.

I have been trying to find the type of one to one lessons fairly local, I am willing to travel a bit but even so, how does one find the right tutor with all the skills needed to enhance one's playing?

I would be interested to hear anyone's feedback on tuition or how they find the right teacher to learn from.
Any pointers would be very helpful.

Nickswitz
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:41 pm

Re: Finding a good guitar tutor?

Postby Nickswitz » Thu May 30, 2019 6:37 pm

What are you looking for exactly ? Do you just want to learn to
play songs you like, or all the theory ?What didn’t work with the tutors
you had before?

I have been playing since 1983 and I am just about reasonable, Pub
Covers Band level. I have very little natural talent and cannot compose.

I had lessons at school from our own Mr Giltrap, but only about
18 months of them. Rather than teach me a song I wanted parrot
fashion, he would pick a song and teach me how it worked bit
by bit. What helped me immensely was learning the fretboard and
what notes were where, then learning all the usual chord shapes
and how to move them up and down, A minor shape barred on
the third gives C minor, lift the little finger and get C minor 7 etc
etc etc.

I only had Gordon as a tutor who taught me the way to sit, hold a
guitar correctly, how to finger pick etc. I try to play all different
styles, electric, acoustic, heavy metal, jazz, soul, blues.
I find I prefer finger picking, even though it not really what I would
listen to.

Why don’t you try playing a variety of different styles and see
which suits you best, what feels right and puts a smile on your
face when you play it. Then you may be in a better position to
choose the right tutor. I found Jammin sessions at my local
Community Centre a great help, with players of all levels and
just joining in, all different styles of tastes, exchanging techniques,
learning from better players, helping novices to tune up etc..

I do believe though that a tutor can only show you the way,
demonstrate the basics, the rest comes from us inside and
only limited to how far we want to go with it.

There are some great tutorials on the net as you mentioned,
try em!! 99% are free and very good.. Especially YouTube..

ATB, Nick..


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