Watch this BEFORE Paying for Guitar Lessons

Here's some honest thoughts about taking guitar lessons with an instructor vs teaching yourself. Hope this helps!

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Thanks for watching!

[bleujazz]

Like others, I'm mostly self-taught, but signed up for in-person lessons 2 weeks ago. The instructor is showing me new material and teaching techniques I'd never considered before, so yes, weekly 30-minute lessons can bring new things to the table. My short-term goal is to work with the instructor for about 2 to 3 months, then move towards where I'd like to be. My feeling is that if I learn modes and scales, arpeggios and intervals from lessons, then it might be wise to study from YouTube additional material that is freely available.

[chizorama]

I'm a self taught bass player for over 30 years, dabbled in guitar a few times now looking to learn. Just recently started lessons & the very first thing my teacher noticed, right off the bat, is me playing flat fingured on my fretting hand. Back years ago, when I began my musical journey, I took guitar lessons. One thing my teacher back then didn't teach me was basic technique(s), probably why I got so easily frustrated & quit guitar. So now here I am, decades later, trying to overcome 30 years of muscle memory & spending hours upon hours retraining my left hand. It took me trying learn one song to really spotlight my weaknesses, so to that I'm glad I started taking lessons. I am putting myself through guitar boot camp.

[torydutton]

After 29 years of no lessons, I’ve now taken lessons for a year. I regret not taking lessons much sooner. Tiger Woods has always had a swing coach. Playing guitar is a skill the requires coordination, muscle memory, memorization, technique, etc… not all that different from many athletic activities. Having a coach or instructor watch you and help you troubleshoot problems can really make a difference. There are plenty of golfers who get by with no swing coach or lessons, but they are also no where near the level of Tiger Woods.

[derekgusoff]

I'm self taught, started in '86. There's no wrong way to play, but there are approaches that will make it easier or harder to progress. My self taught finger picking style makes it impossible for me to play a vast range of classic songs. Now I'm 52 and it's too late to undo it. In some ways I regret not getting lessons.

[talentosa]

I've been playing on and off for 10 years self taught and I did learn alot but as of the last 6 months I started taking lessons and I have to say, I've learned more in the last 6 months than I did before. The accountability and having a teacher tailor things specifically to me, rather than watch YouTube, has improved my skill so much. I wasn't a proponent for lessons before but now I'll always encourage people to take lessons if they can afford to.

[brostoevsky]

I agree with your proposed approach to learning the guitar. There's so much a motivated player can learn before setting foot in a guitar lesson studio. Then the instructor can teach you the hard stuff.

[steveavant]

I found this very interesting. I started learning guitar about two years ago and signed up for lessons. I have played trumpet all my life so I already knew the basics. The lessons were $65 per one hour session, we met twice a month. My instructor was completing his doctorate in music so he was extremely knowledgeable and could answer all my questions in a well presented manner. He was also an amazing guitarist, I think he could play anything on guitar. I learned a lot from him but the structure I was looking for wasn’t there. What I wanted was for him to identify my weak areas and give me an assignment and then review it next lesson. I finally decided to end the lessons and continue with online instruction. I liked being able to select lessons that I thought were most beneficial and I could look at them any time and as often as needed, and I could slow them down and replay over and over. I’m guilty of drinking from the fire hose and jumping from one lesson to the next but I’ve made a lot of progress. I think learning basic theory is just as important as learning to play. In the end, I decided that online gave me much more bang for the buck. As someone else said, I can do a year of online instruction for what a couple of lessons will cost.

[daveduffy]

I agree. There is way too much content on YT. It can paralyze you or you’ll turn into a gear chaser. I have been playing for years, self taught and I do, when I can, get some feedback on my playing from someone more experienced to check my mechanics.

[idontgrillonwed]

Revisiting the instrument after years away because my daughter wants to learn — you have definitely earned a subscribe and a like.

[tedseb]

A big factor I’ve learned being self taught is that the more you learn the faster you learn new concepts. It seems painfully slow and inefficient at first because it is but there are allot of great resources online and regardless of what path you take if you’re passionate about music and have the patience and discipline to put in I can guarantee you will excel far beyond what you originally thought possible. If you play every day you will get better regardless. You just have to work on optimizing your techniques and lesson plan to make that improvement happen most effectively. Good luck, (hu)man.

[theBejourn]

Awesome information well boiled down into two sides! I came to this video after watching your roadmap. Invaluable!

[robertshorthill]

I took mandolin lessons for about 6 or 7 sessions. I had told my teacher I had played guitar some in high school and mostly learned guitar in the air force with other guys with more experience. He could see I had a grasp of picking techniques, timing, etc. After my sessions with him, he let me know there was not much more he could show me I couldn't figure out for myself. He "fired" me, and through Youtube, I indeed did figure things out for myself, having picked up many tunes I could never imagined otherwise. When I tried to teach some of these great old timey tunes to my fellow district jam mates, however, I was considered a rebel of sorts because they had never heard of these tunes. Therefore, most of them were not interested. A fiddler lady became a good friend and saw my side of things with this closed minded bunch.

[JD-vjgo]

If I ever have time to practice regularly again I'll take lessons. Just having a pro to review your playing, provide feedback, and give specific exercises to fix issues is invaluable.

[venom_waz]

Thank you for making these kinds of videos. They're (just as you said previously) what I always wanted to know but that nobody has made in a concise form.

[my.ove]

4:02 i wanna be in a band some day but i dont have any friends at all and even if i didnt im sure none of them would play guitar and its hard cuz all my family says is “well just learn.” Or “i wont buy u a electric guitar till u learn.” But i just cant get excited with an acoustic guitar when literally everytime i see an electric guitar i start freaking out and fangirling over it no matter the color or how what it looks like

[chesterburnett]

This was a well-reasoned, insightful lesson and I agree with much of what you presented. After 6 or 7 years of weekly lessons, I am a only a disappointed, low-intermediate .
I think that finding a decent course, with a good online teacher, would be the best way to go. For example, for what one or two live lessons would cost, you could get a whole year with Tim Pierce, Active Melody, etc. Then, I would probably take a live lesson every now and then, for an independent assessment of my progress, helpful corrections, suggestions, etc. It's funny that I stumbled onto this video, after just deciding to cut way back on the live lessons.

[EpicCookieGamer]

100% agree. I’ve been playing for 18 years and only take a lesson when I hit a plateau as kind of a way to get over it and progress. Playing along to songs is really good for self teaching. I personally learned a lot about chords by listening to punk and country. Plus listening to Jazz and classical for some of the more complex chords. Blues for improv. Plus my wife plays the drums and sings so it makes it a lot of fun to learn a song together and play. Plus learning chord progression is a good tool to have too and so is reading sheet music/music theory but is somehow not as important as you may think.

[walkerjoin]

Another downside I found of being self taught on YouTube is that a lot of channels are trying to sell you something or try to make longer content for better watch time and it gets boring

[southparkfan]

you deserve way more subscribers dude, keep up the good work and hope you grow

[skydiver]

I'm teaching myself how to play guitar. I'm 64 and have been playing drums all my life, self taught drummer. My body can no longer take the beating playing the drums is doing to me so I bought a guitar and I'm teaching myself. Youtube is a great help, everything you need to know there is a video for. So I'm having fun taking my time and I think it's a great way to learn.