Guitar Lessons vs Teaching Yourself
Philadelphia Guitar lessons vs teaching yourself
So, you’ve decided you’re going to learn to play the guitar. You’ve gone out and bought yourself beautiful new guitar, gig bag, music stand, and a million other pieces of guitar-themed paraphernalia. You get back home, take the guitar out of the box, and then it dawns on you: I don’t know how to play!
Do you take guitar lessons or do you teach yourself?
In this article, we’ll be looking at the pros and cons of both. Taking guitar lessons is the most formal route, but today many people use other resources to help you teach yourself. It’s a tricky decision as there are unique benefits to each method.
Teaching yourself
Teaching yourself is the most easily accessible method, as you don’t need to find a guitar teacher before you can start. Anybody can set out the teach themselves to play, but it takes a certain type of person to succeed.
Just be aware, teaching yourself is a trial and error process. If you’re the kind of person that gets frustrated when you’re stuck, teaching yourself might not be the best option. On the other hand, if you enjoy a challenge and figuring things out for yourself, then teaching yourself to play the guitar could be right up your street.
You’ll need to find some suitable resources before you can start. Two of the best resources out there are guitar method books and online video lessons. You’ve found what you believe to be a trustworthy source of lessons. You’ve followed the first lesson on how to hold the instrument. You’ve also been successful in playing open strings. But now you’ve come to fretting notes or chords, and something doesn’t sound right.
You’re doing everything the guitar teacher in the video is showing you, but it still doesn’t sound right. You’ve replayed the video a hundred times, clocking up over 4 hours’ worth of screen time. But it still doesn’t sound right. What do you do? When you’re teaching yourself, it’s up to you to find the solution.
Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons are the traditional method of learning to play the guitar. You’ll need to do a bit of research to find the best local guitar teacher in your area. It can be a bit of a lottery as to the standard of guitar tuition available.
When people think about guitar lessons, they tend to focus on the ‘learning’ side of things. But lessons serve a much more comprehensive purpose. Guitar lessons are a great tool for keeping you motivated. This is one of the key factors in whether or not you’ll succeed with learning to play the guitar. Taking lessons keeps you motivated because your teacher will be constantly encouraging you and driving you to improve. Having a weekly appointment with your guitar teacher will also spur you on to pick up your guitar more often. The reason motivation is so important is very simple. The more motivated you are, the more you pick up the guitar to play.
If you have a really good guitar teacher, they will probably give you a set of exercises specifically designed to help you make the right movements. They may even compliment this with a study piece to help you master whatever you’re stuck on. Guitar lessons offer a tailor-made method of learning to play the guitar. This is something that video lessons, books, and other resources simply can’t match. Nothing will ever replace this core benefit of taking guitar lessons.
We would highly recommend finding a good guitar teacher in your local area. If you happen to choose a bad guitar teacher, don’t be afraid to stop lessons and find a better teacher. If you’re taking guitar lessons you can always discuss whatever you’ve learned on your own in your weekly lesson. Your guitar teacher will be thoroughly impressed with your dedication and independence.