Frustraited with my teacher

It's very important that you have an open dialogue with your teacher. It probably isnt that easy for him to know what you want, and you should tell him that. If this doesn't work, and he doesn't improve it would be wise of you to move on and get a new teacher.

If he was your lawyer, stock broker, real estate agent, insurance broker or anything else for that matter, you would have dropped him by now. You are a fee-paying customer and he has a duty to teach you in a way that ensures your total understanding. And if it doesn't he should modify his methods to help you out.

The thing with tutors of any sort, musical, academic or otherwise, i tend to find that some of them think that they are doing you some kind of favour - they're not, they're being paid. Don't waste you're money, find someone better.

Another thing is don't ever be fobbed off by that "you don't know enough yet to understand the answer" response to any of your questions. That simply is not acceptable. If you don't know enough then he should explain any other relevant concepts for you to grasp his answers.

In summary - find a teacher who you both like and find is a good teacher.

Mart.

It's very important that you have an open dialogue with your teacher.

I agree, although it is very hard to do this because you pretty much have to have this conversation during the already short 30 minute period you have. I am needing to have a similar conversation with my teacher and this is part of the reason I have been putting it off.

Jim

Thanks for the replys, in regards to having an open dialouge with my teacher. I wouldnt mind If I felt he was up to listening or considering my point of view. I think he has been teaching and playing guitar for so long that he wants to teach things his way the same way every time, regaurdless of the student. I dont want to come across like this guys isnt nice or cordial, but I think he may just be burnt out on teaching. I know, he works full time in a music store then teaches probably ten-fifteen different people during the evenings at his home. I know he dosent take notes on what weve covered, maybe menatl note's, and the lessons seem real inpromtu, I think he knows what level of playing but he dosent seem to have my lessons planned out ahead of time at all weseem to work on things in a real random manner, sometimes moving to a different topic or song before we have finished what we working on. Man, I hate the thought of searching for a new teacher, not sure where to start, the Idea of some guy working at a music shop dosent get me excited, but hey maybe that would work, what other ways have guys had good luck with finding a good teacher.

Thanks

Dave,

Finding the right teacher is tough for a variety of reasons. I've been playing about 2 1/2 years now and I've had 4 teachers all of which were great players but the first three just didn't really teach me anything I couldn't have struggled with an figured out myself.

The last teacher who I've used off and on for the past year came as a recommendation from the local univeristy music department head. I had tried to see if the school offered guitar lessons which they didn't so he recommended this guy.

Now of all four he's the best, but I still have reservations about where he's taking me. I have discussed my goals with him.

He does give alot of songs that I wouldn't normally play but to me they seem kind of on the easy side so I'm wondering what his plan is. Something I plan on discussing with him this week.

Does sound like your getting an overdose of fingerpicking though. My teacher hasn't even mentioned finger picking and honestly at this point I'm not really interested in doing that so if he does I'll ask him to do something else.

Definitely tell him your alittle confused with where his lessons are taking you and reinforce to him where you want to go musically.

If he doesn't tell you what you want to hear, I think it's time for a new teacher.

Last night as I was leaving I mentioned that I'm having trouble transitioning to Bar chords, hoping I might get some tip that would help my playing, maybe a suggestion on technique or something, what he did was start playing Sister Golden Hair surprise with a lot of bar chords, and then said you just need to find a song that with a lot of bar chords, and practice that'll make you good at Bar Chords, I was pissed off but tried not to show it, it felt like what a lame answere. "find a song and practice.." this is the expert advice I'm paying for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a look at Jamey Andreas's site - Clickety click

There you'll find an essay (maybe a newsletter) called "Teaching by Travel Brochure", and I think you'll recognise your current teacher in those words.

The suggestion that all you need to do is find a song that uses barre chords and practice is bad advice. Barre chords have to be worked at, using three strings, then four, then five and six; not just going for it in a gung-ho fashion. I think you need a new teacher - interview a few and make sure they know how to teach rather than just how to play the guitar.

Teachers should inspire confidence. I got this from a young student's mum at the weekend:

"I was watching him practice one day last week, and he sat there looking at his hands as he played and then he looked out the window and then back at his hands again; still playing. I told him he was being a bit clever, and he said 'Alan does that'"

I dutifully relieved his mum of a cheque for his Step 1 exam in June. Hah - kid's gonna fly.

Best,

A :-)

Allow me to throw my perspective in this mix.

A beginner/intermediate guitarist is the worst judge of his/her abilities. Even a talented one thinks, he/she cannot play anything and therefore never attempts to play "complicated" stuff.

When a teacher comes across such a student, the only way to dispel this misconstrued doubt is to throw him/her in the deep end. The player may get overwhelmed but the teacher being a better judge of student's abilities knows the student would do just fine.

So, COULD it be possible that he is trying to make you realize of your abilities?

Fire him

Even if GoodVicHunting is right the fact that there is no structure or planning for your lessons is enough to turn me off.

I think a good teacher should be a good coach. If you can't talk with this teacher and feel encouraged about what you're learning and inspired to work hard at it, then the fit isn't right. You just need another teacher.

I would rather learn on my own than Pay some guy to just not realy seem to care about what he is teaching, sounds like he just wants your money and not much more, I would forget him, I had a Teacher years ago and he worked at a music store did not last long and I can honestly say I have learned much more on my own. Good Luck.

I will not comment on what this teacher is doing and why as I don't have his side of things.
I will say without any doubt that if you are not happy with him you will not learn and should find someone else.

I'm sure there are some good teachers out there, just takes time to find the right one.

Being able to teach is a rare ability. It's not enough to just show someone what to do, you regularly have to find ways of making it easier for them to understand and easier for them to do. I've had any number of occasions when I've had to stick my fingers between a students hand and the neck of his guitar just to get him used to the idea of creating space to work in. For this reason you need to talk to a new teacher and ask him/her how they teach, even to the extent of playing for them and having them look over your technique to comment on it. Only then can you really decide.

For the record, I've taught lawyers and paralegals to write Investment Banking legalese and enjoyed it.

Best,

A :-)

Yeah... just talk to him, he's getting paid after all. :roll: