What's a self-taught guitarist?

It simply means the obvious: no formal instruction/teacher -- books and anything else are usually fair game. But even the so-called "self taught" learn a lot informally from other players -- friends, jammers and similar. No one seems to count those "informal lessons" as no money exchanged hands. Go figure.

people pick things up from books, other players, watching and listening to favorite players. I think the only way you are truly self taught is if you are straded on an island and a guitar washes up and you learn just for something to do.

No one seems to count those "informal lessons" as no money exchanged hands. Go figure.

"self-taught" - I hate that label. I've heard a few guitarists brag about how they were self taught, and then I ask where they learned such and such trick/lick/etc and they tell me about some friend of theirs who shepherded them through their first 6 mos of learning... um... hello! :roll:

Did you pick up a guitar with no one present and just start pressing on frets until the sound you wanted started coming out? No? Then you're not self taught.

Most people think that "self taught" applies if they never took "formal paid for lessons". Paid being the operative word.

I agree with undercat that there is no such thing as self taught if you ever read a book, took an online lesson, bought a CD, played with someone else, took advice from someone, etc.

For the first couple of years that I played I never took a formal paid lesson but would not consider myself "self taught" because I had 2 brothers of a girl I was dating teaching me. By the way, we broke up but I kept playing with the 2 brothers.

Hey I just thought of something. I make donations to GN so I guess now I am taking "formal paid lessons" again.

To slant-quote the late, great Mitch Hedberg:

"I never had a guitar instructor, I just know a guy who teaches guitar who'd get really mad if he heard me say that."

I agree with most here, we all get help from one resource or another.

I think we all learn from some source, but to a certain degree we are "self taught" as well, I take the information that my teacher or someone shares and then I have to process it in a way that makes since and works for me. I pay for lessons, whether you would call them formal or well planned that could be debated, but my teacher only gives direction I have to do most of the learning on my own.

I took lessons 30 years ago at age 18....got bored stiff and gave it up after 3 weeks, I was never going to be a star playing 3 Blind mice... since then, I've lifted licks/riffs/chords from anywhere I could...

Then I found GN about 18 months ago, I'd say about 99% of my guitar -playing common sense has come from here.....doesn't makie me self-taught, but it did make me self-disciplined....

So I'd say the definition of self-taught is someone who wants to play and will use any resource available to them....

I worked my way through the Complete Beatles Songbook(at age 19) , although I only used the top 3/4 strings.......the chord diagrams were all there... does that count?

:D :D :D

Vic

My wife is an instructional designer.

One of the biggest things in her field lately is the discovery of the validity and power of what they call "SDL" -- "Self Directed Learning."

Oddly enough, adults who want to learn specific skills, are of average intelligence, and had a modicum of dedication to the task, generally succeed.

The flip side is that while it's great for adults to decide what they want to learn, and the general aspects of how they want to learn it, it is still the case that subject matter experts are needed, and quality instruction materials become even more improtant because there isn't a teacher right there to correct what's misunderstood or misapplied.

For musical instruments, I think the best adult students are the ones who are primarily self-directed. The role of the teacher becomes one of refining technique and providing a mentor/support role, answering questions, etc. The teacher ceases to be the one figuring out what song to learn next, or what technique to focus on next. But it's in that role of being a readily available mentor that a formal teacher is still worth the money for an adult learner.

A good question of whoch I've never thought before.
hmmm, I don't think there's a true self taught musician exept for those who hide at home and are never seen and don't listen to anything what's going on in the world but we might be able to count them on one hand.

In a not so strict definition, you could say "self taught" means something like "self disciplined" combined with "self directed". You know what you want and you stick with it using every information and help that brings you closer to your goal.

I'm one of them.

I've never seen anyone play a guitar in my company. I've not downloaded videos. I've only read Bert Weesdons how to play the guitar in a day. A book from I assume the eighties, and a book which is terrible to learn from. Infact, I only learnt a little from it, and that was different types of guitars.

I picked up my mums guitar. 12 years old. Strings never been changed, and really do need a new guitar, yet through reading through books, I'm playing the acoustic. I love Pink Floyd, and just listen to Gilmours stuff, but I've never seen him play.

I've read over guitar websites, like these. I've found it quite easy. Hard at first, after the first three months, it's fun. It's like driving, for it to get easier, it has to get harder. I still don't know so much stuff, which leaves me at a disadvantage. I also don't know the technical name for stuff, and give techniques my own name. :oops:

I've been playing on and off for three years, can sing and play wish you were here by Floyd (only one I've ever tried singing to!), and have picked up easy on Jugband Blues, Barrett's last song before he left them on April 6th '68. I can do plenty of solos with no fills.

I play the guitar weird too. I'm a slouch. I don't sit or stand to play, I lay back and put my feet up and go between chord changes. It restricts me at times, but I'll just shuffle until I am comfortable to pull of a chord change. :D

I'm happy to sit and knock out little solos on the guitar though. At 19, I've probably ruined fulfilling any potential, or due to my stance of playing, would be near unteachable. So either I'm going to be signing on to unemployment benefits, or I'll be labelled a genius and have set a new stance and style of playing for generations to come. :lol: I think the latter is something Barrett would have written about, and the former a little more realistic. :D

I think self taught is when you learned without a teacher. I don't think reading books takes away the "self-taught" status. If I knew a book on open heart surgery perfectly you still wouldn't want me to perform that surgery on you untill someone showed me what to do. On another note being "self-taught" means absolutly nothing if you are worse then someone who took lessons.

hi and welcome

Self taught , the Oxford Dictionary defines it as the following

educated or trained by one self , not externally .

so with that in mind a self taught guitarist would be some one who just picks up a guitar and starts playing it with out any influences what so ever
so I am thinking there is no self taught guitarists out there but self learning guitarists , may be being picky on my behalf .

Guitarists from all over the world for many many years have been stealing from each other , but once you play something that some one else has already played is this not external learning ?

I find your topic very intriguing but unfortunately I can not give the answer you are looking for.

cheers

L.K :arrow:

I think it's totally irrelevant how you "learned" to play guitar. If your good your good if your not good your not good.

I think most people that want to make a point of saying they are self-taught are saying it as a way of feeling superior to those that use teachers.

Kinda like, Hey I did this on my own and you needed a teacher"

It's an ego thing. Think if you and your teacher worked on a difficult song and it took several months before you could play it but eventually you could play it flawlessly, then you meet some guy that plays it perfectly also and he tells you he learned it on his own in a week. So what!! At the end of the day you both can play the song the same, you just got there from different directions.