Hello,
I'm wondering if anyone has advice on finding a good teacher in NYC(brooklyn preferably).
What should I expect from a teacher?
I am a beginer/intermediate player, been at it for about 9 months. I know some chords, some scales and I've learned some songs. I feel as though I have a bunch of pieces but putting them together fluidly is not there yet.
I'd like to avoid just "looking in the book." I have a teacher now that I found on craigslist, but I'm not sure I've actually learned anything from him. He's written down some scale patterns but I can find that in a book. There is no question that he is an excellent player, but I leave feeling a little light on direction.
anyway, thanks for reading. Any help is appreciated,
beeno
Cant help with the teacher in NYC. But I sometimes leave my teacher wondering whether or not he's the right one for me as well. I've been playing about a year and a half with lesson for the past four months. I sometimes feel he's going to fast, but once I get home and work on what weve covered I usually can play or figure it out. I'm asking myself when do I know if this guy is right or not. I would be happy to just strumm a few simple songs, but fingerpicking (which I enjoy) i mainly what weve been working on. My teacher use's the same songs for all students, I guess one song builds on the next, I think I may give it a couple more months, before looking for a different teacher, wonder if taking one or two lessons from a different teacher before leaving the one I have now would be a good Idea.
Sorry about hijacking your post, I hope someone will help you find a good teacher in ypur area.
BigB and dave,
Been there done that. I've had three different teachers over the past two years and I still think the same thing everytime I leave a lesson. What did he really teach me? I struggle with this all the time and I'm not sure what to do.
My current teacher normally has me go through the major scales the first thing and then times me with a metronome. I have to say I haven't been the best os students practicing my scales every day. So I think I'm alittle behind in that area.
He then usually gives me a song or at least half a song to work on for the next two weeks. And that's it. I know I'm supposed to practice my scales everyday but after a couple days of playing whatever song he's given me I get extremely bored and start working on something on my own.
Of course then when I go to my lessons I may not play the peice as well as I should since I haven't practiced more than a day or two.
He told me up fron that he was not the kind of teacher that just says bring in a song and we'll learn it. That's how my other two teachers were and I definitely felt like I wasn't learning from them. Heck I can get tab off the internet or buy and learn songs on my own which is the way I've been learning.
I hope there's master plan. I know his thinking is to build on the fundamentals which would then allow me to carry those skills to any song but the journey seems long. And although he's a nice guy and actually not that much loder than me I feel like there's a generation gap between us. I can't put it into words but I think part of the process of finding the right teacher has nothing to do with guitar and just more about the personal interaction you have with each other.
With that said I haven't had lessons in several months due to my job but I'm scheduled to start again with this guy in two weeks. I plan on trying to pick his brain alittle more this time around to try and understand what his masterplan is.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
