Hi all,
Last week I signed up for guitar lessons with a prominent "studio" in the area, however, I am starting to reconsider extending my enrollment past this month. I paid for 4 lessons (monthly payment), however, I'm not too impressed by my instructor.
He's an extremely nice guy, real approachable, etc. however, I get the impression that he is bored sometimes - or that he's uninterested.
He will ask me to play through a chord progression or play a particular chord, and I'll glance up occassionally and discover that he is not paying attention to me. Rather, he is checking his work E-mail, or he is fooling around with his own guitar.
I'm a pretty forgiving guy, but I am extremely concerned with my technique (beginner) and I want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly (not building up excess tension, right and left hand positions, etc.) and it worries me that he is not paying attention.
I'm paying this studio $150 a month for 4 one hour lessons, and I honestly do not want my money to go to waste.
I'm sure that I would not be as worried about this if I had not read Jamie Andreas' articles.
I'm his first lesson on Fridays (11 AM) , so it might just be that he is just waking up.
What do you guys recommend?
AUTOGRAPHED ESP George Lynch Sunburst Tiger
I may be wrong here, but if you are paying him $37.50 per hour, then that hour that you are with him is yours. He should spend that time paying attention to what you are doing. He can check his e-mail or fiddle with his own guitar on his own time, but as long as you are paying, he should straighten up. I would first try to find a nice way to bring up the subject with him. If that does not work, I would take it to the studio owner. You should not have to pay for a lesson where you are not getting a lesson.
Seagull M6 Gloss
Same thing happened to me recently, a teacher I was taking lessons with wouldn't even look at my hands when I was playing. He often noodled and just acted like he was too cool for school. I got rid of him in a heartbeat.
I've had one good teacher since I started, a guy by the name of Mark. He watched my hands and technique like a hawk and often wouldn't even plug his guitar in. For those 30's minutes I was paying him, he was soley focused on how he could help my guitar skills...thats the way it should be if I'm paying for it!
Ditch this guy, you won't regret it. You might have to go through 10 bad teachers till you find a good one. Just keep trying.
I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes.
- Jimi Hendrix
My grandson and I take lessons from the same teacher, and I'm in the room while he's working with my grandson. With both of us, our teacher is focused on what we are doing. I've never found him distracted.
-- John
"Hip woman walking on a moving floor, tripping on the escalator.
There's a man in the line and she's blowin' his mind, thinking that he's already made her."
'Coming into Los Angeles' - Arlo Guthrie
I'm not sure you can draw a generalization. Your aim, after all, is to learn the guitar, not rent some guy's time.
I do my very best to stay focused on each and every student during the entire lesson. It's my job, and I take it seriously.
When my elder son started studying French horn, I asked around and found him the best teacher. That particular teacher would sometimes be focused, sometimes distracted - I regularly saw him make phone calls - and even leave the room - during a lesson (and those were a lot more than $37.50/hr). It certainly wasn't my style... but you can't argue with success: of seven horns in the county youth orchestra, ALL of them are his students. In a county of over a million people, with dozens of horn teachers, he is the one who turns out the cream of the crop, and does it consistenly.
I don't know if you have a frame of reference for judgment - are you progressing faster than you did with other teachers? That's ultimately the measure of value...
Oh, and the first student of the day is the easiest one to focus on. Teaching is mentally draining, and a teacher who recognizes that will program short breaks into his/her schedule to recharge.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
I'm not sure you can draw a generalization. Your aim, after all, is to learn the guitar, not rent some guy's time.
I do my very best to stay focused on each and every student during the entire lesson. It's my job, and I take it seriously.
When my elder son started studying French horn, I asked around and found him the best teacher. That particular teacher would sometimes be focused, sometimes distracted - I regularly saw him make phone calls - and even leave the room - during a lesson (and those were a lot more than $37.50/hr). It certainly wasn't my style... but you can't argue with success: of seven horns in the county youth orchestra, ALL of them are his students. In a county of over a million people, with dozens of horn teachers, he is the one who turns out the cream of the crop, and does it consistenly.
I don't know if you have a frame of reference for judgment - are you progressing faster than you did with other teachers? That's ultimately the measure of value...
Oh, and the first student of the day is the easiest one to focus on. Teaching is mentally draining, and a teacher who recognizes that will program short breaks into his/her schedule to recharge.
Thanks for the input, guys! I have 2 more lessons schedule, we'll see how those go.
NoteBoat,
Well, I am also learning Classical guitar, and I am using my Classical instructor as a point of reference. I understand that they are 2 different individuals, and both are instructing on 2 different styles - however - I spent 10 min. alone (after class) with my Classical instructor and felt that I learned more in that 10 min. than the whole hour I spent with the other instructor. My Classical instructor hovered around me, correcting and instructing, as I played through several of the exercises that had been given to me by the other instructor.
Like I said, I'm pretty forgiving. We'll see what happens.
-Arman
AUTOGRAPHED ESP George Lynch Sunburst Tiger
lol its the opposite with my teacher! I wished he'd loosen up a bit! I ask one week to learn a little bit of scale theory... wow what a mistake, he wont stop on the theory, but its not just scale theory! lol, so sonfusing I wasnt expecting he'd go into all the stuff he has! AAAH :shock:
Hello. Yeah, if all your lessons are him checking E mails.....
Blow him off, but give him a hard time first :twisted:
because he basically ripped you off... I dunno ask him
things like "is the real reason you're playing on the comp, cause you
suck at guitar?" Pull no punches on this guy - if you're getting screwed.
Let him know it.
If the guy is the way I'm interpreting him from your postthat is......
But... BUT. if you're thinking he should coddle you for the FULL
60 minutes.......please
When i took lessons - they were supposed to be 30 min.s
Some times they were 30 sometimes 45... sometimes we didn't
do anything but Jam....
Anyways My teacher would get up every once in a while for like 10 min.s to take care of something while I was getting what ever I was learning at the time down. His "unwavering" presence wasn't really required the full 30 min.s As my mind was pretty much glued to the neck of my guitar.
I had a really great teacher BTW :)
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but when
you're a 22lb sledge, do you really have to be?
I took from 1 teacher for 6 months, and didnt learn much at all. so I quit for a while.
I started with a different teacher, and in 3 weeks, I am playing cocaine, white room, sunshine of your love, hey joe, and a wealth of other great songs I couldnt play before.
a good teacher will play with you and try to keep your interest up. I believe the thing that keeps me going with this guy is him playing with me, I have learned more this way, more than any other. also when he isnt there with you pull out a cd of the songs you are diong, and play along with them. I have a 21,000 song collection of karaoke, so I have good play alongs.
