Maybe "self-made guitarist" would be a better tag than self-taught - I doubt there's a single person registered on this forum who's worked out EVERYTHING he/she knows from first principles. Self taught implies that - whereas self-made implies that, yes, the guitarist has had a little help along the way, but has put a lot of hard work, learning and practise into his/her playing. I'd consider myself "self-made" - yes, I've learned a lot from watching and listening to other guitarists, and asking questions, and watching videos, etc, etc....but there's only one person ever pushed me to put the hours in and practise.
And that's me, and I'm a bloody slavedriver, and I'm STILL trying to get better!
:D :D :D
Vic the self-made guitarist....whether that's a good or bad thing isn't for me to say!
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I had a Q:
Today you can get good guitar learning DVDs for almost all styles (classical, rock, flamenco)
Will you call learning from a DVD being self taught ?
That's a good question, because I've picked up more from Youtube videos, and lessons here and other websites (I haven't gotten into dvds yet :twisted: ) than I did in lessons. And I'm pretty happy with that. So when I go back to lessons, I'll know why I'm doing something, and be able to apply it to other things. Learning, imo, has a multi-faceted approach.
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Vic,
I think that was my whole point. I don't see the point in making a statement that you are self-taught or self made or anything else. Like I said you play guitar how you got there is irrelevant.
I found something interesting in your comment about putting in the hours etc. Do you think that it's any different than someone taking lessons? Do you think by taking lessons it's easier?
To me the labelling of whether or not your self taught is an ego thing, if you play something and someone has a positive comment that first words will be " I never took a lesson I'm self taught" ( A bit of showing off). It gives the layman the impression you just picked up a guitar one day and viola music was coming out. If your watching Youtube video's and lessons and buying DVD's etc, I wouldn't call that self taught. That's where I think that people get disenchanted with lessons. They expect some type of miracle to happen by taking lessons and when they find out that it's mostly what they put in they quit and blame it on the teachers. Don't get me wrong there are good and bad teachers but alot if not all of what you becaome as a guitarists is up to you.
The other scenario is you play something and someone says man that's not too good, then the reply comes with a little different twist " Well I'm self taught I never took any lessons" ( An excuse as why you don't play well)
I all still comes down to perseverance and to me it has nothing to do with whether or not you take lessons.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
well - I'm self taight in the sense that I've never had IRL guitar lessons. A few books, sometimes looking at an online lesson, but most of all playing. I'm pretty sure that if I should have any real progress from where I am, I need someone to tell me: "This is your home work for this week. Practice this until next week". I'm far too lazy to push myself.
...only thing I know how to do is to keep on keepin' on...
LARS kolberg http://www.facebook.com/sangerersomfolk
Like I said you play guitar how you got there is irrelevant.
You make a good point there, Chris - showing off or self-deprecation is about the only real reason for mentioning if you're self-taught or not.
In my experience, the technically better players I've known have been those who have had lessons; a good teacher will show you good habits, and more importantly, he/she will try to correct your bad habits. I've never had lessons, as such - and I know I've got a lot of bad habits. The thumb over the top - most people would consider that a bad habit, but for me it's the only way to play a lot of barre chords, or rather, a heavy concentration of barre chords. I sit slumped over the guitar. I rarely use my pinky when soloing. I don't have time or space to go into all of them, but I know I'll never be a GREAT guitarist. But that's fine - I'll settle for good. I got into guitar in the first place so's I could play and sing my favourite songs; then I started writing my own songs. They all sounded the same! So I worked hard at getting better at guitar so they wouldn't all sound the same - these days, well, I think I'm getting there. At least, I get a kick out of a lot of my songs - and I'm a pretty hard taskmaster to myself.
What you make of yourself as a guitarist is down to one person - and that's YOU. Sure, a teacher will help - I'd recommend using a teacher to anyone who was taking up guitar. But like I said, there's only one person decides how much work to put in, pushes you to carry on when you're at a plateau or stalled, enjoys all the new breakthroughs, and can measure progress in every single aspect of your playing - again, that's you.
Guitar playing is like anything else in life - the more hard work you put into it, the more, ultimately, you'll get out of it. But don't forget the reason you picked up a guitar in the first place - it's about fun! You've GOT to put the work in to become better, there's no way around that - but the more work you put in, the better you'll become; and the better you become, the more fun you'll get out of that guitar.
That's my philosophy in a nutshell, anyway.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic,
Exactly brother. I know you have a passion for music and you play well..of course I'm sure you still feel inadequate like the rest of us hackers but we keep pushing on.
To me mentioning whether or not your self taught has no relevance. You either play well or you don't and most of that is up to you as an individual and mentioning it to me is for one or the other of the reasons I described, why else would someone mention it...who cares!
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
I think whether you taught yourself or not is very relevant . If you taught yourself, then you developed your own style and way of playing. If you didn't, then you play like the person who taught you, until your good enough to pick your own style
"The Beauty of Music is my Sanity. Without it, I would simply lose my gravity, and blow away with the breeze." - Ness K(Aka Matt Harris)
If I ever get good enough to have the confidence to play for an audience, and if someone asks me where I learned, I'll probably say something like "I picked it up here and there".
Which is probably the most accurate answer.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
I think whether you taught yourself or not is very relevant . If you taught yourself, then you developed your own style and way of playing. If you didn't, then you play like the person who taught you, until your good enough to pick your own style
Not really sure about this and I obviously can't speak for others, but in all my years of teaching I've never had a student that ended up playing with my style. And I've never run into a student of another teacher's, no matter what instrument, that had picked up his or her teacher's style. Usually the only time I've run into someone obviously having someone else's style is when I've run into someone who's very much into a single artist and spends a great deal of time trying to get his or her playing "note for note" from the recordings.
Now, this isn't to say this doesn't happen, but I'm not sure the evidence is there, even among classical musicians, to support making this a blanket statement. Just doesn't hold up to what my experience has been. And, as mentioned, I obviously can't speak for everyone.
It is an interesting topic for discussion...
Peace
I got some things from my teacher that he'd arranged and I certainly owe him for that, but I never could do them exactly as he did. They always ended up a little different when I did them. And they evolve over time.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Well, to speak for me, I am quite sure that if I took lessons as soon as I got my guitar, I would sound different than my style now
"The Beauty of Music is my Sanity. Without it, I would simply lose my gravity, and blow away with the breeze." - Ness K(Aka Matt Harris)
Of course you would! You would have had more influences!
People tend to have styles based on what they are exposed to. Typically, the more types of music you listen to and the more types of music you play, the broader your style. Some people are good at picking up the nuances of a particular style and can vary what they do from song to song. Some people sound the same no matter what kind of song they are playing. That's not really about having a teacher as much as it is putting to use (or not putting to use) all the various techniques and tips you've picked up along the way.
Style, by it's very nature, should be something that evolves over time. As you grow and develop, your styles and your tastes change, too. While it's true that you would certainly "sound different than your style now," if you had had a teacher, there's no way of saying whether that style would be better or worse. It would be simply be different.
And your style, say a year from now, should also be different than what it is now. Otherwise you are happy that you are precisely where you want to be now and forever. That rarely happens.
Peace
Iv'e had a guitar teacher, piano teacher and still have a violin teacher. I can honestly say that I've never ever, not even for a single day, sounded like anybody else. Style-wise I mean, skill-wise I often sound surprisingly similar to a doped-out Elmo. Which is a good thing, if you like Elmo. Or dope. Or both, which would be akward even for my standards. And for the record, I like Elmo and do not suggest people to abuse dope. Or abuse Elmo. Dunno which is worse.
