# How long have you taken guitar lessons?



## sureshred

How long have all of you taken guitar lessons before you stopped? Why did you stop?
Also, when is a guitar education considered "complete"? What I mean is that people take lessons because they want to LEARN GUITAR. When can people officialy say that they've learned guitar and are capable of learning songs on their own? I mean, after a certain point in time there must be an end to lessons where a teacher will tell you that you've got nothng more to learn and just need to keep practicing.
Might seem like a stupid question, but then the world can't go round without stupid people.:sport-smiley-002:


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## Gilles

There's no: I'm still taking lessons option.


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## Guest

I don't take them regularly now but I've always picked up a few lessons here and there when I'm in a rut. I'll seek out someone who plays a style I don't know well usually. Prior to that I did many years of lessons, less in guitar and more in music, during my teenage years.


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## WEEZY

You stop learning things when you're dead. That goes for everything, not just guitar. However, I don't think you need a teacher for everything but you do need one to lay-down the basics for you before you tackle more advanced stuff IMO.


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## jcayer

Gilles said:


> There's no: I'm still taking lessons option.


Ditto...

I started 3 years ago and still continue. As a matter of fact, I'm late for my lesson because of this forum ... :frown: :wave:


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## Gene Machine

*two plus a bit*

I took two years of lessons back when i was in high school.

Then i took a few lessons in toronto about 10 years ago. I was too busy at work for it, and couldn't put the time in to practice enough. (jazz improv)

about 3 years ago i took 3 months of lessons to learn how to read.

if I could find a good jazz teacher around these parts, i'd sign up in a minute.

g.


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## lyric girl

Still taking them. Never done anything musical before in my life and therefore lesson are working for me. Have no idea how long I will take them overall though.


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## Kenmac

Way back in the late 70's I took guitar lessons for a year from a very nice guy in my apartment building. He taught me how to read music, worked on timing, chords and other things then I went on my own.


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## Mooh

You'd have to live in a vacuum to be truly and entirely self-taught. 

Virtually everyone picks things up from others, licks and riffs, one-off "show me" scenarios, learning in a band, following another's technique or style, asking questions in music stores and of friends, etc. I generally say I'm self-taught on guitar, but that belies the truth that I had many years of serious piano, choir, and vocal lessons, a musical family environment influence, music camps, prior to my first guitar. I was playing for pay in my teens and 20s and still learning by sharing with friends, band mates, family, and whoever would tell me or show me something. Even after I started teaching guitar as a livelihood I've attended workshops by touring pros, study almost every day, and exchange music knowledge with other musicians and teachers. (There is no end, because I hope that even after I'm dead and gone, someone will be learning from something I've left behind....kind of a circle of life in music. I still learn from my Dad's influence and he's been gone for years.)

If there was a seriously good classical or jazz instructor nearby (who could offer me something I couldn't offer myself) I'd be taking regular lessons.

It's arrogance, delusion, and folly to think one has learned everything. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## zontar

As for formal lessons I have 7 years of guitar--including a year and a half of classical, and two more years of classical as an adult.

I also have 3 years of piano and 3 of theory.

If I had the time & money for it, I wouldn't mind taking some lessons in slide from someone who really did it well. But I have picked up a lot of stuff over the years from other guitarists, and also musicians other than guitarists-from jamming or sharing ideas. I also learned a lot over the years I taught guitar. Teaching is one of the best ways of learning.


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## kat_

I started out basically self-taught, learning from magazines and books. When I was 17 I switched to classical guitar and started taking lessons. After 4 years of that I quit playing guitar entirely to focus on music theory. When I started playing again I took a few flamenco lessons but didn't stick with it. I've learned a lot informally from friends too. I've actually spent more time studying music theory than guitar.


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## funkynassau

The options in the poll dont apply to me. I have just started year 5 of lessons! kksjur I have no plans to quit anytime soon.

Funkynassau


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## Starbuck

I haven't ruled it out, but I just do NOT have the time to put into study at the moment. I keep plugging away, but it would be a waste right now as I could never "practice" the lesson plan enough before the next one. Daughter, Husband, House, FT Job, I am last on the list!


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## jb007

22 years...:rockon2:


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## gator

Myself I took lessons for 3 years and a year of slide. I have been playing for 35 years and you are always learning. I read once that there is over 400,000,000 chords possible alone not to mention scales and styles ect..ect...ect. You never stop learning. In an article I read many years ago they were interviewing Jimmy Page and he quoted " The guitar is one of the easiest instruments to learn how to play and is one of the hardest to master" How true........


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## Steadfastly

I've been taking lessons on and off for four years now. I'm finally getting there but I don't think I'll ever stop completely as there's always something to learn or learn better.


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## jimihendrix

when i was 7 years old i took two lessons at wright's music on concession street in hamilton...on my third day the lesson was cut short as the police broke in to arrest my instructor for breaking a parole violation...true story

i didn't pick up a guitar until after college...i'm totally self taught...and proud of myself for unlocking the guitar's deep dark secrets...it ain't easy...but it's very satisfying...i'll never stop learning...

i have been tempted to hang up the guitar a few times...has anyone ever entered a guitar store and hear the most incredible guitar wailing ever...only to round the corner and see an 8 year old kid blasting through eddie van halen tunes...playing better than eddie...???...argh...i hate that...ha ha ha...


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## foghorn99

*Formally.....*

For context....the following took place WAAAAAY back in the early 70's

I took about 3 months of lessons in a small town with only ONE guitar teacher available.

I went through ALL five lesson books that the teacher sold me...then the teacher said "Well, that's about all I can teach you".

I then bought two Beatlemania books 1962-66 and 1967-70....and I learned a TON about chords and chord structures. Then my friends and I listed to MANY non-BEATLES records and tried to figure out not only the chords, but also how lead solos were structured.

-Kent


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## canadian tyler

I took many years of lessons, first just rock and what not, then when I wanted to learn theory and technique I took a few years of classical, then when the world of Jazz was revealed to me I took lessons from an immensely talented fella who used to teach at mount royal collage by the name of Don Glasrud. I Have been off lessons for about 12 years, but if I lived anywhere close to kimberley/cranbrook I would not hesitate to take lessons again from him.


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## felenoral

The internet is my teacher.


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## Tybone

I took formal lessons from the same guy for 12 years. I started really young. I stopped taking lessons after turning pro. Back in the '80s


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## Allfingers

Back in 1970 there was me... a guitar.... and an AM radio 

A year later we had a high school rock band

Today I play mostly blues, Latin and classical. Never had a formal lesson.

Most folks are literate and there are many books today...thousands of lessons on Youtube. I'm not sure it's a positive for an instructor 'to nudge' you along one way or another. 'Good technique' is often just shoehorning the newbie into an accepted mold...perhaps more stifling than positive.


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## zontar

Having a good teacher will not stifle you.

I find when people are stifled, it's usually their own fault, but they're looking for others to blame.

A good teacher will make sure you're doing it right, but will also allow you to experiment with doing it wrong. 

A good teacher will help you find your own style.

I know of guitar teachers whose students sound like carbon copies of them, not individuals, and I know others that have students who have their own style, they sound like them.

When I taught I tried to be the latter, and actually got coments that showed other people got that.


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## Mooh

Zontar...How true!

Peace, Mooh.


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## Phlegethon

interesting topic . . .but I'm a little unclear as to what constitutes a lesson . . .for the sake of argument (and this poll) I'm going to assume that the definition of lessons would be to purchase them through private instruction (as that usually is the first thing that comes to mind with guitar lessons for the average person). using the above criteria to judge my answer by then I've had zero lessons, and am completley self taught. 

however if I were to encompass all that I've learned as a result of teachers then my public school education would be from grade seven to grade eleven. most of the time was spent with various members of the sax family minus the soprano. . and had a VERY basic introduction to guitar thorugh one semester of classical guitar. the hardest thing that this class ever did would be songs with the difficulty level at the "mary had a little lamb" mark, although if it wasn't for that class I'd be unable to read classical guitar sheet music or have been shown some very basic things that make my life infinetley easier as a player years down the road.


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## Ship of fools

I have never stopped, there is always something new to learn so I can't imagine as to when if ever I would stop taking lessons and giving lessons. There are always students to teach and teachers to learn from and there are techniques that I would like to do better.
So you missed out in one more to add, and that is never stopped nor ever will.Ship..................so play on.


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## bw66

I would love to still be taking formal lessons, but live in a small town where (in my humble opinion) I am among the best guitar teachers available - especially once you step outside of the blues/rock/metal genre. I've looked at online courses, but right now they are prohibitively expensive. Another option that I'm considering is attending a guitar camp or workshop during the summer, but they are also expensive.


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## lbrown1

bw66 said:


> I would love to still be taking formal lessons, but live in a small town where (in my humble opinion) I am among the best guitar teachers available - especially once you step outside of the blues/rock/metal genre. I've looked at online courses, but right now they are prohibitively expensive. Another option that I'm considering is attending a guitar camp or workshop during the summer, but they are also expensive.


but Uxbridge is but a half hr drive away from a wealth of available highly skilled guitar instruction....


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## bw66

lbrown1 said:


> but Uxbridge is but a half hr drive away from a wealth of available highly skilled guitar instruction....


That's true(ish). But allocating 2 hours each week for lessons is a is a bit prohibitive right now. But I would appreciate having names of reputable fingerstyle instructors in the area, if you have any.


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## Morkolo

I'm what I would call self taught, wore out the rewind button on my stereo trying to learn Stu Hamm's bass solo when I started out. I've used tabs more as a crutch for chord voicings I couldn't pick out, or stuff that my ear's just weren't plain good enough to pick apart. The only thing I would say I was taught would be a few chords on guitar my Dad showed me.


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## Jocko

I voted self taught but after 30 years of doing my own thing I needed impetus so took lessons for about 2 years. Stopped when personal circumstances changed. I still go back to my notes even now when I need incentive. I would take lessons again if I could find a good tutor locally. I like the structure lessons gives to your playing. If you need to perfect a piece for next weeks lesson you pick up the guitar. Without that direction it is just as easy to turn on TV or fire up Xbox.


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## jeremy_green

In the almost 30 years I have played I took lessons for a collective total of about 2-3 years (they weren't in a row, just here and there). So I selected self taught.... but it feels odd selecting that because those teachers made solid contributions to me as a player.


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## Mooh

Interesting that this old thread has risen from the dead...I had to go back and read what I'd written. Lessons are still a viable and valuable way of learning, no matter what the web-surfing student body would have us believe. 

My actual teachers were piano and choir instructors, some okay, some awful, but my chief music teacher was my Dad who knew his theory, composed choral music, and knew how to make me learn music. Dad must have been amused whenever I came bounding downstairs from my room, guitar in hand, with some arcane question about harmony. Music fundamentals were key, applying them to new instruments was my challenge. 

Some of my later influences, only teachers inasmuch as I attended workshops, were (name dropping alert) mandolinist Simon Mayor, guitarists Don Ross, Tony McManus, and Pierre Bensusan. My problem was, and often still is, that I don't listen closely enough...kinda musical attention deficit disorder...so I work on that.

Peace, Mooh.


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## jeremy_green

Mooh, true listening is MUCH harder than people realize. I would venture to say MOST guitarists (instrumentalists in general) are not good listeners during performance. Maybe because we are so caught up in technique stuff that the CPU is all used up. No room left for listening. I work daily on that part of playing and feel it is VASTLY underrated. Good on you for realizing that weakness in yourself. That is the road to fixing it.


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## Mooh

jeremy_green said:


> Mooh, true listening is MUCH harder than people realize. I would venture to say MOST guitarists (instrumentalists in general) are not good listeners during performance. Maybe because we are so caught up in technique stuff that the CPU is all used up. No room left for listening. I work daily on that part of playing and feel it is VASTLY underrated. Good on you for realizing that weakness in yourself. That is the road to fixing it.


One choirmaster likes to say, "If you can't hear the person next to you, you're singing too loud." I might venture to add, if you can't hear the rest of the band, turn down...or open your ears! This is an area where playing to a metronome or backing tracks can be very helpful.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Jocko

I keep telling my grandsons, both of whom are in bands, the quickest way to improve their playing, is just to listen to what the rest of the band are playing.


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## blam

Jocko said:


> I keep telling my grandsons, both of whom are in bands, the quickest way to improve their playing, is just to listen to what the rest of the band are playing.


The first time I jammed with a drummer he instantly pointed out that I was not listening to what he was doing. After a couple more tries he could tell when I started to listen to him and it made all the difference.


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## georgemg

sureshred said:


> How long have all of you taken guitar lessons before you stopped? Why did you stop?


I took six years of private lessons with various teachers - three of those years were while I was in College for music (at Mohawk in Hamilton). I stopped taking lessons because I felt I needed some time to absorb and apply what I had learned. I would like to find another teacher at some point because I know the right teacher can push me beyond what I could learn on my own. For now I'm using videos to get new ideas for things to practice. Not ideal but it does help.



sureshred said:


> Also, when is a guitar education considered "complete"? What I mean is that people take lessons because they want to LEARN GUITAR. When can people officialy say that they've learned guitar and are capable of learning songs on their own? I mean, after a certain point in time there must be an end to lessons where a teacher will tell you that you've got nothng more to learn and just need to keep practicing.


I don't think you can ever say "that's it, I've learned everything there is to know." But, you definitely can say I've learned everything I can learn from a certain teacher, at which point you need to find someone else. That can get hard and expensive if there's no one close to where you live.


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## zontar

georgemg said:


> I don't think you can ever say "that's it, I've learned everything there is to know." But, you definitely can say I've learned everything I can learn from a certain teacher, at which point you need to find someone else. That can get hard and expensive if there's no one close to where you live.


Agreed.

And you should learn from multiple sources at the same time.

While I took formal lessons, I also learned things on my own, from fiends and from books.

There are also a variety of video options out there as well.


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## kat_

Jocko said:


> I keep telling my grandsons, both of whom are in bands, the quickest way to improve their playing, is just to listen to what the rest of the band are playing.


That's very true. I love the band I'm playing with now for that. Of course it helps that everyone in my band has either a master's degree or a phd in music.


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## zontar

zontar said:


> Agreed.
> 
> And you should learn from multiple sources at the same time.
> 
> While I took formal lessons, I also learned things on my own, from fiends and from books.
> 
> There are also a variety of video options out there as well.


Wow--checked out the thread because kat mad a new post, and see my post--apparently I learned from fiends...
Must be why I'm not better, those fiends taught me bad stuff.
Good to see kat posting some again...


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## loudtubeamps

Formal lessons,sitting across from a teacher? ,in my teens for about 2 months.
Listening and formulating?, all my life.....I'm still learning and still being amazed how much there is to learn about a tiny instrument with only 6 strings!
Cheers, d


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## SevenGates

A few years ago I took Online Guitar Lessons from Tom Hess (guitarist in Rhapsody of Fire). Before then I had always been self taught, and I felt like I could hold my own on guitar. Ultimately, I'm glad I took lessons with a guitar teacher, I learned so many things about the mistakes I was making that I would not have found on my own. Nowadays I am a bit more laid back about my guitar practice though 8)


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## blam

my old guitar teacher took lessons from Tom Hess. He mentioned him quite often and i had no idea who he was.


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## SevenGates

blam said:


> my old guitar teacher took lessons from Tom Hess. He mentioned him quite often and i had no idea who he was.


Yeah, hes probably one of the best guitarists I've ever known...on top of that, pretty cool guy to talk to.


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## SaviArt

You know, you can never stop learning. When you are familiar strongly with the basics, that is - notes, intervals, chord building, scales, modes, diatonic, chromatic, harmonic and all stuff like that, then you can start developing your own style by, for example, using blues, improvisation, metal, rock tips and so on. You can never get tired of learning the guitar and playing it


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## Cartcanuck

1.5 years of lessons when I bought my first guitar (acoustic) 3 years ago (at the age of *cough* 42). I knew that I was going to need help because I have 2 little kids, a full time job and a side business. I needed the structure, the regular kick in the arse, and the accelerated learning that comes with lessons (versus self taught). 

Then finances dictated that certain spending had to be restrained. Guitar lessons were sacrificed for food and clothes for the kids. 

Just over a year later, which was this past September, I started lessons again with the same teacher and this time on electric guitar.

I will be taking lessons with this teacher until he stops teaching or I run out of money. What he has taught me has been invaluable and would have taken me years over years to learn on my own. But he's a bloody good teacher and that makes all the difference (and he says I'm a good student.....who am I to argue with him). 

I can't imagine not taking lessons. There is so much to learn.


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