Guitar Article Written by “Friend Of Mike Walsh”
Why You Should Get A Guitar Teacher From The Start
By Janus Buch
In my day to day work as a professional guitar teacher I encounter a lot of students who have been trying to learn guitar on their own. As I make my living teaching guitar, I am bias in this question, but learning on their own very rarely work out the way these people think it will. This is not saying anything negatively about people trying to learn on their own, but they are simple taking on a lot more difficult task, than they ever imagine. The great players makes things look easy, that is why they are great, but this can also be a bit deceiving to a beginner, because most beginners will find that even the “easy beginner stuff” is hard. And it is exactly in the beginning of your guitar playing journey, that the risk of encountering so many obstacles, that you stop playing guitar all together is most present. This article will present a case why you should get a teacher from the very beginning, but in the end, you have to decide what is right for you.
Why a guitar teacher in the early stages is most important.
I encounter a lot of students who have the attitude that, “I’ll learn the basics on my own, and then will get a teacher once the stuff gets more advanced”. While I logically understand this position, I enthusiastically do not agree with it. I my opinion, it goes back to the students misunderstanding what a teacher role is. Most students thing that a teachers role is to show they how its done, and when they can get this information for free on youtube, yousician or some other electronic device, then there is no need for a teacher. While it is true, that you can find all the stuff online, this does not make a teacher obsolete. Showing you how a C chord is played is actually not the main part of a teachers job. The main part is to get you to where you wanna be as a guitarist, and this includes guiding you through all of the frustrations that comes with trying to learn the guitar and helping you solve all the problems that you WILL encounter on the way. Knowing where to place the fingers to play a certain chords is som eating that a 5 your old kid can understand, so this is not why you need a teacher. Getting your hand to actually finger the chord at the speed that is required to play the songs you wanna play is the hard part. And here, a good teacher will be worth his tuition ten fold in saved time and frustration. I would recommend always having a teacher, but if you had to choose between having a teacher in the beginning or when your playing becomes more advanced, I would definitely pick the latter. Once you have the basics down, you will properly never put the guitar down again, but if you encounter too many frustrations in the beginning, the risk of giving up the guitar all together becomes very real.
About the author: If you are looking to better your guitar playing skills and living in Vejle, Janus Buch at Bredballe Guitarskole is the place to go. Since 2016 he has been helping people reach their guitar playing goals professionally. If you want to get serious about developing your guitarskills he is offering Guitarundervisning i Vejle voksne to both intermediate, advanced and beginner guitarist who are aspiring to become great at playing the instrument.