guitar lessons

[edreedisgod20]

While I somewhat agree with this statement, a website can't watch your technique. While I think you can learn from the web, I also believe it is easier to develop habits that may stall your progression in the process. At least taking them early on from an instructor may give you a solid basis to move forward on your own.

I would agree with that. I think it's like PsyOps said and just about how far you are going to go with it and what you want to play. You are right that taking a couple lessons to learn proper technique and form is probably necessary no matter what you want to do, but after that, eh. I don't think you'd need further lessons if your goal is just to play along with your favorite bands. Obviously if you have bigger goals, want to write your own music, etc, it's probably a wise choice to take lessons from a good teacher for a while. I never had any aspirations of playing in a band or writing my own music, all I wanted to do was play Master of Puppets so coming home from school and devouring a variety of Metallica tab books every night was enough for me to learn (very slowly) at the start.

As a side note, don't do that. I wish 28 year old me could go back and tell 13 year old me that replicating James Hetfield's form was a terrible idea and that learning guitar from Metallica in general was a poor choice.

 

[PsyOps]

I would agree with that. I think it's like PsyOps said and just about how far you are going to go with it and what you want to play. You are right that taking a couple lessons to learn proper technique and form is probably necessary no matter what you want to do, but after that, eh. I don't think you'd need further lessons if your goal is just to play along with your favorite bands. Obviously if you have bigger goals, want to write your own music, etc, it's probably a wise choice to take lessons from a good teacher for a while. I never had any aspirations of playing in a band or writing my own music, all I wanted to do was play Master of Puppets so coming home from school and devouring a variety of Metallica tab books every night was enough for me to learn (very slowly) at the start.

As a side note, don't do that. I wish 28 year old me could go back and tell 13 year old me that replicating James Hetfield's form was a terrible idea and that learning guitar from Metallica in general was a poor choice.

I would even go a step further in saying that if you want to write you need a good understanding of other instruments and their limitations. Music theory is a must in my opinion. Of course there are tons of musicians out there that never took a music class in their life and write awesome music. But getting a good understanding of music inside and out from a music theory standpoint is a great advantage.

 

[sillywillynilly]

The guy in Leonardtown with the trailer has been providing guitar and drum lessons for several years. His name is Greg Latham. He is a fantastic drummer and guitar/music theory teacher. He often accompanies on the drums while his students play the guitar. Highly recommended.

 

[MarylandGeorge]

Thanks everyone. I've been using youtube quite a bit and am learning a lot. The reason for the lessons are (just like ya'll said) to make sure I'm holding the guitar properly, to make sure I'm using my fingers correctly (having a tough time holding down the high E with my pinky), etc.

My intent was to find someone close by that I could run to during lunch every so often but I can't find anyone who teaches that early.

I've been reading quite a bit on music theory too. I picked up a guitar about 3 or 4 times in my life but put it down after messing with it for a day or two. I've been practicing on my own for over a month now. I think this time I'm sticking with it.