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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Learning Acoustic Guitar - Online, Personal Teacher or Self-Teach?

By Scott Forrester


It's fun to learn the acoustic guitar, but when you do so, there are some choices you should make. The Internet has made a lot of things more convenient, including learning acoustic guitar through online learning methods if you which. However, hiring a personal instructor has advantages as well. You can also get a lesson book and teach yourself sans Internet. In this article, we'll look at the pros and cons of each method so that you can make a decision that's informed.

The Internet has many, MANY methods to offer the guitar student. Most of them are put together by professionals who know their stuff. Some offer written lessons, some offer video lessons and still others offer you a combination of the two. I would suggest a combination for a few reasons.

One of the ways you can do this is to get a text lesson and learn it, but this has disadvantages because you'll have no idea if you're actually learning correctly. Learning from a text lesson and nothing else is probably the least effective when it comes to learning acoustic guitar. At the end of this lesson, you'll usually get a little song or piece of music included (in text) that incorporates the lessons you've learned in the lesson a true, but you're not going to know how it should sound.

Learning from just a video has more effectiveness, but you don't get the benefit of seeing it on paper. So you see the material played by the video dude and you can hear how it is supposed to sound, yet you couldn't identify it in sheet music. Needless to say, this is not the best situation either.

That's why a combination of video backed up by sheet music is probably the most powerful and effective way to learn acoustic guitar. With this method, you can both see the music in print and you can hear how it should sound. And, of course, you have the visual reinforcement of seeing it played properly so that you can copy proper form. Finally, you can also repeat the lesson as many times as you need to until you have mastered it.

Using a personal instructor is also a good way to learn guitar, because a good instructor will show you how to do everything properly. He or she can show you how to play, listen as you play, and point out areas that need working on. The instructor can also tell you what you're doing well and reinforce good habits, too. However, if you don't practice, you may spend two or three lessons on the same material with this particular method.

Self-teaching is actually a good way to go and may be underrated in some things. You can get a book and teach yourself the lessons, but if you just do that, will you have the ability to play guitar? Will you have become fluid or agile on the guitar? You're basically in the same situation as the person who chose to do text lessons online.

In any case, none of these methods will have a positive effect on your ability to play guitar unless you do one thing; PRACTICE! That is the key to becoming what you want to become as a guitarist. Take each lesson home and practice it until you can do it backwards in your sleep. In short, practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

Whatever way you choose to learn acoustic guitar, the practice is the gravy on the potatoes, baby. Whether you go online or go to a teacher and pay for hourly lessons, practice makes all the difference.




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