4/03/2011

When Learning Acoustic Guitar, Should You Do It Online, with a Personal Teacher, or Through Self-Teaching?

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.

First, you get the text lesson and learn it, but have no idea if you are learning it correctly. Learning from just a text lesson plan is the least effective method. Usually at the end of a lesson, there is a little song or piece of music that embodies the lesson material. Do you know how that should sound? Probably not.

If you learn from just a video, it's more effective, but you're not going to have the benefit of having it reinforced by seeing it on paper, too. What this means is that you see the material played by the person in the video and you can hear how it's supposed to sound, but you couldn't see what it should look like in sheet music. What that means is that this isn't 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.

The use of a personal instructor is another good way to learn guitar. A good instructor can show you the proper way to do everything. They can show you how to do it, listen as you play the material and point out areas that need work. He/she can also tell you what you are doing well and direct you that way. The only thing is if you don't practice, you may spend two or three lessons on the same material.

Self-teaching is probably underrated in some ways. You can get a book and teach yourself the lessons, but this method will likely leave you weak on ability. It'll also likely leave you weak on fluidity and agility, which means you're in about the same boat as those who use text lessons online.

What that means is that really, none of these methods is going to have a positive effect on your development of the ability to play guitar unless you practice. Practice, in fact, is key to becoming what you want to become as a guitarist. Take each lesson and practice it until you can do it backwards, forwards, in your sleep, and so on. In other words, practice is what's going to make perfect. Practice, practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

No matter how you go about learning how to play acoustic guitar, practicing is what is going to make you the best you can be. Whether you go to a teacher in person and pay for lessons, or whether you do a tutorial online, practice is what really makes the difference between success and failure.




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