10 Ways Guitar Lessons Make You a Better Musician

• April 19, 2017
• Guitar Lessons

In an age where everything seems to be about instant gratification. “I want it now and you have to pay for it” is the laziest anthem ever. Good luck with that! Don’t waste your life. There are opportunities for those who really want it bad. A way will present itself if you truly dream of learning guitar correctly. The cool thing is that “correctly” is relative to style and preference. Sure, classic guitar is a very disciplined art where grunge is more about passion and less about technique, but the rules are the same. You’ll get there quicker and more correctly if you learn from someone who's done it or has spent their life on the craft. Here are 10 ways guitar lessons will make you a better musician.

You Don’t Have To Go It Alone

It gets really discouraging when you’re trying to unlock the guitar fretboard alone. Especially in the beginning when it just seems you get stuck and can’t learn anything new or improve. Having a teacher will instantly unlock a new aspect or idea on the guitar and set you on another week of experimenting and learning.

You Have Access To The Teacher's Experience

Learning guitar on your own? Plenty have done it. But, why learn something the hard way when you can get it at the source? Your teacher can listen to a new or old guitar piece and either have already played it or can quickly find the starting note and correct position on the fretboard. This takes time to do on your own and watching a professional do it will help you get there much quicker.

You Will Be On A Schedule with Guitar Lessons

Disciplined or not, a weekly guitar lesson will keep you focused. There’s just too much pulling at you in this world. If you don’t go, you might not grow. A scheduled guitar lesson will make you wanna practice and be ready to impress the teacher or gain their approval. It’ll also keep you excited to play with a great musician. There’s a real difference in playing alone in your bedroom and jamming with someone who makes you sound better.

You’ll Get To Play With Someone

Playing alone may affect your timing. A metronome and playing along with MP3s helps but playing with another person makes all the difference. You get to feel the push and pull of the tempo and jamming with the teacher helps you to apply the metronome you’ve been practicing with. You have to relax and read the teacher's mind, if you will. Staying in sync with someone else’s tempo is a different skill that you will need as a player.

You Will Learn Correctly

You may learn by listening to an MP3 or some other source and learn a song but end up playing it completely wrong. Why does it matter? Well for example, using an open string just sounds different than a noted string. You want the riff to sound correct and the teacher will help you get it right. Also, if you learn too much technique incorrectly, you’ll just sound inferior to other players who learned correctly. It could mean the difference in who gets the gig or makes the better money.

You Will Be Challenged

Learning on your own may slow you down because a good teacher will challenge you at every lesson. Whether it’s playing through a 4-minute song without getting tired and sloppy or just a new guitar lick that exposes your weakness in technique, you want to be challenged and that’ll happen in guitar lessons. A great guitar teacher will know when and how to push your buttons. You may even cry because you feel exposed or unable to do it. Great! Now, suck it up and listen to the teacher. He or she will shape it into your “I can.” Great teachers know how to get you to the next level.

You Will Have Opportunities

A lot of teachers do recitals, which will put you in front of your family and friends and scare the living daylights out of you. All eyes and ears are on you so you better play it right. Your teacher may recommend you for a local worship team or band. He or she may invite you to perform with them publicly. At some point it becomes artist development. While not every teacher has a heart for this, you will still discover opportunities.

You Will Have More Knowledge

A guitarist who studied with someone else will likely have more fretboard knowledge than a guy or gal who goes it alone. Knowledge is key. Theory is very important. You can’t just learn current songs and expect to be a great musician. You need knowledge to help you unlock the instrument for yourself. A good teacher will include the medicine with the candy, meaning theory and scales with fun songs. You need to understand what you’re doing and not just be able to play a song.

You Will Be Influenced

Your teacher will have been influenced by other great guitarists. He may have even studied with a great teacher himself. They will be passing on to you their influences. You’re paying for this blend of influences as part of your guitar lessons. Larry Carlton, Chet Atkins, Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the list goes on and on. Your teacher has already done the hard work and knows the secrets to sounding like the greats. You want all of this you can get. Don’t be a know it all! Humble yourself and become teachable.

You Will Have A Profound Sense Of Appreciation

When you study with a mentor or teacher you have a sense of honor that some who go it alone might not have. Honoring those who have paid the price goes deep. You can draw from this when you’re in your tightest spots. When you feel you’re about to pass out because it’s the biggest gig of your life, you will feel the weight of your master and hear his or her words of affirmation in your ear as you step onto the stage and make it happen. “You’ve got this, you can do it, don’t give up!” It’s like fuel in your tank, so take a deep breath and get it done.

As you can see, guitar lessons are an important way to become the guitarist you were always meant to be. At Pro Lessons, our instructors deliver their knowledge to you through online guitar lessons. Find out how you can become our next student by clicking on the link below.