Signed up for Guitar Lessons

[Obsequio]

So after playing for 19 years I finally signed up for guitar lessons. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me get the most out of my experience. My goals are to become a solid player. I get a bit fidgety when I first start out, but then smooth out some. I'd like to learn scales and become proficient at soloing too. Too often I put my guitar on and don't really make it sound the best it can sound. I need to eliminate that and make it sound good every time.

My favorite guitarist is J Mascis, alternative rock music, but I'd rather learn something that sounds more rounded out like blues rock. Joe Bonamassa is my inspiration for this. I also play guitar at church once a month on an acoustic. I would like to get to the point where I could jam with other, make music and play live. Right now with my limited knowledge of music most musicians I've played with don't ask me to come back and play with them. I figure that increasing my knowledge and skill level will change this. I hope lessons will move me up to the next level.

[Nay]

Good luck with the lessons. Key is finding a good teacher for you. Some will work out, some just wont inspire you...

As for the shakey starts, I'd just put that down to rushing in. When I pick up a guitar I need 15-30 mins just to properly warm up, stretch the fingers and get the guitars strings to warm up. A fair bit of that time is spent doing things I know inside out and doing some mechanical practices too, like scale runs or various exercises.

[River]

What Nay said. Also, after my at-times-excruciating experience at a jam last night, please learn whole songs and the most common variations of 12- and 8-bar Blues/Jazz/R&R chord progressions. Wanking makes a lousy team and/or spectator sport.

[Obsequio]

I'd say my first guitar lesson was a success. It was only a half hour, so 15 minutes was getting to know each other. In the end he taught me the Blues scale and we're going to work off that. I'm very happy. Guitar playing is such a social thing and I don't have anyone to play with. Hopefully, with these lessons, it will open the doors to play with others who know what their doing.

[fsenseman]

One piece of advice I can offer is this: warm up before you go to your lesson if possible. Mine are on Saturdays so I can spend an hour warming up and playing what we are going to work on that day. Makes the time more productive for me.

[fsenseman]

Originally Posted by Obsequio

I'd say my first guitar lesson was a success. It was only a half hour, so 15 minutes was getting to know each other. In the end he taught me the Blues scale and we're going to work off that. I'm very happy. Guitar playing is such a social thing and I don't have anyone to play with. Hopefully, with these lessons, it will open the doors to play with others who know what their doing.

By the way, I'm jealous. I only learned the pentatonic scale on my first lesson. You got a whole extra note thrown in!

[Obsequio]

Originally Posted by fsenseman

By the way, I'm jealous. I only learned the pentatonic scale on my first lesson. You got a whole extra note thrown in!

Very funny, see I already feel like I'm getting my monies worth. My teacher said this is gonna be easy since I already have so much experience. He's gonna help me polish my skills.