Lessons vs. Self-Teaching

[HowSoonIsNow]

I read about this debate a lot so I thought it might be interesting to see what people feel about it. Some people say that it's better to teach yourself how to play an instrument so that you don't copy off of your teacher. Others are real into learning all the theory and learning proper technique.

I took lessons for about four years (around 2nd-6th grade, I think) and I have no complaints about it. I think I got a really good base but now I just try to learn stuff on my own by playing all different kinds of music with all different kinds of people. I think it's important to have that imagination but it's also important to have the knowledge.

[we are cured]

It's also important for somebody to point out bad habits or alternative methods to play something.

Great guitar players use their solace and practice time to get better, while remaining open to new ideas and ways to play.

[Carlo Marx]

I'm self-taught, but I wish I'd taken lessons. Not so much for bass, I'd rather have started out on piano or trombone, something where I'd have the classical foundations in addition to what I've learned on my own.

[johnh5304]

I wish I took lessons, I'd be better off now. My mom tried to get me to take piano lessons when I was 10 but I thought it was stupid (I wanted to play football and musicians and football rarely go together), I regret that decision almost every day.

[love_american_style]

i'm self taught. not sure where i'm going w/ this but i think that self taught guitarists have a tendency to be more creative but not skilled. it's not a fact but more of a generalization.

[thatwasamoment]

If my buddy didn't push me in the right direction, I definitely wouldn't be as good as I am today. So I'd say get lessons, but from the right person.

[FondestMemory]

i, personally, would have trouble playing in a band with somebody who took lessons. i'm self-taught on everything i've played and i've only played with people who have been self taught.

my drummer taught himself drums, and we work very well together. he also took guitar lessons for 10 years, and when he tries to write something on guitar it never goes anywhere.

being self-taught makes it easier and more natural to create your own style. sometimes rules get in the way of what you think sounds or feels right.

that's just me though. i have nothing against lessons, and really wouldn't tell anybody never to take lessons. that's just my opinion on it.

[we are cured]

being self-taught makes it easier and more natural to create your own style. sometimes rules get in the way of what you think sounds or feels right.

i know what you're trying to say, but honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. a lot of guys who take lessons tend to fall into the trap of only playing what they are taught, without applying it to their creative feel. however, if you know who you are as a creative musician, more tricks in your arsenal are only going to give you more options, and thus the potential for more creativity.

the ability to 'feel' your playing has nothing to do with how much you have or have not learned.

[espguitars723]

i believe learnign stuff on the internet is very good but lessons from another guitarist arent. Personalyl as a guitarist i hate when peopel try to teach me how to play a famous osng or one they made up. Being self taught for a year i see myself more talented and more creative then alot of people who took lessons. Though its nto bad to have some tricks liek scales and techniques such as tapping sweep picking and alternate picking

[johnh5304]

Well my only saying is a little music theory never hurt anyone with their creativity. It will however hurt your head if you're just learning it now.

But overall it just depends on the individual. Some people are just blessed with the gift of natural music ability and can go on self taught alone. Some go to school and create their own style off what they are taught. There are great examples for both sides of the arguement but I will say that a better understanding of theory and applying it with my style would help me more as opposed to just learning all the scales I can.

[we are cured]

i believe learnign stuff on the internet is very good but lessons from another guitarist arent. Personalyl as a guitarist i hate when peopel try to teach me how to play a famous osng or one they made up. Being self taught for a year i see myself more talented and more creative then alot of people who took lessons. Though its nto bad to have some tricks liek scales and techniques such as tapping sweep picking and alternate picking

alternate picking isn't a trick, it's a necessity.

[Koopato]

if you have some musical background (like, you took/are taking it in high school), self teachings not bad, but with lessons you'll get better faster, imo. maybe i just suck.

[espguitars723]

alternate picking isn't a trick, it's a necessity.


not to bands liek greenday and fallout boy

[paen]

ive been playing drums for 10 years, took lessons for 3 years, took a year off from lessons, another year of lessons, then last year had some pretty intensive drumline training.

lessons of any sort have done wonders for my playing... you'd be amazed what drumline training can do for your kit playing.

[Carlo Marx]

the extent of my "lessons" are learning a lot of slayer bass lines for speed and a lot of ozma basslines for melody.

[wholewheatbread]

not to bands liek greenday and fallout boy

i have to disagree with you there. patrick from fall out boy uses many different styles of picking and an even greater variety of odd chords. the acoustic stuff he writes is genius and in his case, yes, he needs the alternative styles and such. not so much for greenday though

[taxonpraxis]

I read about this debate a lot so I thought it might be interesting to see what people feel about it. Some people say that it's better to teach yourself how to play an instrument so that you don't copy off of your teacher. Others are real into learning all the theory and learning proper technique.

I took lessons for about four years (around 2nd-6th grade, I think) and I have no complaints about it. I think I got a really good base but now I just try to learn stuff on my own by playing all different kinds of music with all different kinds of people. I think it's important to have that imagination but it's also important to have the knowledge.
i actually learned so much more by being self-taught. i took lessons for about a year, but when i took them, my teacher got on my nerves. we would read from a book (this was in 6th grade also) that only had like beehtoven songs transcribed into little measly one-note melodies and a bicycle-built for two. he hated this book and said the songs were terrible, so he taught me some other songs, but i never got to choose any songs i was interested in. and during when i was playing the songs for him, he would play this old guitar solo right in the middle of it. it was cool the first time, but it was really annoying, and he still had the ego to be another jimi hendrix. so i just stopped showing up.

when i stopped, all i knew was how to do was pick the e and the b string and a couple of chords. so basically, the internet was my teacher from then on. and after the first year, it was more successful than lessons. after a couple of years, i could imitate all of my favorite bands and their tecniques. i guess it's good to start out with lessons, but if you have the ambition to teach yourself, it's probably better that way.

[Gabe Borquez]

i'm self taught but i'm not against lessons. my mom bought me a guitar 6 years ago and i ran with it. however, i got bored with playing standard tunings so i started experimenting with different, alternate tunings. so i played standard for a while and switched.

when we started versus the mirror, i made kevin(other versus the mirror guitarist) learn my new tunings because i never wrote anything in standard. all of the guitars on both our CDEP and full length "Home" were in a weird tuning. to this day, i don't own a guitar in standard. all my guitars are set up to weird tunings.

some people just learn better on their own and some people are good when others help them. word.

[the_champ_is_here]

i'm self taught but i'm not against lessons. my mom bought me a guitar 6 years ago and i ran with it. however, i got bored with playing standard tunings so i started experimenting with different, alternate tunings. so i played standard for a while and switched.

when we started versus the mirror, i made kevin(other versus the mirror guitarist) learn my new tunings because i never wrote anything in standard. all of the guitars on both our CDEP and full length "Home" were in a weird tuning. to this day, i don't own a guitar in standard. all my guitars are set up to weird tunings.

some people just learn better on their own and some people are good when others help them. word.

what do you tune to


I took like three lessons from this guy, who half the time would just play some ridiculous solo, I broke my hand playing baseball and couldn't play for a while so I stopped. I picked it up again and he was booked so I just started teaching myself, when I got into a high school I had a really cool music theory teacher I would jam with, and he's the man, so I would be able to call him with questions whenever, eventually he actually moved down the street from me so he was a great resource and it was all free, but I never took "lessons." He was really just someone I would go to with specific questions, like a guitar therapist or something

[HowSoonIsNow]

I'm curious now..How exactly do you guys teach yourselves? Cause I can't begin to imagine having to learn an instrument by myself. I think a teacher is helpful in guiding the process.

[abcdefghijennie]

I took lessons for a little while, but I had already taught myself the basics when I started lessons, and since I stopped, I've taught myself a lot more.

I personally learned from looking up tabs, playing along to songs, and watching how better guitarists do it, like at shows or in videos, etc.

[we are cured]

I'm curious now..How exactly do you guys teach yourselves? Cause I can't begin to imagine having to learn an instrument by myself. I think a teacher is helpful in guiding the process.

usually somebody that says their self-taught isn't being COMPLETELY honest. it usually takes someone else to point out a few beginning chords, or hand position, or finger techniques that gets a player statrted.

but for the most part people that teach themselves learn by playing songs from ear. if you don't have a good ear, you're basically fucked without lessons. unless you want to stare at your guitar fretboard and try to make visual patterns out, but that takes about 100x more effort than just feeling it/hearing it.

[Gabe Borquez]

usually somebody that says their self-taught isn't being COMPLETELY honest. it usually takes someone else to point out a few beginning chords, or hand position, or finger techniques that gets a player statrted.

but for the most part people that teach themselves learn by playing songs from ear. if you don't have a good ear, you're basically fucked without lessons. unless you want to stare at your guitar fretboard and try to make visual patterns out, but that takes about 100x more effort than just feeling it/hearing it.

Actually, I am completely honest about it. My mom got me a guitar and I figured it out slowly. Nobody in my family played and my friends were all drummers or really bad bassists. After I caught on to the initial concept of the guitar, I used to watch a lot of bands and studied their strum patterns and all that jazz. Lucky for me, I caught onto rhythms and I had a good ear for creating good progressions. To this day, I am just decent at playing guitar and couldn't tell you notes/chords but I'm a hell of a writer. The closest thing I've had to instruction was when Kris Norris from Darkest Hour gave us a copy of his "Learn Guitar Licks" when we toured with them a few months ago. Word.

[we are cured]

Actually, I am completely honest about it. My mom got me a guitar and I figured it out slowly. Nobody in my family played and my friends were all drummers or really bad bassists. After I caught on to the initial concept of the guitar, I used to watch a lot of bands and studied their strum patterns and all that jazz. Lucky for me, I caught onto rhythms and I had a good ear for creating good progressions. To this day, I am just decent at playing guitar and couldn't tell you notes/chords but I'm a hell of a writer. The closest thing I've had to instruction was when Kris Norris from Darkest Hour gave us a copy of his "Learn Guitar Licks" when we toured with them a few months ago. Word.

Well I said usually.

But i do think the way you learned was pretty cool. I kinda used a mix of the two, getting some instruction and then going through years of 'alone time' where it was basically just me and my instrument, figuring shit out together.

I just think the point of this thread is that music is something you learn how to do (by yourself or with a teacher or whatever), and that just like with anything else, there are many learning styles that can be used to understand it.

[OveriseFan]

I'd highly recommend taking theory classes, if you haven't.

[OveriseFan]

not to bands liek greenday and fallout boy

Shut up.

Alternate picking is essential.

[OveriseFan]

the extent of my "lessons" are learning a lot of slayer bass lines for speed and a lot of ozma basslines for melody.

So...

Not lessons at all, basically.

The sad part is that if that's all you've done you're digging yourself into a hole.

Look into jazz basslines and stuff.

[we are cured]

Theory is awesome...best classes I took in college.

[HowSoonIsNow]

So...

Not lessons at all, basically.

The sad part is that if that's all you've done you're digging yourself into a hole.

Look into jazz basslines and stuff.

Don't a dick dude. If you want to make a suggestion, you should do it nicely. Everyone has their own opinion and none is neither right nor wrong necessarily.

[thekinison]

I really depends on your learning skills. I prefer to be self taught, but harder stuff requires someone showing me.

[duhpunk]

self teaching is cool if you want to play blink, green day, and fall out boy covers for a couple of years before you teach yourself anything good. learning other band's songs without theory stunts your creativity. i started out with theory and i hated it, but now that ive been playing other band's songs, i can incorporate scales and chords into songs and turn them into something completely different. i use this method for writing quite often.

[FondestMemory]

self teaching is cool if you want to play blink, green day, and fall out boy covers for a couple of years before you teach yourself anything good. learning other band's songs without theory stunts your creativity. i started out with theory and i hated it, but now that ive been playing other band's songs, i can incorporate scales and chords into songs and turn them into something completely different. i use this method for writing quite often.

i'm self taught without learing other people's songs.

it's all about how you teach yourself. some people learn that way, i didn't.

[taxonpraxis]

self teaching is cool if you want to play blink, green day, and fall out boy covers for a couple of years before you teach yourself anything good. learning other band's songs without theory stunts your creativity. i started out with theory and i hated it, but now that ive been playing other band's songs, i can incorporate scales and chords into songs and turn them into something completely different. i use this method for writing quite often.
completely agree. same with me.

[jaymofokinwalsh]

Lessons pay off in the longrun. But my advice?
Teach yourself until you get good.
Use lessons to improve in areas that need it.

[thrill-seeker]

i think lessons are important for someone starting out. you can have natural talent and mess it all up by teaching yourself. you can develop bad habits such as picking technique.

[Scarlet Starlet]

i think lessons are important for someone starting out. you can have natural talent and mess it all up by teaching yourself. you can develop bad habits such as picking technique.

See, I disagree with that. Music is free to interpretation - that's what makes it music and that's why we love it. If you taught yourself to play with some weird technique that's different from everybody else's but works for you, what's wrong with it? If you can play that way, and play well, it's nobody's place to say whether it's right or wrong, and whether you should play that way or not.

Pragmatic theory - if it works, then it's true.


Myself, I took piano for three years and absolutely hated it. I liked it enough in the beginning, but I hated the lack of freedom it gave me. I didn't get to choose the songs I played, and I didn't like that I wasn't able to work at my own pace. Eventually, I stopped practicing altogether and my mom stopped making me take lessons.

Then I picked up the guitar and am more or less "self-taught" on it. I had a few friends to help me along the way, of course, but I didn't take formal lessons. On one hand, I often lack motivation and playing is a very off-and-on thing for me, but on the other hand, I like the freedom.

And also, after a four year long hate of the piano because of my bad experience with lessons, I'm starting to yearn to play the instrument again. But at my own pace this time.

[eltroyo11]

the extent of my "lessons" are learning a lot of slayer bass lines for speed and a lot of ozma basslines for melody.

My best friend's cousin is in Ozma.

As for lessons vs. self teaching... I taught myself guitar for a while and can't do much outside pop-punk. That's not really a bad thing for me since that's what I'm into. But I'm taking bass lessons now and I'm already way better than I ever could have been if I taught myself. Ultimately, I think it depends on how well you learn and how much musical background you already have. I needed lessons to get that musical footing.

[geoff.]

i think that lessons are good for beginners so you can understand the basics, but after you get the hang of whatever you're learning, you can teach yourself and you get more satisfaction.

[Iamhome]

Just play the instrument...

Lessons teach you technique which helps, and the 7 years I spent learning music theory in High School helped, but the honest thing that makes me as good as I am is playing. Just play the instrument and play new things, you'll find yourself improving.

[JustAnotherPoet]

lessons, lessons, lessons! i'm self taught in bass, but my foundations are sketchy. also it doesn't hurt to start with something like piano do get a feel for music in general.