Pros And Cons Of Formal Vs. Self-Taught Guitar Lessons
You can find online lessons to teach yourself how to play the acoustic guitar, and learn some basic playing, but just how far will that instruction carry you? It’s true that people learn by doing, and if you’ve got information and videos available to show you how the guitar works and how to play, then that may be enough to get you started. Using online instruction is certainly a way of compromising between the expense of formal guitar lessons and picking out notes and tunes on one’s own. The question is whether this will teach you everything you need to know.
In the past, you might have avoided taking lessons by studying on your own from guitar lesson books similar to those used in a teaching studio. But now you can learn guitar online as well, in two formats often used in combination. Written web pages provide diagrams showing where to position your fingers and what combinations of positioning will create which chords.
But as online video technology has increased in power, written descriptions are often supplemented by videos showing you how it’s done. And sometimes the written material is eliminated altogether, with the video and its commentary constituting the entire lesson.
While it’s true that if you learn guitar online you’ll actually get to see a demonstration of how actions should be performed, which you’d never see with a book, you may still be missing something. Qualified teachers who are able to see you play can detect flaws in technique on the spot, and immediately give a demonstration to correct them. If you take formal guitar lessons, then you get the benefit of this sort of guidance, which you simply can’t get from a pre-taped or written lesson.
If you’re thinking of taking your playing in a more professional direction, then formal guitar lessons are an absolute must. No professional classical guitarist, for example, can really succeed without that sort of rigorous training. If you’re not sure you’ll go beyond the beginner acoustic guitar, though, it might be enough just to get a few of the basics from a website and some videos. What is important is how you want to use the instrument in the future, and that will determine how formally or casually you’ll need to be trained.
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