Classical Guitar Lessons - Teacher Required?
I took classical guitar lessons when I was 12 years old for about 1.5 years. The reason I did this was that my mother made me do this because someone told her that to learn guitar you should learn classical guitar first. This made no sense to me then and it makes even less sense to me now. I eventually got my electric guitar and the classical guitar sat in the closet (in fact it’s still in the closet to this day at my parents house)!
But I digress…the main point I want to get across is that in today’s day and age you can pretty much learn most styles of guitar pretty by finding online resources or buying online lessons, videos, or whatever. I’m sure there’s probably some good classical guitar lessons resources out there somewhere. But I would suggest that if there’s one “discipline” of guitar playing that I would recommend taking lessons with a teacher for, it’s classical guitar. There are several reasons for this.
- Classical guitar requires very strict technique that is difficult to pick up by watching a video or reading about it on a web page. While electric guitar playing is not very strict and people develop their own approaches, classical music can be extremely difficult to pull off with sloppy technique if not downright impossible. A teacher will be able to point out where your technique is lacking and help keep you from being sloppy.
- Most true classical guitar players have dedicated their life to playing and have gotten some schooling at some point and most likely have a music degree as well. This isn’t always necessarily the case, but I would think that this is the case more often then not. I would say that the only people who are truly qualified to teach this discipline are those that have dedicated their life to it.
- While many people can learn basic chords and play simple “campfire” songs, even the most basic classical guitar exercises require a great deal of focus and concentration. Going to a teacher every week will help keep you focused and able to get to a higher level more quickly.
These are just a few reasons and of course this is just the opinion of this author. But if you’re truly serious about taking classical guitar lessons, I would strongly urge you to go to your local college or univeristy and contact their music department to see if there are any classical guitar teachers. Take some lessons with them and you should know pretty quickly whether classical guitar is for you, plus it will keep you from developing bad habits that you may develop when practicing on your own.
Tags: Free Guitar Lessons
