Sad but true: dropping my teacher after six years

[John-G]

I started out with a live teacher, once a week for 5 years. Chemistry was magic. I laid out my wants, needs, expectations straight from day one, he served the goods and more. He taught me everything from basics to sight reading, scales, songs, theory (a lot, which i thoroughly enjoyed), even gave me homework for the next week until our next lesson. Unfortunately for me, he moved out to another city too far away for me to keep on with him, and our paths parted. I started looking for an on-line option, due to that I didn't find a teacher like the one I had, and financially, it was WAY much cheaper. Found Griff and a few others. Narrowed my choice down to Griff and one other, have a lot of their courses, started BGU 1.0, then BGU 2.0, but found my motivation to be not as it was with my live teacher. Other things seem to get in the way, whereas with a live teacher, you HAVE to be there, you HAVE to be ready, you HAVE to practice, you HAVE to meet the deadline.
With online learning, you can postpone obligations without having to answer to anyone but yourself.
Bottom line - both methods have uppers and downers. Learning online demands a lot of discipline, motivation, focus and determination.
If you have those, then by all means go for it and good luck !!

 

[Grritz]

Been thorough some teachers
been thorough some lesson books
.. a couple of books I'd like to recommend to the other board members if there is no problem ....
been thorough some Youtube teachers
generally been unorganized

In 2018, I bought Playing on the Porch lessons and these changed by life.
I'm interested in hard rock, yet I decided to give this a go.
Then I started working thorough BGU .... and anything that that interested me

For the past several months, I've been working on BGU material and Kiss songs. Yes, the band has some sleazy lyrics and their work is Rock and Roll Primer : Deuce, She, Watching You, Rock and Roll All Nite Long, Strutter, Love Gun and a few others.

This afternoon, a KoKo Taylor tune came on the radio, and I was able to play along with the band.
Learning BGU and some of the other BLU lessons has done more for me than anything I have have done in the past ten years.

Still, I feel good lessons are a bonus when starting to build a good foundation.

My first guitar instructors made me work thorough the Mel Bay books and I finished book 5 or 6?. This is some serious stuff ... sight reading, chords, scales, melodies, notes on the neck, and position playing. Really wish I some of the books now just to play thorough the songs as practice.

I really am thankful for the great live instructors I've had and unfortunately the bad teachers [ unsuitable ] far outnumber them

Its a long road and some of us need to more time and work.

A great teacher helps you expand and improve while the wrong teacher plants your feet in concrete.

Thank you, Chicago Charlie, for your thoughtful reply.
I made my move because I could feel the concrete beginning to harden around my ankles.

 

[Grritz]

...
With online learning, you can postpone obligations without having to answer to anyone but yourself.
Bottom line - both methods have uppers and downers. Learning online demands a lot of discipline, motivation, focus and determination.
If you have those, then by all means go for it and good luck !!

You are sooooo right!
I'm good with the discipline, motivation, focus and determination. I was in business for myself — and BY myself — for 30 years. Believe me, you learn a lot about discipline, motivation, focus and determination when you are in business for —and by — yourself!

 

[Dr. Ron]

Such a common theme on this forum of guys abandoning their guitar instructors who wouldn't or couldn't teach them
blues guitar. I'm one of them. I've been here 9 years and am a happy camper! Griff has pretty much given me everything I ever wanted
from blues and his gift keeps on giving.

 

[patb]

I tried 6 different instructors ( 4 while traveling around the country working) over several years. #1 got me started on slide, #2 was touted for his slide work. I knew more than he did. #5 was an incredible guitatrist, headed up a college music dept. and was just not that interested in me. He went through the motions , gave me homework, and counted the minutes util my time was up. Only #5 ever talked even briefly about counting.
I bought BGU in 2012 while on the road and have worked on it off and on since. I'm on solo #3. Many folks here have gone through it 2 or 3 times and learn something else each time. I have also done other of Griff's courses through AAP. Went back and did BBGU to fill in some gaps . If not for Griff I would have given up as I told him in Lake Arrowhead 3 years ago.. If you get a chance to attend a BGU Live event, do it.
I would work with another live instructor but It would have to suit my needs and I know a lot more about that now. Also I'm marooned in a small Nv town so that's not going to happen soon.
Stick with Griff and this forum. You will not find a nicer , more supportive group of people.
It ain't easy.
Keep on playin
Pat

 

[BigMike]

I had a great classical guitar teacher in the 80's, but sadly he passed away far too young. Since then the only one I had was here in Oz and he was not much use at all. Sat watching me play for half an hour every week and never told me anything about counting, theory, song structure etc. I have been with Griff since around 2012 and he has taught me more than the anyone in the previous 50 odd years. It takes self-discipline and patience of course, but he will get you there in a very enjoyable way. He does go on a lot about counting but believe me, it is very important if you want to play well. You have found a great source of knowledge here.

 

[Paleo]

Never had a "live" teacher. There were enough other people in my life telling me what to do.

These are the people who taught me, indirectly.

Home Instruction has evolved.

1) The Golden Beatles - Chord Songbook - 1964
2) Play Guitar With The Ventures - Vinyl Lps - 1965
3) Happy Traum - Homespun Tapes - fingerpicking cassette series - dittoed tab - 1971
4) Richard Daniels - The Heavy Guitar Bible (and Cassette Tape) - 1979
5) John Ganapes - Blues You Can Use - Book with CD - 1995
6) National Guitar Workshop - first Jam Tracks on Cassette - mid 90's
7) Desi Serna - Guitar Theory for Dummies - 2014
8) Griff Hamlin - Blues Guitar Unleashed - DVDs - 2013 to present

 

[BoogieMan]

Home Instruction has evolved.

2) Play Guitar With The Ventures - Vinyl Lps - 1965

This was my first instruction when I was just starting my guitar journey. I can still play all these tunes (Pipeline, Walk Don't Run, Wipeout, etc). It was way ahead of its time. Wish I still had that LP.

 

[Paleo]

Wish I still had that LP.

I still have the first 4 volumes.

And the audio for all 5 on CD ..... without the booklets.

You can find vols. 1 & 2 pretty readily on eBay.

Just search "Play Guitar With The Ventures".


Here's the next best thing for vol. 1. This guy converted the audio to downloadable mp3s and scanned and uploaded the pages of the booklet.

http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/play-guitar-with-the-ventures/


I played the lead on "Tequila" and bass on "Raunchy" (on the same 6 string) in our band "The Paw Marques". I was 15?.

 

[Rancid Rumpboogie]

You have the best blues teacher in the world right here with Griff! There are none better!
I do venture elsewhere to find great licks, and focus on a particular style (like Anthony Stauffer for SRV), Robert Renman for licks, etc., but for "how to play the blues" there is no better teacher / source than Griff Hamlin! You don't need any other teacher.

 

[John-G]

I still have the first 4 volumes.

And the audio for all 5 on CD ..... without the booklets.

You can find vols. 1 & 2 pretty readily on eBay.

Just search "Play Guitar With The Ventures".


Here's the next best thing for vol. 1. This guy converted the audio to downloadable mp3s and scanned and uploaded the pages of the booklet.

http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/play-guitar-with-the-ventures/


I played the lead on "Tequila" and bass on "Raunchy" (on the same 6 string) in our band "The Paw Marques". I was 15?.

Paleo - thanks for the Gem ...beautiful !!!

 

[BoogieMan]

I still have the first 4 volumes.

And the audio for all 5 on CD ..... without the booklets.

You can find vols. 1 & 2 pretty readily on eBay.

Just search "Play Guitar With The Ventures".


Here's the next best thing for vol. 1. This guy converted the audio to downloadable mp3s and scanned and uploaded the pages of the booklet.

http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/play-guitar-with-the-ventures/


I played the lead on "Tequila" and bass on "Raunchy" (on the same 6 string) in our band "The Paw Marques". I was 15?.

Thanks for the link Paleo. I didn't know there were four volumes. I'm not sure which one I had but the link you sent with Walk Don't Run, Raunchy, Tequila, and Memphis was definitely one of them. I also had Pipeline, Wipeout and a couple of others (Telstar comes to mind). I vaguely remember it as a 2 record set. I would have liked Apache (one of my favorites) but had to work that one out myself!

I do have a couple of boxes of old LPs in storage somewhere. I'll have to dig them out one of these days. Could be that I still have it. Thanks again for the memories.

Edit
At your suggestion I Googled and found out that I had both Vol 1 and 2. I also see that there is some YouTube video/audio as well.

 

[DavidLylis]

There are a lot of replies here and I don't have time to read them, so I will throw in my two cents. Griff Hamlin not only understand the guitar, but he understands teaching. I spent a bit on a face to face teacher and it fell woefully short of what I expected. Once you get into BGU you will be amazed at the process and the system to learn and the teaching talent of Griff Hamlin. I do not make the most of the courses, by a long shot, but I am happy with my progress. You did the right thing.