Anyone with Piano & Guitar Experience????

[luvnlattes]

I have a question for you.

 

My oldest has taken piano for 5 years. He spent several years with 1 teacher and then switched to his currect teacher 1.5 years ago. Both teachers have similar set-ups. He has books he practices from for X amount of time and also does theory. I think I understand how piano is taught.

 

Next boy (Z-man) wanted to learn guitar so he took guitar lessons for 1.5 years. He loves his teacher who is very positive and gives great encouragement. Z-man took a break from lessons over the summer but wants to start guitar up again now. However, I'm not sold on his instructor. He's very free spirited. Sometimes he'll pick a portion of a song (it's never the whole song) for Z-man to learn and other times Z-man is to pick a song he'd like to learn for himself. He does great with the stuff this guy teaches, but I feel like he only learns what the teacher shows him. There's no theory, or flash cards, or books. Z-man wouldn't be able to pick up a beginning piece of guitar music and play a note of it today.

 

Is this just the difference between teaching piano & guitar? If we decide to go with a new guitar instructor, what kinds of questions should I ask to make sure I'm getting a quality instructor?

 

Thanks for any tips,

[Jan in SC]

What type of guitar is he taking?

[GoVanGogh]

I am certainly no expert, but - here's my two cents.

 

DS has taken electric guitar lessons for 1.5 years from a large studio. All instructors have degrees in music.

I think most guitar instructors are going to be more 'free-spirited' in nature than piano teachers. Just my observation at this studio. Certainly true with DS's teacher vs any piano teacher I have ever met! In fact, I was very apprehensive about this teacher, based entirely on his appearances. But I was assured that he was a wonderful teacher and great with children. My gut feeling was that he and DS would hit it off and be a good teacher-student fit.

I will say - they are both flighty. They skip around through music, learn something then drop it. Generally, DS will work hard on one piece at a time, perfecting it, while fiddling around with pieces of other songs. I feel it keeps DS interested and motivated, maybe giving him time to tackle a few harder measures.

The instructor has taught him how to read music and DS can - and does - pick up a music book and can play something w/o the teacher.

 

I don't know if this is common or not but DH will take DS out to pick out books on his own, so it is common for DS to work on something w/o the teacher knowing about it in advance. I have never really spoken with the instructor about this, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

We have the two main books the instructor gave/sold to us plus 3-4 other guitar books DH has bought. No flashcards.

[rieshy]

Are you talking classical or acoustic guitar?

 

My 16 dd studies piano very seriously. She is always working on 2 contrasting pieces at a time, as well as maintaining her repertoire. It's very methodical, very classical. Lots of theory. She also took classical guitar for several years, similar set up.

 

However, when she started learning acoustic guitar it was much more relaxed. I've noticed her friends who are guitarist (and are in bands) generally learned guitar in a much looser, free-spirited sort of way. Much as you described your son's guitar lessons. In fact most of them only took "lessons" for a short time but spend gobs of time playing on their own, jamming with friends, or doing occasional workshops.

 

Her friends who do electric guitar almost never seem to be practicing a whole song:)

 

I guess the type of teacher really depends on your end goals.

[luvnlattes]

What type of guitar is he taking?

 

He started with acoustic and did that for 6 months. Once he proved he was committed, he switched to an electric guitar and has been doing that for the last year.

[luvnlattes]

I will say - they are both flighty. They skip around through music, learn something then drop it. Generally, DS will work hard on one piece at a time, perfecting it, while fiddling around with pieces of other songs.

 

We have the two main books the instructor gave/sold to us plus 3-4 other guitar books DH has bought. No flashcards.

 

This sounds similar to my ds and his instructor (both flighty but we love 'em!):) The instructor never gave/sold us a book though. I like that idea. Maybe we can go look at some books this weekend with ds.

 

Thanks for tip!

[luvnlattes]

Her friends who do electric guitar almost never seem to be practicing a whole song:)

 

I guess the type of teacher really depends on your end goals.

 

That's what he plays...electric guitar! From a couple of replies, it sounds like this is typical.

 

As for my end goals...I guess they would be that he finds an instrument he enjoys playing and sticks with it long enough to become proficient at it.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

That's what he plays...electric guitar! From a couple of replies, it sounds like this is typical.

 

As for my end goals...I guess they would be that he finds an instrument he enjoys playing and sticks with it long enough to become proficient at it.

 

 

Both of my kids took piano. Dd has been playing for over six year. Ds took lessons for three years. He hated it, she likes it, but it isn't a passion. They have had very traditional, methodical instruction, and looser, child-led instruction. They learned both ways. After ds's third year, I let him quit, and he switched to guitar. Dd added guitar at the same time.

 

My 14yodd and my 13yods both take guitar from the same teacher. They have gone in entirely different directions with the style of guitar they play and the skills they are learning. Dd leans toward pop music; she strums and plucks, and sings along. She sits in her room and writes songs. All on an acoustic guitar. She read music quite well, and is one of the best sight-singers I know (of any age). She is well versed in theory, and I'm sure it translates into her guitar understanding. She's quite analytical by nature, and oh so methodical in almost everything.

 

Ds switched to electric guitar after about six months of piano. He learns the solo riffs, skips the (boring) repetitive rhythm sections of songs, never sings along. He likes to play along with the recorded songs. He loves to watch lead guitarists, whether live or on YouTube. His teacher tries (in vain, probably) to get him to read notes, but he resists (just as he did with piano). He can, but he won't unless he has to. This doesn't bother me. When I was taking Tonal Harmony (advanced theory) in college, my instructor told us that most professional jazz musicians don't read notes on a staff. They have their own musical language for chord progressions and it works quite well for them.

 

Anyway, both of my kids practice on their own, and both are becoming quite proficient. I don't worry that they aren't following a set standard. I'm amazed that the same teacher is so adaptive to follow where each kid leads, and never runs out of newer, more advanced skill for them to tackle.

 

Interestingly, though they followed completely different tracks, both have come around to learning Stairway to Heaven. Dd plays the rhythm guitar part on her accoustic, and ds plays the lead guitar (including the long solo) on his electric. It's so fun to hear them making music together! It warms my heart.

[mom2abcd]

There are different styles of guitar playing and piano playing.

 

For probably 95% of the population, the piano style is the traditional classical piano method. This is the method where you learn to read music.

 

Probably 85% of guitar players learned to play a more free-style without any paid lessons. This is not the method of learning to read notes, but to play chords.

 

All the various ways of playing the piano or guitar are viable methods of playing.

 

I have a friend who plays the piano exclusively by ear and she wishes she knew how to read notes and play like I do. I was trained classically and have taken lessons to learn to play improv (VERY rare to find this kind of teacher) and have worked on my own to learn how to play from lead sheets. I wish I could play by ear as well as she does!

 

Dh plays the guitar professionally (I play the piano/organ professionally,too, btw) and taught himself. He did try to learn the reading notes method in college, but it wasn't his style.

 

If you don't have a specific need for your ds to learn to play classically, then I'd say he's on the right track and his teacher is the right one for him. It's SO important for kids to learn to love music and enjoy it! If they want to learn another style/method, they can do that later on, like I have.