Subject: RE: Guitar set-up for missing digits
From: Dave Swan - PM
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:28 PM

"Any beginner needs a good teacher, right?"

I don't agree with this! I've had various kinds of music lessons over the years, some good, some terrible. A good teacher can be great, but a bad one is worse than useless. It's hard to tell when one is a beginner. If she doesn't want to teach herself, then I suggest she shop around and not stick to the first one she picks out of a sense of misplaced loyalty (I speak from experience). It is quite possible to teach oneself the guitar. I'm self-taught on the guitar, but I did have music lessons for other instruments before.

One of the worst pieces of advice I ever got was from one of my piano teachers when I was a young teenager: "Your ear's too good. Don't listen to your ear." He was teaching a method that involved visualization, which didn't suit me.