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Here’s a comment I receive every once in a while from a student, when I contact him/her again to set up the next lesson the following week: I'm struggling with my chords right now, and don't want to waste a lesson until I master my C, F and G chords a little! I typically reply to such an email with fun analogies, like following: That is a bit like saying: "I am not going to go on a diet till I lost 60 pounds first and then I'll REALLY start, so I don’t waste time and energy on counting calories." "I am not going to work out till I have the muscle mass again that I used to have when I was 22, so I don’ t waste work out time" You see: the whole point of lessons is that you get better in much shorter amount of time than you will accomplish by yourself, in a much more reliable and much more efficient way: through regular guidance... not through “waiting till you feel ready to go to the next level". "The next level": is the result from the lesson: and so is the faster mastery of any new skill. If I had waited to continue on to my next lesson in Berklee College of Music till I had first "mastered" what my teachers showed me in my prior class, I still would have been in music college 10 years later.:) As a result: due to the slower progress I then would have experienced, I would not have had 1% the amount of fun with guitar as I always was fortunate to experience. The guitar journey is not as much fun when you don't have weekly new discoveries and musical adventures revealing themselves to you. A great example really, would be the videos I posted from my student Olga Dubchak here http://www.zotzinguitarlessons.com/this-is-why-everybody-wants-to-study-guitar-with-us-and-we-need-more-hours-in-a-day/. In 3 weeks time she went from complete beginner, who did not even know how to hold a guitar, to being able to play Smoke On the Water and Highway To Hell. She never would have been able pull this off in 3 weeks of lessons only, if she had "waited" to take her next lesson till she could adequately switch between C, F and G chords (which she learned in her first guitar lesson with me). Guess what: Olga is the first to admit that she is not any more or any less talented than anybody else. She still struggled with C, F and G chords too in her 2nd lesson. Everybody always does. But the reason why 3 weeks later she mastered all beginner’s chords, AND more than that, she could play Smoke on The Water and Highway To Hell, is that she kept continuing lessons while she was still struggling with previous material. Important point being made: Your C, F and G chords are going to further improve (EVEN if you don't practice them anymore) through the new chords you are learning. After all: when learning new chords, you are developing the same muscles and skills that will make previously learned chords easier to play. So you don't really want to miss out on learning new chords (which is exciting) in favor of practicing old material instead, if that old material is going to improve anyway as a result of the new chords you’re learning. THAT, is why "waiting to have your next lesson till you master previous material first" is never an efficient or gratifying approach to learning guitar. In addition: you’re missing out on all the fun when you hold yourself back from discovering new things. One final thought: "a lesson" can never be a waste of course! On the contrary: not having regular guitar lessons is the waste (of time, energy, resources, talent, faster progress, better results, etc.). Once can only stand to gain from having more frequent lessons with a really good guitar teacher. Even if you didn’t have time to practice or don’t feel confident with previously learned material, you should still have your lesson. Author's Bio : Vreny, is a patient and an enthusiastic teacher in California. With 17 years of teaching experience, he offers the Best Online Guitar Lessons. His life's goal has been to make the world a fun place to live in, sharing his love for music through education.
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