I ran across a truckload of those at Big Lots a while back. Big Lots, that’s the place with all the remaindered and expired stuff that falls off the truck once a week. Pretty cool place, one step above Dollar Tree (“Where everything’s a dollar”), but a couple steps below K-Mart.
Just the acoustic guitar, no DVDs or music stand. Slightly damaged, but playable. The way I knew it was an “Esteban” guitar was, it was on the box. I bought it, brought it home, looked it up on the Internet (thread here), I was, like, “Oh, him.”
What’s it like? It’s like a guitar. You strum it, guitar noises come out. That’s it.
Purchase price, that particular day, that particular truckload at Big Lots?
$29.99.
Yes. Thirty dollars.
Would I recommend it to someone? Only if they just wanted a cheap guitar for someone to decide whether they wanted to learn to play the guitar or not, which is what I got it for, and which purpose it served admirably.
Ah, the eternal question…quite frankly, I’d have to know a lot more about what style of music you’re interested in learning before I could make any realistic suggestions that would truly benefit you.
Different styles require approaching the concept of playing from different perspectives, although admittedly there is some common ground to start from. A competent private teacher specializing in your style of music will be able to assess your current skill level and your goals, and work with you to develop a curriculum that will allow you to develop as a player at the speed and pace you are most comfortable with.
Finding a teacher is a hit and miss situation, there are many amazing and dedicated teachers out there but also some great players that bill themselves as teachers but haven’t the slightest knowledge of pedagogy (the art and craft of teaching music) - these teachers will amaze you as players but not be able to work with you nearly as well as a trained music educator.
Don’t be afraid to shop around for a teacher - ask questions about their teaching style, history etc. I have found in my experience that many of the best overall teachers are affiliated with the smaller music stores, especially acoustic & niche music shops. ‘Big Box’ store teachers tend to be younger players that are just starting out.
Even a few private lessons will help you advance far more quickly than a book, as technique especially really requires hands-on instruction.
All that said, give me some more info on what you’re looking to play and I can make some general recommendations. Also, where are you located? I know great teachers all around the country - there’s a chance (albeit small) that I might be able to refer you to someone directly.
Peace
I basically want to learn ‘how’ to play, and am not so worried about style or type of music - in my mind, I always figured that if someone taught me how to play a few ‘songs’, all I would know is those ‘songs’… what I want to learn is how to put it together, what makes the thing tick - IOW, I don’t want to learn to be a parrot, I want to learn to talk.
That being said, I like all kinds of music - Metal to Country, always like listening to folks that can play the picking styles… so there is no one ‘style’ I want to learn… I fi Had to pick it would probably fall pretty close to ‘rock’ (beatles, heart, boston, taylor, etc) with a good dash of Country thrown in (although specifics dont come to mind here).
I’m in Central Kentucky, I’m not against the idea of an instructor, but havng a little bit of grey hair kinda puts me off the idea of paying 20somethings to teach me, well, anything.
ANd thanks for the “Folk of the Wood” link - thats a very interesting site, and they also have some instructional stuff - reading about this one peaked my interest, as it sounds like what (and how) I want to learn - so far the two “primers” i’ve picked up are, while I have not perfected them, way to ‘basic’ for what I want to learn… that or I just don’t appreciate the starting from scratch… I don’t want to waste money on yet another book/dvd that will disappoint me.
I’m probably going to print off these lessons as just glancing thru them they seem much more complete than the books I have so far.
So, I just dumped alot - and I appreciate any hints/pointers you’ve got.
Just wanted to check in and let you know I saw the thread - I’m on the road right now and I’ll hop on here in a day or so and recommend some books and the like.
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I have to agree with you, but for the record, I didn’t ask how much to spend. Aside from that your criticism stands.