Hey, I want to start taking guitar lessons soon, but as the amateur that I am, I don't know where I can go for them, and I don't know where to start. So can anyone tell me where they get their guitar lessons? I've been discussing it with my parents but I guess it's up to me to find the teacher :cry Oh, and preferably in the Toronto area.

Or maybe one of you guys can teach me? :please

err..i've taught before in hong kong for 2 summers so i don't mind teaching again. but im only free on fridays, and the weekends. i live on finch/young. i guess a shop teacher would be better but if you're somewhere accessible via bus or ttc or whatever then i don't mind helping out for free. im grade 7 myself so not exactly teacher standard in terms of technicality. but theory i maxed. =)

haha yeah i teach guitar also. currently i have a class of seven loll. im in the markham area up north major mac and kennedy..

but if u want to get pro lessons, go to a music store. Long and Mcquade probably has them, if ur chinese lol, Pro-music has classes. its run by chinese tahts why lol. cosmo music store has classes... basically go check out the big stores. um... look for advertisements in those stores too if u want like private outside of hte store lessons. if u have connections u can like learn from a pro hahalike pro pro, expert guitarist mayb some people who actually do music for living.... hmmm. that would b nice... i would like lessons from a pro connected with the music industry XDD that would b sweeet. bring me into it too

where do u live?

Or you can join online free guitar lessons on http://www.zentao.com/guitar/..

Mmmm ... maybe I should get lessons from zenaku and yukio. I'll join your class, yukio and make 8 students. :yoyo

But then again, I'd be the oldest among the students :what

Personally, I hate lessons. I rather learn on my own or informally with someone.

But yep, if you want formal lessons, then you should go to L&M (Long & Mcquade). Cross is taking lessons at L&M to develop his guitar skills further with proper lessons.

My friend teaches guitar and piano. If you're interested, I can contact him about guitar lessons, and maybe email you his number so you can talk to him about it.

It's neat that you guys teach guitar on your free time. Do you guys teach electric/classical or acoustic style of playing?

i teach electric and acoustic. i havent actually learned classical so i cant loll

@snake-sama: unfortunately, lol the class of seven is the class at church. like im teaching the youth from church who wants to learn guitar/or get betterr, so its not really open to public loll

but i might start another class open to public depending on my schedulee

i taught both types as well though it was always one on one. but im better at electric. i personally dont like group lessons, feels like im sharing the teacher so i ended up teaching one at a time lol. i also taught piano before, i got a teacher level cert for that lol. but i hate teaching it cuz i dont get to play most of the time. my old guitar teacher was quite informal as well, just went to his place and jammed/learnt stuff. and thats the way i've been teaching it too. i needa find out where L&M is, wanna finish off my grade 8 soon.

i used to teach informally too, but then recently i've been teaching much more formally. lol, and when u have a bigger class, its hard to keep people quiet and under control if ur not formal enough yepp

and the bigger classes really helps the people to actually learn better over a long period of time in my experience, cuz they can share experiences, since people are at diff levels, and help each other out, and also so much more independent. it kinda forces them to self-teach a bit too so its always good to be able to continue and teach urself after classes and lots of fun haha

but im ean if they want to learn fast its much better one on one

Wow, I got quite a few choices here, thanks guys :lol: Well now I guess it all depends on where I live.

@zenaku: finch/young eh? thats a 10 min drive for me ^^

@yukio: Tell us when you do open another class open to public, few of your students might end up as fellow YLers xD

@febri@nto: That looks like a great site, but I don't think I can learn by myself online.

@nataliejwong: Where does your friend live?


Where is Long & Mcquade located?

The teacher who I'm with right now is pretty good. It's more like jamming and learning at least one thing new each visit - I could probably learn more but we usually end up talking about....PRS guitars :what The dude is a bigger nut than I am - he let me play with his 513 Private Stock though, that was AWESOME.

Aside from everyone else's suggestions, I would say that if you can either afford it or are willing to shell out the $$$, take hour-long lessons. A half hour goes by WAY too fast and you don't really learn too much from such a short period of time. An extra half hour will allow you to go over the material from your past lesson while learning something new and THEN practicing it during your lesson, all the while having any remaining questions answered. Once my brother started getting serious into playing the drums, he began taking hour-long lessons at Pro Music. It turned out to be well worth the money as he is one of the stronger students in his music program at University.

Long and McQuade is probably the most accessible place to go for lessons since there are various stores located all around the GTA. If you're looking for area-specific stores, you can check out The Guitar Shop in Mississauga, The 12th Fret on Danforth and Woodbine, Cosmo Music in Thornhill, Pro Music in Markham, yada yada yada.

cross - is your brother at york? or was it another uni? i can't remember but i might be going to york in the winter term depending on my grades lol. i've only been to 12 fret and the guitars there are cheap compared to hk. they have tons more too. i was like trying out each one for hours lol. in the end i bought an amp cuz the guy was like staring at me for hours plus i needed an amp obviously.

when i took lessons it started from an hour and then i doubled it to 2 cuz once you start jamming new songs its hard to stop lol.

Bakapingu - wow, 10 minutes away? that's so cool. even if you don't learn from me we could always meet up and jam lol or just help in practice. :good

yea half hour is way too little. an hour is better, but probay best time is an hour and half hahaha, if u can keep still for longer... lol. learn more. by the time class starts u've wasted like ten minutes or more talkin and stuff.

@Cross: 513 PRIVATE STOCK??? OMG I WANNA PLAY THAT LOL

@Bakapingu: go look at the L&M site: Long and Mcquade..

the one closest to me is Markham Road and its like a ten minute drive for me haha. its sooo niceeee

if u wanan go to a huge guitar store. Steve's music store is downtown, Queen St West

and then theres smaller stores to look intoo

Hey zenaku, yeah my brother goes to York. He's definitely enjoying himself there and I'm very happy for him.

The 12th Fret is a cool place to go to, but I REALLY wanna check out The Guitar Shop. They've recently become a dealer for Bogner amps and I'm lusting for a Bogner 2x12 cab right now @@. What amp did you pick up? Tube, solid state? Fender, Marshall? Spill!

wow, aren't bogners expensive? wish i could fit a 2x12 cabinet in here. i only got a roland cube 30x, the only okish amp i could find with a headphone option lol. living in dorms during the weekdays so i can't be too loud or have a big amp. is the guitar shop really good? i thought 12 fret was already an amazing place lol. maybe cuz in hk there's like a zillion of cheap guitars with not much variety and suddenly i see jaguars, SGs, PRS', mustangs and LPs everywhere in the shop. which bogner do you have in mind? stack or combo? lol if i had a stack amp here it would fill up half the room. oh and im 90% sure im transferring to york in january.

haha well I'm only looking to get the 2x12 cab for now. Apparently the oversized 2x12 is supposed to sound like a 4x12, which would be VERY sweet. I don't really want to commit to getting a tube head just yet because I'd rather use the $$$ on guitars haha. Bogners are indeed expensive, so I'm only looking to get a cab for now. I'm trying to sell my Marshall 1936 cab so that I only pay the difference.

The Guitar Shop has a BUNCH of PRS guitars - I would definitely say moreso than The 12th Fret. 12th Fret is cool because it's a cozy kind of place but since it's so small, they can only carry so much of each brand. They have an awfully nice selection of acoustics though! The Guitar Shop has more in the way of electrics, particularly PRS, Gibson, Fender, etc. ANDDDDDD they have an awesome collection of amps including Mesa Boogies outfitted in custom colours - how can you resist?? Long & McQuade is only just getting into having a cooler selection of amps, but I would rather take my business to a smaller dealer simply for better service.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Roland Cube. Solid choice. I had a Vox DA5 for about 2 weeks before I ended up returning it. The modeling wasn't doing it for me and I realize that I probably won't be going out often enough to take advantage of it's portability and battery-powered capabilities. I think I would rather shell out $40 on a Smokey Amp, then I wouldn't have to worry about wasting money haha.

well.. i'm not good in guitar but i own an electric-acoustic and a California Series Telecaster. I knew some guitar expert in Malaysia *YL members too*

you can ask j.k, Natchi, Atheon, Sirnanzy, Chiyo or Tsunvun *at Australia now* for a guitar lesson. *if you're still in Malaysia*... :sry

'please dont ask me anything about guitar, i wouldn't understand a thing' ha ha

^ I never said that I'm guitar expert.

I'm just a YUI's guitars expert.

My theory suck. Plan to ask an old friend (major in music, piano based) to teach me next month.

Off-topic: .12 strings on acoustic hurts T.T

wow u tried a 12 string?? how does that feel like??? other than it hurts

I think she meant .12 gauge strings, not a 12-string guitar.

And amane ... why the heck do you keep on thinking BakaPingu is in Malaysia? She's not!

oh didnt see the . there, my bad

You tried .12 strings???


Lol... I'm using them... They didn't really hurt my fingers when I first used them... Maybe because my first set of strings was a .12(I can't find the strings gauge on the packaging)... Or... I got insensitive fingers(Hopefully not)... :what

Anyway... Has anyone played a 12 string guitar??? What's the difference in terms of play style...


Oh ya... I still can't read tabs... I need help in them... *looks to MeronPan :please * :what

lol I went to Malaysia to live with my relatives over the summer break ^_^
this is so off-topic :X anyways, I think I'll take my guitar lessons at Cosmo music.

Cosmo Music? I guess that's closer for you.

i guess its just getting used to it. just play alot and ur fingers will get used to it haha, callouses and all

and i've played 12 string, im palnning on buying one... haha. IT IS SOOO AWESOME!!! sounds soo nice, its like surround sound, its such a full sound and harmonizing and everything it sounds the coolest. try it!

READING TABS:

crash course

e----------------
B---------------
G---------------
D---------------
A---------------
E---------------

theres ur blank tab. basically its ur guitar, and its strings, the small e is the highest string. simple stuff

then

e-1--------------
B---------------
G---------------
D---------------
A---------------
E---------------

that 1 would b showing u to press down on the first fret of the highest e string. simple.


e-1--2----3-----4---
B---------------
G---------------
D---------------
A---------------
E---------------

this means ur playing fret 1, then 2, then 3, then 4

e-0--------------
B-0--------------
G-0--------------
D-2--------------
A-2--------------
E-0-------------

tahts the Em chord. wt that means is u play all teh strings at the same time, holding down the second fret of the D and A strings...

basically tabs are like diagrams.

A 12 string guitar sounds really nice. It has a twinkly, and fuller sound because of the extra 6 strings you're playing with. I guess you 'could' say it sort of has a 'chorus effect' sound when you play a 12 string versus normal 6 string guitar.

The only thing I don't like about 12 string guitar is when you need to change those strings....

:clap I had my first guitar lesson today at Ontario Conservatory of Music at Center Point. I didn't have a guitar so I had to borrow the school's, but... their guitars lets just say aren't very beautiful :o The 1st and 2nd guitar they handed me were broken! :what So my teacher just let me use the one already sitting in the room. The guitar I used had a nice big crack at the back :good
How lovely...

Class was only 30 mins, but I thought it was an hour so I had to wait for my parents to come because I didn't bring me cell, so I walked around the mall. Walking around holding the guitar case felt so good. :lol:

omg thats awesome! i mean like awesome for u to start learning guitar haha. guitar is awesome once u get decent at it. and go buy a guitar asap. like a good beginner guitar... around 200 dollars? yamahas, epiphones, if ur willing to pay a bit more, art and lutheries, simon and patrick, takamines. =P

Art & Lutherie has budget guitars under $200 also, I think.

Any guitar between $100-200 is good entry point, but obviously the sound isn't as good and it may not be as easy to play. The Yamaha FG-720 has a good sound which is not bad at around $260.

imo, most cheap yamaha acoustics are pretty decent. the conservatory of music is the one down the stairs right? i think i've been there once like a few weeks ago to check out books.

Congrats! You're finally taking guitar lessons!

Yep, Art & Lutherie is a great guitar to start on... 5 of my friends have a A&L guitar. :)

'Norman' and 'Simon & Patrick' are also great starter guitar brands too... try those out too if you see them at the guitar store.


Check out their websites:

Art&Lutherie
http://www.artandlutherieguitars.com/

Norman Guitars
http://www.normanguitars.com/

Simon & Patrick
http://www.simonandpatrick.com/

Seagull (*more costly, but they're quality acoustics ^.^)
http://www.seagullguitars.com/

These brands are all owned by Godin Guitars. All Canadian brands... yayyy! lol.

off topic: my best friend has a Godin Freeway, lol.

go canadian brands... iuno if im gonna afford a taylor but i really like that Woodland CW Folk guitar from Simon an dPatrick. the curves are nice haha. but i played it at long an dmcquade it duznt seem that loud and iun oit sounds different cuz of the shape and size. i guess im just not used to those kinda shapes. i played a taylor grand concert at long and mcquade and i found the smae thing it duznt seem like that full of a sound... guess im just too used to the way dreadnoughts sound

Yeah its like right next to the washrooms lol



I've looked at just about all the guitar models in the sites Natalie posted up. I'm looking at the Dreadnaught Spruce from Art & Lutherie and the Vintage Burst Cedar HG from Simon & Patrick. I seem to keeping coming back to these guitars. :lol: harhar my parents will get me one for my birthday or for Christmas :suki

If it's between those two, my vote would be for the S&P - you'll probably get more mileage out of that guitar as a beginner and intermediate player. If your parents are feeling especially generous, then you'll have even more possibilities to explore :clap