Originally Posted by: TonyNun
I don't know of any book that teaches what my teacher does. For instance, in learning Little Wing he first had me learn the chord progressions to the song and then showed me how Hendrix did all his stuff within those chord frames. If you know a book that teaches that, I'm all ears.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that a book is a substitute for a good teacher, but books can be just one of many resources that you can utilize. One of the things I think that you're potentially missing out on is the process of learning music by ear. Learning other people's songs is not much of a priority for me, but it sounds like learning Little Wing is important to you and that Hendrix is a strong influence.
There's a bunch of different goals & objectives that may be coming into play here, and could very easily be in conflict with each other. If you're learning Little Wing because you want to sound just like Hendrix, then you're guitar teacher is right, playing it the way he did is the way to go. But you've stated that you like to re-invent songs (I personally think that's a great idea!). In this case, learning the song note-for-note may not really be in the best interests of your goal. It might be far better to simply listen to the song and then create your own version, or original ideas after being influenced by Hendrix's playing.
Either way, you have to keep in mind that great guitar players like Hendrix and Page learned other people's songs in their formative years. However, from what I've read, they did it by listening to records, and then figuring it out for themselves, rather than having someone walk them through it chord by chord, note by note. It seems like a lot of iconic players tell the story of when they were young, being alone with their guitar, listening to albums and trying to play what they heard on those records. I think that can be a very important part of developing your ear, and also developing your own style.
Getting back to books... lets leave Hendrix out of it for a moment, and instead, lets say I go to your teacher and tell him I want to learn about modes. Now, I can just go to one guy, sit down for a half-hour or 45 min once a week, paying, what, $25, $30, or even $40 per lesson as he tries to teach me about modes. If there's something he thinks of that's an important point, he'll likely want to write it down, and may well do it during the lesson (of the half-dozen instructors I've gone to, EVERY one of them would write stuff out during the lesson). If I go home and forget something he mentioned, if I look at the paper and what he wrote out and don't understand it, I'll have to wait until the next lesson to go over it with him.
On the other hand, I could watch a video here where Christopher explains modes. If it clicks, but then I forget something, I could go back and watch it again. In conjunction, I can refer to Tom Kolb's book on modes, where he explains all of the seven modes of the major scale, has all the info, scales and examples written out and organized. Not only that, he includes a CD with riff examples played both at full and half speed, and then a backing track for each mode that I can jam along with so I get used to actually playing a mode and hearing how it sounds. I could get all that (one month membership here, plus the book) for less than the cost of one lesson with a guitar instructor. What's more, at least to me, following a pre-planned course on a subject is a far more efficient method than just asking a guitar teacher to come up with an on-the-spot game plan for learning modes.
That's just one example. All I'm getting at is be open to different sources, and be smart about your approach. It definitely sounds like you're not satisfied with your teacher, and a break might be advisable. I totally understand you being sensitive to his feelings. I've taught other stuff (not guitar) and the bond between teacher & student can be very strong. Every good teacher though should be teaching you so that eventually you will surpass the need for their instruction. Its a bit weird with guitar lessons sometimes... you just keep going back month after month, and start to wonder where its all going. That's why for me, personally, I'm much more of a fan of course study formats: This is what is being taught. This is what you will learn. This is what you will be able to do when you finish. If you can't answer all three of those questions when taking lessons, then something is wrong.
