So what would you do..online vs live?

[mercifulfuzziness]

Last weekend I had a lesson with a teacher on-line to test and see what is out there. The lesson was via Microsoft Teams and was an hour. Introduction call, of course, but he showed me some very basic stuff that was not in my awareness. He is on Truefire and has both the playing skill as the theory and he has a reasonable asking price.

However, this asking price is exactly the same as what I pay for 4 times 30 minutes with my local teacher.

Comparing the two is

• comparing live vs on-line. I will probably never play together with the on-line guy. And my live teacher is at the moment also the only person I can play with.
• The on-line teacher seems better at teaching so far. But is has been just one lesson.
• One hour a month compared to 4x 30 minutes. I think one hour fits me a bit better with my tsunami of questions I often have. This also might be why I find this teacher better. There is just more time to go around.
• The on-line teacher actually gave me some very goofy and boring exercises that would be really good to get a certain technique better. I never really received these kind of exercises with my current teacher.

Also, my GAS is now completely gone. I have now had it confirmed from all kinds of places (including here), what I have is plenty for yearsss ahead. All I will buy will only be because of a "want" and not a "need". And what I want is a custom shop

Any thoughts from experience?

 

[TJontheRoad]

I never liked online music lessons. Much of the personal connection is lost and that is just as important to me as what I’m learning.

 

[JasonE]

Back when I went through lessons it was in person. We didn't have online options back then. I do a large amount of video calls for work each day. If the teacher is good he should be able to get the job done with no issues on a remote session. The only thing you won't really be able to do is play along with them. When I was studying theory my teacher would play some chord progressions and have me solo over them to get a feel for how the different scales worked with different chord progressions. It was a good way to figure out what scales to use over different chord progressions. Your remote teacher won't be able to do that since the audio really only likes going one direction at a time. You would step on each other and not really be able to hear. However, there is a potential solution to that. He could use backing tracks. He could send them to you and then have you play over them while he watches and listens. Another thing is you would both need to have good cameras and have them so you can see each other's hands when you are playing.

I have thought about looking for something like an hour a month just to get some interaction going with someone else and get my thought flowing and refresh my memory on some things. I have been doing it on my own with online videos, some from TrueFire. That has been working for me so far.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Back when I went through lessons it was in person. We didn't have online options back then. I do a large amount of video calls for work each day. If the teacher is good he should be able to get the job done with no issues on a remote session. The only thing you won't really be able to do is play along with them. When I was studying theory my teacher would play some chord progressions and have me solo over them to get a feel for how the different scales worked with different chord progressions. It was a good way to figure out what scales to use over different chord progressions. Your remote teacher won't be able to do that since the audio really only likes going one direction at a time. You would step on each other and not really be able to hear. However, there is a potential solution to that. He could use backing tracks. He could send them to you and then have you play over them while he watches and listens. Another thing is you would both need to have good cameras and have them so you can see each other's hands when you are playing.

I have thought about looking for something like an hour a month just to get some interaction going with someone else and get my thought flowing and refresh my memory on some things. I have been doing it on my own with online videos, some from TrueFire. That has been working for me so far.

Good idea, about the backing track.

The video was solid. I could see his hands. I 100% beginner I would not advise it to do, "7th fret, b string" cost me 7 minutes in the beginning.

Yes, not playing together is actually the biggest pitfall of it and my biggest "concern". Then again, it might also force me to search out players. Idk.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’d go with online lessons if I were to take them at this point, that way I can find the teacher that appeals most to what I’m looking to learn, rather than settling with someone local who might only cover a piece of what I want to learn.

 

[Byrdman]

Since I'm in sales, with everything equal, or even not equal, ACCOUNTABILITY will be the determining factor in your progress IMO.

Honestly ask yourself if you will be more or less accountable with online vs in-person lessons. I know for me, in-person accountability with someone locally will be a lot better for my progress.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Since I'm in sales, with everything equal, or even not equal, ACCOUNTABILITY will be the determining factor in your progress IMO.

Honestly ask yourself if you will be more or less accountable with online vs in-person lessons. I know for me, in-person accountability with someone locally will be a lot better for my progress.

Why do you feel more accountability with a local teacher?

 

[Byrdman]

Why do you feel more accountability with a local teacher?

Not sure, but if I honestly answer that question, I feel more accountability to someone in person that I know personally I guess.

If you think your accountability will be the same, then go on to the next level, price, personality, etc.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I think that especially as long as there's relevant technical issues to adress, a real person next to you is sort of crucial.
Playing along with someone while looking at how he's doing it is worth a lot already. The teacher being able to either guide your playing or follow you in realtime is another thing worth every penny.
And then there's things such as the teacher being able to get behind you to observe your posture and possibly even correct it by, say, touching your shoulder and telling you to relax your muscles at that very location.

Otoh, quite obviously, you can have lessons from almost anyone online. Even some pretty famous players are up to lessons (of course you need to be willing to pay the extra money). And you can mix and match things a lot better. But all that IMO is only worth it once you have a certain level of experience.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

I think that especially as long as there's relevant technical issues to adress, a real person next to you is sort of crucial.
Playing along with someone while looking at how he's doing it is worth a lot already. The teacher being able to either guide your playing or follow you in realtime is another thing worth every penny.
And then there's things such as the teacher being able to get behind you to observe your posture and possibly even correct it by, say, touching your shoulder and telling you to relax your muscles at that very location.

Otoh, quite obviously, you can have lessons from almost anyone online. Even some pretty famous players are up to lessons (of course you need to be willing to pay the extra money). And you can mix and match things a lot better. But all that IMO is only worth it once you have a certain level of experience.

Thanks man, interesting!