For those of you who took lessons (those who are still taking lessons feel free to chime in as well), was there a time that you felt like lessons had done enough for you or that you had gotten all you could from them? If so what were some things that made you feel that way/stop taking lessons?
I know this question is probably tailored to each individual picker but just curious on others thoughts. I like having the accountability of a teacher and someone who can help critique the small things.
I quit taking lessons when I finally learned to make my own breaks, do my own backup and get in a jam and be able to participate by doing backup and breaks without too many mistakes.
The above took a while. I was hooked on tab for a few years and didn't have an ear for chords and/or chord sequences. An excellent teacher helped me understand how to do that and then I was off and running.
When you get to the point that you know what you don't know, but do know what to do to learn what you don't know, IMO, you are ready to proceed solo in your learning the banjo adventure.
Bobby
Same question asked last month. Most recent comments four days ago.
Short answer of why I quit lessons the first time (end of summer '72):
- School was resuming, so with classes, extracurriculars and part-time wok, lessons didn't fit my schedule.
- I picked up banjo extremely quickly (having played guitar for 8 years), lessons had become song of the week, and I was mastering each one. That is: able to play up to speed in time.
- In the space of one summer, I was at the point of working out tunes for myself off of recordings and improvising my own solos.
That was the end of formal lessons. But in the decades since, I've spent countless dollars on books and videos. I've attended in-person and virtual/online camps and workshops. I subscribe to several online teachers. After 50+ years, I consider myself an advanced player, but I still have more to learn. With the online schools, I enjoy the flexibility to take lessons whenever I want.
When I am approached to give lessons I contract with the student for a maximum of six lessons, enough to teach the basics and send them on their way with some songs or tunes to practice, along with a book or two and references to online lessons, After the six lessons, we end our formal arrangement, and all subsequent lessons are by request for each lesson - we call them "consultations" rather than lessons - by the student. This gives the student some good options: if s/he has come to realize that the banjo and continuing lessons are not what they want - which happens to a lot of students - it gives them the opportunity to bow out without embarrassment or the need to make up some byzantine excuse for stopping. On the other hand, if these six lessons have ignited real interest, they have the opportunity to request further lessons as they wish, focusing on the material that they want to learn.
I came to this approach when I reflected on my own early learning process forty years ago, when I found that after a very few lessons I was getting less and less benefit from those lessons, and I started to do my own work on the banjo. Even today, four decades later, I still seek one-off consultations with superstar players when I have the opportunity.
I've found over the years that this sort of approach gives the students the freedom and autonomy to approach this quirky "drum on a stick" in a way that is individualized to their own learning style.
Kind of like learning to ride a bicycle , once u can pedal , balance , & go where u want to , take off the training wheels .
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