Love that you saw her in action and you have such a great bond…such a powerful and motivating thing.
greekbecky, I understand. Since it appears that your issue is self-confidence, remember it’s a frame of mind that you have complete control over even if it seems you do not.
Perhaps, using positive self-talk and attitude adjustment toward the positive rather than being sensitive to the negative would help. Remember, we tend to attract what we think about. You are as good as you think you are.
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Good Gawd…I just retired from AWS! 
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You’ll see we all have that and it’s a constant struggle. Me, I struggled to play what I’d been working on in front of my instructor so he could check my progress and work that into his lesson for the week.
I think most people would probably lose their minds over the notation my instructor had been using for me. It was something I had never seen before, either, so it took me some time to get used to it. But it works. The kicker is simplifying it down to something that’s good for quick reference as I’m getting better with the song and don’t need all the detail his notation provides. Some aspects of it go easy. Others are a challenge to convey simply.
One major thing that took me a long time to figure out was that I need to be VERY detailed about my needs and struggles with my instructor. When I was BRAND NEW to guitar 20+ years ago, I had no idea what I needed. Only that I was struggling with certain things. I had a hard time describing those things to my instructors at the time and I think that contributed to not getting past the initial hump in the learning process. A couple decades later, I understand myself better, and I understand teaching and instruction better. I also understand the guitar a little better (I do have a little bit of music background and was even a bit fresher from some classes with theory back then so I wouldn’t exactly say I understand music better). I am better able to describe what I struggle with and figure out at least some of my needs.
As an instructor, I’ve certainly had plenty of moments when a student asks a difficult question that forces me to change my perspective to explain it in a way that they might understand better. I know I can get some funny expressions as I’m trying to figure those things out. I learned fairly early that I should probably talk through at least some of that process because that helps the person asking the question understand that I’m not making any judgements about them and that their question is in fact a good one if it’s challenging me to present it in a way they understand. It’d be pretty easy for someone to jump to some conclusions if I don’t describe my thoughts.
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Remember that You are the customer, not just a student (unless he’s volunteering is time).
As a manager and coach I find that most successful learning sessions happen when there is a connection between the student, or employee, and teacher, or coach.
No matter how nice he might be, if you don’t feel you are connecting it’s going to have a negative impact on your learning. I’m also just learning to play (I’m 60) and so far feel a connection with Justin, even though he’s just a series of videos, he just seems to understand the challenges I’m dealing with. If you don’t feel the same way about your in-person instructor, I suggest shopping around and find someone you better synch with.
I remember when I took in-person guitar lessons 20 years ago. I felt the instructor was day dreaming and only half paying attention during the lessons and I eventually just quit and stopped playing until earlier this year.
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Hey Becky!
Nice to “meet” you!
One aspect I haven’t seen discussed above… for your instructor, this is a job. I’m fairly certain that most people who work have good moments & not so good moments throughout their workday. Every job can be a bit boring at times… this isn’t a reflection on you or how fast you’re progressing! It’s just the nature of work that when you’re doing something over & over, in this case teaching material, it’s not going to be as exciting to the teacher as it is to you!
That said, I never found an in-person teacher that I truly “clicked” with, so online learning is a better fit for me.
I wouldn’t focus too much on what’s going on in the teacher’s head… just try to stay focused on the topic at hand & soak up as much knowledge as possible!
Good luck & keep it Fun!!!
Tod
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Yes Rebecca, you must address it you have raised a good post here well done cheers Hec
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Not that it’s terribly relevant here but thought I’d mention that I was basically assured today that I’ll be keeping this job and that it’s more or less just a matter of making it official and getting the paperwork pushed through to make sure that my termination date doesn’t come and go beforehand, forcing them to re-hire me. I don’t know yet if it’s just an extension to my contract or if it’s more open-ended (it’s a fairly small nonprofit so funding is always a concern for staffing levels).
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Oh had I known…I’ve been eyeing AWS. Ironically, the scuttlebutt at my company is that there’s going to be a resource action because we didn’t make our numbers. Typical tech.
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Oh I’m familiar with that confused instructor look! As you said, when you’re new, expressing what’s on your mind can be a challenge, but he does a pretty good job at figuring me out and readjusting his methods to help me. I can’t help but use the cycling analogy again…you need time in the saddle to hone those skills. I wish I started the guitar as a kid. I’m sure I’m not alone in that wish.
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You are most assuredly not alone in that.
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+1, I hear ya
(51 on my birth certificate, 3yro as far as guitar goes)
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I empathize completely. I took weekly lessons for a few years, way back in the 1970’s, then lost interest because I just was not getting anywhere. It never occurred to me that I should have told the teachers that I loved rock mostly, other popular music including folk and country. I was not engaging with classical training, and I could not grow fingernails … I was never introduced to a pick or any fun music. So 50+ years later, I discovered Justin and my world changed entirely. Switched to steel strings and a pick, and started having fun with music and everything he teaches is fascinating and engaging and all I want to do is play my guitar and master each course. I force myself to do chores first thing in the day so I can spend afternoons with Justin and my guitar. I found that I really need to hear each lesson multiple times before I totally understand it, and I think this is the main reason why weekly lessons just didn’t take me anywhere.
Lynne
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Good advice, thank you…I’ll see how it plays out in the next few weeks…
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You inspire me…it has to be fun and stress free to be effective. The Justin lessons are comfortable and no one is watching, lol. I have to watch each lesson several times too. I’m sure we’re not alone in that.
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Thank you!!
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Sorry for the late reply…death in the family. I’m glad things worked out for you!
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Condolences. I hope it was something folks had time to prepare for and wasn’t unexpected.
I’ll be spending Monday out in the field with my boss, so I’m hoping for more details then. IIRC, my termination date is otherwise supposed to be Nov 1.
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You are very welcome, Rebecca and also welcome here in this community cheers HEC
Nice to meet you Lynn and welcome to a great community I hope you enjoy your stay cheers HEC