Part One: Does he know you can’t play the guitar?

Type ‘guitar tutor’ into Google and one of the first results is the Registry of Guitar Tutors. I wanted a proper teacher and this seemed like the place to go. Fortunately for me there was a guitar tutor in Downham Market where I live. His name was Max Elliott – I liked the name, he definitely sounded like a musician - and I called him on Monday lunchtime and arranged my first lesson for late that evening.

I couldn’t find the cheap guitar case that had come with my guitar, so I picked up my guitar and went to leave the house for my first lesson. Just before I left, my girlfriend wished me luck and then asked “does he know you can’t play the guitar?” I laughed and hoped that my guitar tutor would be more encouraging. It was a very cold night so by the time I had walked from where I had parked my car to where Max lived, my guitar was very cold. I thought that this probably wasn’t a good thing. Trying to avoid the snow and ice, I walked up to his door, took a deep breath and knocked nervously.

I sat down on a hard chair in his bohemian front room that was dedicated to music – lots of books, CDs, a decent stereo and a music stand were its key features.  I played my repertoire of chords –D, E, A, G, C, E minor, A minor (I initially forgot to include D7 but then dismissed it) as cleanly and as deliberately as possible. He seemed pleased, which was encouraging, but then it was time to play a tune. I had  previously learnt Three Blind Mice to a fairly decent standard – one which I play all the correct notes and people can recognise what I’m playing anyway – but managed to mess up the middle bit (‘they all ran after the farmer’s wife...’) quite badly and it took me a few goes to get it right.

Max saw that I wasn’t moving my fingers very well as I was using my first finger too much. I was given a piece of sheet music, which fortunately also had the guitar tab, and was asked to play a sequence of notes on the top E string. I then was given a piece for the second (B) string and another for the third (G) string. Then I was shown a simple piece that Max had written and the traditional song Long Black Veil. Long Black Veil involved holding down different chord shapes and then playing some of the notes of that chord. I hadn’t done this before – I had either just played chords or notes - so it took me a little while to grasp this concept.  One of the chords was a new one for me – B7. This involves using all four fingers and leaving the second (B) string open, so can be quite tricky but I was pleased when I got it right first time.

 IMAGE: B7 chord, the first time I've used my fourth (little) finger

I was also given some rudimentary music theory and was pleased that I knew more than I thought – perhaps I had paid some attention in pre-GCSE music classes after all. I learnt that looking at the musical notation was a great help as it explains when to play the notes and for how long. Pretty obvious stuff but not so if you’re used to looking at chord boxes and guitar tab. Despite being quite overwhelmed by the whole experience I found it enjoyable and Max to be patient and encouraging – two essential qualities for a good teacher.

I briefly practised when I got home, with my new expanded guitar mantra of 3 rules: 1. the guitar is a musical instrument, not a toy; 2. I must practice the guitar every day, even if it is for just 5 minutes. 3. I must do all the ‘homework’ I am given.  The third one I had learnt at University when I realised that if you actually do all the work that your teachers give you to then you’ll do well. I struggled with the pieces at first but as the week went on and I continued to practise for about 30 minutes each evening, I was pleased to see that I could play these pieces after all. It made me realise 2 things: 1. there is an overwhelmingly huge amount of things to learn on the guitar; 2. that if you practice you will get better.

  

Pleased with my progress I looked forward to the weekend where I could spend more time playing, unfortunately redecorating our bedroom and hallway got in the way of that. I was anxious and frustrated as I sanded away at the walls and my bad mood was clear to my girlfriend. Thankfully I just about managed to avoid a domestic crisis and sneaked in a couple of hours of practise over the weekend, exclusively playing my homework…

Lessons learnt: Practise every day; do all the homework I’m given; one finger per fret; B7 chord; hold down a chord shape and play notes from that chord; smooth playing is what sounds good, so slow down playing until it is smooth; basic music notation.