The Cheapest Option Isn't Always the Least Expensive
I clearly remember my paternal grandfather and some of his stories and advice. One piece of wisdom he shared, which has proven correct throughout my life, was that the cheapest option isn't always the least expensive. This has been demonstrated time and again, from buying cheap guitar leads that would let me down at gigs and need replacing twice as often, to buying unknown brand guitar pedal batteries that once leaked and ruined my overdrive pedal.
Early Musical Explorations (and Missteps)
This was particularly true when it came to guitar lessons. Having studied classical guitar at school, I was eager to expand my playing into more contemporary electric guitar, having received my Epiphone SG for my 16th birthday. My heart was set on studying music at college and entering my peak ‘rock’ phase. While this was incredibly fun, looking back, the slapdash, ad-hoc way I approached this period was anything but optimal. Endless downloads of guitar tabs had expanded my song base but failed to address some fundamental foundations of musicianship. In my second year at college, I realised my ability to integrate theory knowledge was non-existent, my ear training was poor, and I had little ability to improvise beyond playing the same metal licks I’d picked up from tab.
The Gap Year Gamble (and its Payoff)
At the end of the second year, having applied to study at the Academy of Contemporary Music and been accepted, I made the decision to defer by a year and ensure my playing was on an equal footing. However, I came across a series of issues in not being able to find any guitar teachers near me. I initially booked a few lessons from a teacher not much older than me. While his playing was good, he was still learning himself and had next to no teaching experience.
Eventually, my mum found an excellent guitar teacher in High Wycombe who had worked as a session musician on the West End. Even though this meant an hour's commute and two buses (there were no online guitar lessons back then!), I was committed to making the gap year count. He pulled my playing apart, from playing with a metronome, sorting my sight-reading, looking at modes, theory, jazz phrasing, and everything in between. I worked part-time at a DIY store to pay for the lessons, but it was worth every penny, and I wouldn’t have made it through my guitar degree without it.
The Allure of "Free" (and its Hidden Costs)
This experience taught me a valuable lesson: sometimes, the cheapest option upfront can end up being the most expensive in the end. We've all been there. Eager to learn something new, we dive headfirst into the world of free online resources. YouTube is a fantastic place to start, especially for something like learning guitar. You can find countless tutorials, from basic chords to advanced techniques, all without spending a penny. And honestly, for getting a taste of playing, for seeing if it's something you might even enjoy, it's a brilliant starting point.
But that's the biggest drawback of learning solely from free online resources: the lack of feedback. You can watch a video a hundred times, but if you're practising a technique incorrectly, you're just reinforcing bad habits. And those bad habits? They can be incredibly difficult to unlearn later on, potentially setting your progress back weeks, if not months. Suddenly, that "free" learning is costing you valuable time – time you could have spent making real progress.
The Puzzle Without a Picture
Then there's the issue of direction. YouTube is a vast ocean of information. It's easy to get lost, jumping from one tutorial to another, without any clear structure or progression. You might learn a cool riff here and a fancy technique there, but without a solid foundation and a structured learning path, you're essentially just collecting puzzle pieces without knowing how to put them together.
As always, I asked our Tremolo guitar teacher team their thoughts:
The True Cost of "Free": The Opportunity You Lose
You can learn for free. You can find budget options. But I truly believe a good teacher is worth the money. What's the opportunity cost of treading water, of not knowing what you don't know? It's the lost potential, the wasted time, the frustration that can lead to giving up altogether. Investing in quality instruction, whether from an experienced tutor or a reputable music school, can save you time, frustration, and ultimately, money. It can be the difference between just dabbling in music and truly mastering your instrument. It's an investment in your musical future and one that's well worth considering.
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