ahhhhhhhhhhh

actually, i did take lessons, and my teacher was great, made me do a whole year of rhythm development before going into any melody, and learnt jazz, metal, funk, blues and more and got encouraged to find my own style.

my statement comes from reading about guitarist teaching their methods or talking about them, and that's like the people who have instrument teachers just so they can help them figure out the tab of the songs they want to learn and nothing else.

if you want to develope your own style, you can't rely on a teacher; learning stuff, be it formal or informal, benefits from someone guiding you when you're starting, but if you want to really play something of your own, you should go out and find it for yourself, that way, it can develope into your own style instead of just something else filed under whatever method you're following.

of course people are different and some rather have their licks and riffs separated rather than coalesed into a style.

i can't imagine myself learning (or is it unlearning) and playing atonal guitar and being original at it under the guidance of a teacher.

great valid opinion and if it works for you fantastic, i disagree though. you can have a teacher and develop your own style at the same time as i don't beleive style is something you work at but something that occurs as you gig more and develop as a musician, having a teacher is having some to be able to teach you new techniques which can help you forward your own style as you grow as a gigging musician. everyone you play with in a band over time influences your style as you are creating a shared language together and this will always grow and morph as you go through different changes of line ups different bands different styles.....

i see your point but you give people too much credit.

actually, you have a mentality very similar to my teacher, get gigs and don't get tied to bands and/or lineups.

robert fripp

kevin sheilds

micheal hedges

i think i could learn alot of very different things from these three

i don't give people too much credit i just don't know any copycat musicians

my old guitar teacher actually went to Fripp's guitar school and was personally trained by him, so i learned a few things, nothing like Fripptronics though

other wise

John Fahey
Don Fleming
Mary Timony

I was about to add Fripp, but man, he's Trippy... Adrian Belew would make sure to keep the lesson all about the fun. And he signed my ticket to a KC concert once so... I might as well ask him. AH!

Fuck yeah.

Check this out, and hang it out at least until the three minute mark...

Thou shalt be rewarded with rediculousness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5Qa...elated&search=

...and if you think you have the testicles, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rutyA...elated&search=

only one:
Michael Angelo Batio

Blixa Bargeld
Tom G Warrior
Arto Lindsay

johnny marr for 3 lessons.

nobody else.

john fahey
andrew mears
hendrix!

Right... anybody could pick up a modified banjo and sound just like Paul Metzger...

Just like how anybody who picks up a guitar sounds just like Hendrix or a trumpet Miles Davis...

I've seen Paul's records. He listens to a goddamn lot of Indian music and jazz stuff.
While he doesn't study Indian music as a "discipline," he knows it pretty damn well and listens to a lot of it. He also plays sarod, and can play straight Django-jazz style on his guitars and banjo as well. He knows perfectly well what he's doing, and is a virtuoso player. It's not the instrument. It's him.

I'd so fucking love to have that sort of talent. John Cale once asked Angus MacLise to play his viola, and he stood there in front of him while his jaws dropped, because MacLise literally played the shit out of the instrument without having ever touched it before.

I did not know this.
Adds another layer to my Maclise fascination.


Oh, and I forgot to mention that I have seen Paul do some very jagged and abrasive "out-jazz" improv sets on that banjo and the modified guitar as well. No discernable Indian influence those nights, I can tell you that.

I was talking to him once about how I would like to learn fingerstyle better, and he said "Oh yeah, I can do that shit," and busted out some awesome Gypsy jazz stuff like it was nothing.

Pretty hilarious moment.

andres segovia
django reinhardt
jimi hendrix

Lee Ranaldo
Jimi Hendrix
Ira Kaplan

This list is probably going to change within the hour, but at the moment those are the three I'd want a lesson from.