Guitars and Teenagers: What's the best approach?

[yochumjy]

Cupofkindness:

Thank you for all of the informative replies. I must tell all of you that I’m looking at your ‘Public Profiles’ to see if any of you are in the Dallas area (eg: potential teacher!).

For those of you with a few minutes, would you mind looking at this link and giving your opinion? This site is for Denny Zager (‘In The Year 2525’), who now does custom guitar work and on-line lessons taught according to his playing philosophy, which is play by ear (if I’m understanding that correctly). It looks interesting to me, but since I don’t know anything about guitars or lessons, I’d be grateful for your opinions. What is the best way to learn guitar? Thanks again!

zagerguitar.com/index.cfm

FWIW, any luthier worth their salt can adjust the strings closer to the fretboard (little sanding on the nut) and adjust the bridge to make it easier to play (you do have to watch out for buzzing). I had a friend who makes guitars as a hobby do this to my Seagull, it helped a lot.

I don’t have any history with play-by-ear… I seem to be more of a visual kind of person myself, and like to see chords and words on a paper in front of me. I’m sure this is a personal issue…

John

 

[JButky]

yochumjy:

FWIW, any luthier worth their salt can adjust the strings closer to the fretboard (little sanding on the nut) and adjust the bridge to make it easier to play (you do have to watch out for buzzing).

Ditto and Amen,

Just about any decent guitar can be set up properly for good playability. If you want a decent, inexpensive guitar check out Cort.
They make fabulous stuff at a great price and make a lot of guitars for other name brands. They are one of the largest manufacturers in the world.

I’m a repair tech and am in the business. Setting up a decent guitar makes all the difference in the world. Set up right, it will play correctly. Any guitar setup badly is a nightmare to play.

Joe B