You've got your guitar, (way to go! One of the best hobbies in the world, but that's just my opinion.) Next step, learning to play like Eric Clapton. There are three options you can take- one, learn to play yourself. Not very successful for a lot of people, but it can be done. My uncle taught himself and he is very good. Most people just lack the ambition to practice every day if they don't have to learn something. Two, buy a course. Usually these courses offer workbooks, videos, sometimes software and other programs. For someone who wants to practice but cannot on a regular schedule, these offer all the visual aids, guitar methods, and more. They're also a lot cheaper, somewhere in the range of $50.00.
And for some people, like me, well they just don't practice if they don't have to. Oh the desire to learn is there, but the ambition needs to be helped along. I knew that knowing that I will have to play the lesson for someone, and having the keen desire to not embarrass myself would push me to practice. That is why I took lessons when I first got my guitar,and it's why I'm taking lessons now.
I got my first guitar somewhere in the span of three years ago and bought my second two years ago. Fast forward to now and they're sitting in my room collecting dust. I started taking lessons right away when I got my first guitar (an acoustic, I also bought an electric. Hey everybody needs two!) After half a year of taking lessons I got discouraged because I wasn't getting anywhere so I stopped taking lessons. I wanted to play guitar, but after getting nowhere with my first teacher I was wary of taking lessons. The desire to play won out and I went and signed up for lessons at another place. Now I love playing my guitar and practice because I want to, not because I have to. The difference is my first instructor could play guitar, but he wasn't a teacher. My teacher now is that, and it makes a huge difference. Following are some things you should expect from your teacher.
He/She should be able to show you. This is kind of a given that anybody teaching guitar will of course know how. The reason I mention this is because it is very helpful to learn something when you can watch someone do it, and do it well. If they can't show you tell them you're gonna charge them for the lesson.
They ask you what you want to learn. This is kind of a fine line here, because the problem with my first teacher was he didn't prepare any lesson for me. I was supposed to come with what I wanted to learn. Most of it was too difficult anyway or he didn't know it because it wasn't songs he was familiar with. Your instructor should ask you what you want to learn, and tailor your lessons accordingly. Don't teach Van Halen to someone who listens to Praise and Worship. But he also needs to prepare a lesson. I'm assuming my first teacher was a bad apple, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Also do you want to focus on chords or tablature? Assuming you want to be a complete player you will want to learn both, but I wanted to learn tabs first. I did and loved it. Now I'm moving on to chords. You should be able to learn what you want to. Which doesn't mean you can ignore stuff that's difficult to practice.
They need to be patient. No you're not going to learn it the first time. Probably not the second. Actually you're looking at a few weeks. And learning chords, well I can only imagine the pain of listening to someone play C G D poorly five times in a row. But some people take awhile. It took me a few weeks to get my fingers to go on the right strings and don't even mention strumming patterns! Now you know why he runs out to get coffee every five minutes. Wait! You forgot your mug!
One cool way to hone your skills is playing along with jam tracks. Ask your teacher if he has tracks for the songs you're learning, and if he'll put them on a tape or CD for you. My teacher will just record mine for me during my lesson. It's really cool.
Bottom line: if you aren't learning something new every lesson, you're wasting your time. You may have learned everything from your teacher that you can learn. Or maybe you need to go somewhere else.
Ziggy plays guitar. Very well depending who you ask. Find out more on her blog Tips from other newbie, amature, and pro players are always welcome. | 
