So I signed up for guitar lessons today and will be starting next week. I have been playing (read: messing around on) bass and guitar on and off for years, so I know a lot of the basics already, but I am pretty bad -- can't tremolo pick evenly or do triplets very well, drop my pick all the time, and just generally fuck up a lot. But I feel like I "know" what I need to do, my fingers just don't co-operate. So I am somewhat skeptical about how much lessons will help, but I figure that it will at least give me a reason to make sure I'm practicing everyday. So what are your thoughts on lessons? What should I be looking to get out of them? And how fruitful can a half-hour per week lesson really be? Any tips on how I might prepare for my first lesson?

Lessons can only do you good. A lot of guitarists think they're cool cause they're "self taught", this is false... unless you get a really shitty teacher.

I took three years of guitar lessons, and one year of bass before that. The instructor I had is a big blues/country guy, so most of what I learned with him (after the absolute basics) was harmonic and solo-based. I took it upon myself to learn a lot about music theory during that time as well, but that only goes so far without some actual playing. After a while, lessons became a weekly time to apply theoretical knowledge to physical performance with another player.

Lessons are there for stimulation and guidance. Ultimately it's up to you to take that guidance and run with it.

I've been taking lessons for about six weeks now and they help a lot in my opinion. As Unearthly noted, they're primarily there for guidance and stimulation, which is what I, and certainly other beginners need. Another advantage of course is that they can show you what you might be doing wrong in person, rather than on a video on the net.

You should take lessons from a good teacher at least until you really know what you're doing. Although formal technique in itself isn't too important, but you don't want to risk injuries caused by playing wrong.

I really hate being self-taught. I've not been able to figure out certain techniques on my own. Agh, it's frustrating not having a teacher.

Self-taught is the best way to go, but if you don't know anything about music and how to play, then get a teacher.

I had a guitar teacher for about a year or so (For free might I add...) and after he stopped giving out lessons and went to play in a band, I started teaching myself.

I sucked when I tried to play the blues, but when I got into metal, I easily learned to play fast, do tremolo picking and all that quickly, and no teacher can really do that for you, you need to work for yourself.

Yes, they can. They can teach you good technique, which will help you with playing fast. Of course, ypu work for yourself at home, and do lessons. Self-taught is not the way to go.

i was self taught for about a year before i started lessons... bg mistake, i should have takend lessons from the start, because i had formed all of these bad habits and i had to basically re-learn the guitar.

This is definitely a concern for me. I have been playing on and off for about 14 years. I even played bass in a band for a while. But I didn't really start getting serious about playing until a couple months ago. Now I realize that the only thing I've learned being "self-taught" is bad habits, hence the lessons.

It's always great idea to take lessons! Of course you will learn faster and better, but there are few other good reasons too.

The experience and the connections of your teacher will help you in many ways, even in a ways you couldn't imagine being useful for a guitarist/musician. For example finding musicians or valuable studio for your band or some law things etc.

Also, you'll learn "musical maturity" so you'll grow as guitarist, musician but also as a "workmate" for your band mates or sound engineers.

but what if you cant afford lessons??? would it be wise to learn from a friend who can play even though hes self taught?

Tell your friend to get lessons, and then get lessons from him.

Find the best guitarist that suits your style and beg for lessons! Self taught sucks because you will spend too much time on things that don't matter, like economy picking and learning one or two modes of a scale when your teacher will show you easy ways to play every mode in every scale and you will advance light years ahead of the self taught guys.