How many are self taught?

[Jack852]

I am curious as to what percentage of you are self taught vs trained with a teacher or formal music education.

[TBman]

I started playing in 1964. I took lessons for 4 weeks as a kid and 6 months as a 20something so I'm going with self taught,

[BoneDigger]

I've never taken a lesson, and it shows! Started playing in 1987.

[Brucebubs]

Self Taught and I use open tuning a lot.
Good thing is everything I play is mine.
Bad thing is I can't play along with others and usually they can't play along with me.

[Andromeda]

Semi self taught. I've learned on my own and took lessons from time to time for a short period of time. I've also learned from watching others.

[s2y]

I took several years of lessons in high school and 2 semesters of classical. I owe a LOT to my teachers. I mostly supplement with True Fire courses over the last couple of years when I have time.

Late edit: I need to thank my classical teacher for saving my hands.

[letterk]

99% self taught until March of this year. Took some lessons 25 years ago that were worthless. But have been taking lessons from an awesome teacher weekly since March. Learning MUCH faster these days.

[donlyn]

I am entirely self taught. Over the years I have learned from all kinds of sources including TV, music videos, internet, watching other people play, playing with other people, playing along with records (the Rolling Stones are a great band to play along with, both electric and acoustic), books, et cetera. I also have learned a lot by solo noodling and casual experimenting.

I learned music theory from an elective course of that name that I took as a college undergrad over 50 years ago. This course has been essential in arranging. While I can 'interpret' sheet music, I cannot sight read (and play from) sheet music, and I really am a total loss with tabs. I play a lot by ear and semi-educated guesses. I fingerpick all my stringed instruments with thumb and either two or three fingers depending. I do my own arrangements for what I play, and will interchangeably play a given song with either 6 or 12 string guitar, often chosen by whichever guitar I am holding at the time.

Don
.

[6L6]

A Mel Bay Chord book got me going in 1964.

[sayheyjeff]

Had a couple of months or so of lessons in elementary school but they were stopped as practicing was an issue. Tried again in high school. Learned a few chords and 3 chord songs. Was in a band for a while with friends who were a little better than that. Not particularly musical, but we had some fun. Tried again when I was 30 signing on with a teacher to learn classical guitar. Big failure. Couldn’t even get to the lessons much less practice. Lasted about 6 months but I missed most of the lessons and quit again. When my nephews and godson started playing guitar and bass and drums in junior high (middle school?) I was inspired to try again. Signed on for lessons and committed to working less. Was in my mid 50s. Been taking lessons a couple of times a month ever since except when I was caring for my parents in their last years. Been a challenge, but I really enjoy it and rarely go a day without playing. Made some great friends along they way too.

Jeff

[Willie_D]

My biggest problem being self-taught is that I am only as good as my teacher. And then, only sometimes.

[Emil]

Picked up a friends guitar when i was 11-12 years old and got hooked.

They day when my dad bought my first acoustic (an old Washburn) is still the highlight of my childhood.
Everytime i think of it i get a bit smile on my face. I spent hours and hours in my bedroom with that thing. Never had much talent but it tought me to keep on trying and trying.

When i see my 11 year old daughter i realize that a guitar will never be able to compete with her iphone. It brings her direct gratification and all the games are built for getting quick kicks and easy progress.
The thought of her being able to sit down for days just atempting to learn on chord makes me realize that the guitar era ends with me in my family.

[EZYPIKINS]

Only lessons I ever had were Drum lessons. I was 8. My parents got me a drum kit for Christmas. My mom paid neighborhood, Highschool drummer to give me lessons. Only shape note charts I could ever kinda read. I'm so Dizzy my head is spinin'. Tommy Roe.
I wore that record out. Couldn't quite get Inagodadavida. So moved to guitar at 10. End of 1970. Now, 50 years later. I'm back to playing at home alone.

[pieterh]

I’m mainly self-taught though I had formal tuition on piano and flute when I was a kid. I’ve also had voice training so notes etc aren’t alien to me. A few years ago I started working through Carcassi études to improve my reading skills. I’ve had some guitar tuition along the way but mainly I learn by doing and copying.

[Big-E]

Started to teach myself about '67 and picked up tips in the school folk group. I had some formal lessons in 1985 but didn't stick with it. Over the years I learned a lot from playing with and watching others. Now I've got the time and motivation, I practice every day and try to become a better player learning new techniques and styles. My big regret, musically, is that I didn't take up formal music tuition when I was at school where we had a music teacher whose one aim was to share his knowledge, skill and enthusiasm for the subject with his pupils.