Lessons for Two

This past summer, Younger Daughter asked if she could take guitar lessons. Of course I said yes - everyone in this house knows that I'll support anything musical. If anyone wants to play the kazoo, tuba, bagpipes, or anything in between, I'll do whatever I can to make it happen.

Summer came and went, and with various trips and vacations, plus time spent at her mom's, it didn't happen - but neither of us forgot about it. In September, we saw a Saturday morning group beginner's guitar lesson on the township recreation schedule, and tried to sign up, but it was cancelled because not enough people signed up. So I went to Facebook and posted a message asking my friends if they knew a good local guitar teacher for a teenage girl. I got a good recommendation, talked to him on the phone, and signed us up.

Yes, "us." I saw from his online bio that he teaches a few instruments, including mandolin. I'm still playing a lot of mandolin - I play scales, exercises, and songs just about every day with very very few exceptions. I think I'm making nice progress, but I'm entirely self- and YouTube-taught, and I thought it would be helpful to get some feedback. You pay by the month for weekly lessons, so I'll do a month and then decide whether or not to continue.

We have back-to-back half hour lessons, and the first one was last Friday evening. I've taught Younger Daughter some chords, and she's enthusiastically practicing them. She wants to play songs she likes (Avett Brothers, Mumford and Sons, etc.), and I've told her that once she learns a handful of chords and gets them down cold, that she'll be able to play whatever songs she wants. Parenthetically, I could certainly teach her myself, but I think the discipline of going to a once-a-week lesson with a teacher who's not Dad will be helpful.

Both our lessons went well. He was impressed with how much YD knows already, and continued her down the path of chords and exercises that I started her on. My lesson was good too, and I now have some new exercises to practice - which I am.

Next lesson in three days.