What my guitar teacher taught me about learning.

 

It was my childhood dream to learn to play the guitar. But well, at some turn of events, I ended up taking piano classes when I was 10 years old. I kept at it for about 5 years until I expressed my desire to learn to play the guitar to my piano teacher - who happened to also play the guitar and took guitar classes. For the first few months, he took basic guitar lessons for me, and given my interest and curiosity, he suggested I take lessons directly from his own guitar teacher. And he lobbied for me to his guitar teacher - Mr Peter, for admitting me into his class, Mr. Peter finally agreed after much convincing, as he preferred having a small class with few students.

Peter sir had two groups, the beginner class mostly for students who took grade 1 lessons and the advanced class for those who were at a higher grade. Though I was a grade 1 student, sir moved me to the advanced group after a few lessons. And well I was thrilled to be sitting with all these more experienced musicians. Now, Peter sir taught only one lesson a day and I could technically sit as long as I wanted. He taught on Fridays, so I sat till about 7 pm. For the most part, I would practice lessons, but in between, I’d get distracted and all the older kids would teach me different riffs and licks. Among some of them were solid phrases on top of which I could improvise and develop a lead solo.

Now sometimes I’d get carried away playing those riffs, and once Peter sir walked in while I was doing that. He smiled and asked me to play the lesson, to check if I “got it”. I played it back to him and he was satisfied. He gave me some tips which could help me play better, the way I use my left hand to shift between notes. In the end, he gave me a piece of advice which I keep with me till today. He said, “Anirudh, anybody can learn and play a lead. It’s not really a big deal. But if you want to make your own song, if you want to know what you’re playing, you need to know the fundamentals. You gotta know the scales and all the basics, on top of which you can build stuff.” It seems obvious to me now, but when I was 15/16 it was sound advice! When I went to college for engineering, I came to know this is formally called first principles thinking. Even now, when I find something hard to learn or get stuck on a problem, Peter sir’s advice comes in handy, I revisit the basics and build it from there.