Lousy Guitar Teacher

WY and I attended our 1st guitar lesson with this scrawny balding man yesterday. And it was BAD!

Firstly, he was late. And he didn't even smile or say hello. I had to be the one to say hi first.

Then, he sat down without a word. Looked at WY and me, and asked, "What do you want to learn? Can you read music notation?" WY kept quiet and gave me a wonderous look.

Then the scrawny man proceeded to scribble some crotchets on the whiteboard in the mini-studio we were in. And he repeated, "Musical notation like this? Can you read?"

Oh my, what was the point of my filling in the registration forms if he didn't even bother to read the information put there?! In the forms, I had specified the 'music background' (as required by the forms) of both WY and myself!

Feeling quite fed-up already, I explained in the friendliest tone I could muster, "This is my son. He is totally new to the guitar. But he plays the piano and knows his music theory. As for myself, yes, I do read musical notes and I have gone through some basic strum and pluck courses previously. So this is more like a refresher course to me."

Then he asked in a very bo-chap tone, "What do you want to learn?"

WY and I exchanged quick glances. I replied, "Well, I think it is good for my son to start with some basic strumming techniques and learn some basic chords first. Our idea is that we may one day decide to learn classical but right now, exams are not in our mind."

Then, the scrawny man sat down next to WY and asked to tune WY's guitar (which is our week-old Maestro). Without a further word, he just took it from WY and started to turn the knobs quite 'crudely', starting with the 6th string. I was quite shocked to see how roughly he was handling our guitar.

And before we knew it, I heard a loud and distinct "Piaak!" as he tried to tune the 4th string! Yes! He had snapped the tuning knob for the 4th string!!!!!!!!! Arrggh!!!!



That scrawny man knew very well what he had done, but instead of owning up, he just muttered in a "it's not my fault, it's your guitar which is not good" kind of guilty voice, "You got a broken knob here. I cannot tune this string at all. You got to get it fixed or replaced. See, see, it's cracked already. There's no way I can tune this string now."

Woah lao!!!!! 睁眼说瞎话， 必遭天打雷劈！

I told him plainly, "This is a one-week old guitar. We just bought it last week. Everything about it was ok until now. The knob wasn't broken earlier. It was still ok when we came in here."

He just repeated sheepishly that it is not possible for him to tune that string now. I tried my very best to keep my composure. I tell you, if WY was not there with us, I would have told him off very very much more sternly.

Anyway, then he asked where our books were. I was feeling so fed-up with him that I just said, "Your colleagues outside had told us that you would prepare the materials for us. So we haven't got anything except ourselves and our guitar."

He grabbed the chance to escape and returned only 5 minutes later with a photocopied 'book' with comb-binding. (Later, we were charged $8 for that super-amateurish bound copy of hand-scribbled chords! I was appalled that it didn't even contain any proper printed chord chart!!! Not a professional school this is, I think!)

To sum up the lesson, we went through these:

a) one-beat downward strum
b) one-beat upward strum
c) 2-beat downward strum
d) 4-beat downward strum
e) half-beat upward strum
f) one-beat choke strum
g) half-beat choke strum
h) Chords: Am, E & E7.

During the lesson, the questions he asked included whether we intend to use a pick or to use our fingernails. I told him that my preference is to use fingers for a start because my experience is that a pick doesn't give me the feel/touch. Weird thing is, he kept promoting the use of the pick nevertheless.

Then, close to 1:30pm, he kept looking at the clock (in his direct view but WY and I weren't even looking at the wall). Then he finished up by saying, "Ok, that's all. You got to go to fix or change the knob."

Woah lao eh!!!! I think he ought to be shot to 'remind' us to fix the knob he had spoilt! Got the cheek to even ask, "You went to Peninsular to buy this guitar?"

I told him as WY packed our Maestro, "Yah, somewhere near Peninsular. It's called Excelsior. By the way, what guitar would you normally recommend for your students?"

"Erm, erm..... "Summit". (I think that's how it is spelt, I am not sure.) Its body is smaller and thinner, neck is also narrower, easier for young people to play." was his reply. I asked where it can be bought from and how much it would cost.

He answered after a long pause, "Swee Lee. About $100 plus."

*********************

After the lousy lesson, WY and I grabbed a quick bite before we got R and WF to quickly return from United Square to get us to Excelsior. We eventually sent our Maestro in to what they call the 'Maestro Guitar Hospital' - they tried to change the set of knobs in the shop but perhaps the skills of that man were not great enough, he cracked that replacement set as well. (!!!!!)

According to the maestro people, the knobs undergo some heat treatment when they are 1st mounted during the manufacturing process. Nonetheless, sometimes they do still act up if they are subjected to extreme temperatures during use or if excessive pressure has been applied in tuning. But they say, it is a rare occurence. Luckily, since it is under warranty, no replacement cost will be payable.

Still, WY and I feel lousy about that scrawny man spoiling our guitar at our very first lesson with him. And now we have to wait a couple of days before we can even practise.

Unless the next few lessons are more meaningful, I don't think we will go for another term with him or that school. I will probably look elsewhere soon. My colleague told me that some CCs still conduct guitar lessons.

Last evening, when R asked how our lesson went, I told him that I think I can do a much better job than that scrawny man if all that he intends to teach was something like what he had shown us yesterday. He looks really the kind of 骗吃、混口饭 kind of teacher.

The most apt conclusion of our review of this lesson, however, was WY's declaration, "I think it is a bad idea to let a no-good teacher to handle our guitar, especially when he doesn't even know how to handle our guitar with care!"

I agree. And I think our 1st lesson is: Never let anyone who doesn't bother to take care when handling our guitar, handle it.