Ioannis, I am confused! WHERE are YOU located currently?
“I am in Greece – specifically in Athens. That’s where I live and teach. Although I enjoy travelling and performing around Europe, I DO have a stable “base of operations”!
Ioannis, I was wondering if you could give me some GUITAR LESSONS….
“Probably – at the very least, we can definitely meet, chat and do some guitar playing together. I’ll assess your playing level & discuss your music goals and we’ll either work together or I will refer you to one of my MORE ADVANCED students that teach using my method”
Hi! I am a big fan of your music and I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to get REALLY good on guitar…
“Yes! GET A COMPETENT GUITAR TEACHER! That’s the best advice anyone can give you at any level of playing. Make sure you note that I said COMPETENT – that means STAY AWAY from imaginary-rock-star has-beens and the like and get someone that enjoys teaching and communicating his/her knowledge to you! Also, make sure he is proficient in the style you want to learn. Don’t buy the crap that “you need to learn classical guitar firstto learn electric” or that “you need to get good in Jazz if you want to become a better rock player”
Ioannis, I have an AMAZING CD recording and I am looking for a record company! I see that you are heavily involved in Wild Rose Angel Productions! Can you help release my CD with this record company?
“Probably not… This is something that I do ONLY for my advanced guitar students. These are ALL young guys that I have been working with for at least 2-6 years and I have invested a lot of time in their musical development (plus we are good friends)!
Please , do not take it personally, it has NOTHING to do with your playing level or technique – this is a “service” that is only available to my advanced students”
Ioannis, I am looking for a manager and I see that you are professionally managing some guitar players! Can you manage me?
“Again, probably not… This is something that I do ONLY for my advanced guitar students. !
Please , do not take it personally, it has NOTHING to do with your playing level or technique – this is a “service” that is only available to my advanced students ”
Ioannis, I am a professional player looking for some sponsorings and I see that you have managed to abtain an AMAZING number of sponsorings for an instrumental guitarist! Can you help me get some sponsorings for myself and/or my band?
“Once again, this is something that I do ONLY for my advanced guitar students.
Please, do not take it personally, it has NOTHING to do with your playing level or technique – this is a “service” that is only available to my advanced students.
However, if you send me your demo I can make some suggestions on which companies to approach for sponsoring, depending on your style of music ”
Ioannis, YOU SUCK! I am 10,000 times guitarist better than you!
“Well, good for you – the world needs as many great guitarists as possible! Good luck with your career!”
So you think you can…learn to play the guitar?
So, I get very often the question about whether is it possible to learn guitar by yourself – that is be Self-Taught. We are talking about reaching a high-quality, contemporary level guitar playing, similar to the skillset of the top professional in the field, people like John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, etc… You get the idea.
Is it ADVISABLE to TRY this?
Being self taught by choice.
This means the people that at a certain time during their guitar learning had the option of studying with someone skillful at the art for teaching guitar but they decided not to do that. They could benefit directly from someone elses’ training and expertise but they decided not to do that. This is something particularly popular in Greek mentality.
For someone who wishes to get really good and decides to do that – I find this idea absolutely unbelievable – to an extreme degree. For two very important and discreet reasons.
1) The intensely short-sighted arguments I hear in favor of the efficiency of this method whenever there is a discussion on this matter
2) the fact that (most of) the people that give me these arguments are normal people, with regular levels of intelligence and quite capable on properly handling themselves and making rational decisions and effective choices in every OTHER other area of their life EXCEPT their music learning…
It seems that (especially Greek) self taught guitarists are CONSUMED with the idea of having learned to play guitar by themselves. They (want to) believe that they received no guidance from anyone while learning. No assistance. And they are damn proud of it! And, certainly, there is nothing wrong with this feeling of achievement….!
Except when the end result SUCKS…
See, in the self taught guitarist’s mind, it is of minor (or at least secondary) importance if the MUSICAL RESULT he has managed to produce is any good… What matters is that he made it BY HIMSELF… Just like the 5 year old kid that makes a “gift” for his mother, let’s say a “coffee cup”, using the clay they gave him at kindergarten. He is REALLY proud of it! But, of course, the FUNCTIONALITY of the gift sucks…
Meanwhile the SAME adult person has ABSOLUTELY no problem riding a car that someone else manufactured, living in a house that someone else constructed, eating food that other people prepared and reading newspapers that others wrote…
If his car breaks down, he will ask (and pay for) the assistance of someone who “knows how to fix cars”
If his taxes need to be done, he will ask (and pay for) the assistance of someone who “knows how to do taxes”
If he gets sick, he will ask (and pay for) the assistance of someone who “knows how to cure people”
If he wants to learn a foreign language, he will immediately ask (and pay for) the assistance of someone who “knows how to teach languages”
BUT, if he wants to learn how to play the guitar – he will NEVER ask (and pay for) the assistance of someone who “teaches guitar”!!
How could he? What would happen to his “pride”, then?
Of course, this “I did it myself” pride conveniently disappears during the rest of his life’s decisions when someone else makes his clothes, his food, his car, his coffee etc
It seems that most guitar players (especially Greeks) are just simply ASHAMED to either have guitar lessons or to ADMIT to having had guitar lessons at any point in time. So, let’s put this hypothesis to a test and she if it is really a shameful fact…
Imagine going to hear a live performance of an instrumental guitarist and his band. This guy plays REALLY well, with a lot of feel, excellent technique and an overall professionalism. After the performance, he grabs the microphone and says to everybody in the audience:
“Thank you very much, guys – you’ve been a great audience! I’d like to sincerely thank my guitar teacher John Smith, without whom none of this would have been possible. I really owe it all to him – thank you John, you are amazing”
So, the guy that just kicked ass on stage, attributes his success publicly, even to an extreme degree to someone else his teacher. So, what happens next?
Would ANYBODY think any LESS of him because he did that? Would you think that he “cheated” for having gotten an effective education in the subject matter of his choice?
My guess is that you would actually think even MORE highly of this guy after his declaration….
Now let’s take the example of an average self-taught player giving the same performance. He does not play that well, stumbles through his set, making a few mistakes here and there and altogether being just…uninteresting and even boring.
And at the end of the set , he grabs the microphone and says”
“I know I did not play that well – BUT I learned to PLAY guitar BY MYSELF”
And the audience will think:
“You really SHOULD have gone to a Guitar Teacher…”
If this behavior was CONSISTENT in the rest of his life, I would just chalk it up as a case of particularly low IQ and diminished frontal lobe functionality.
HOWEVER… the same person, in just about EVERY other venue of his life, will appreciate the value of education. He will prefer a lawyer that is highly educated, a doctor that has studied in the best Universities – he HIMSELF will choose a good school for him or his son!
Except when the guitar is concerned – then we are back in the Middle Ages.
Education is the enemy…
So, let me simplify for everyone’s convenience
Guys, NOONE that listens to you and your music cares if you took guitar lessons or not. But they WILL care if you SUCK at what you (are trying to) do.
What is Greek Guitar Power (GGP)? (click image below and get your answer)
