The guitar lesson went well. The teacher seems to encourage a thorough understanding of the instrument and puts an emphasis on improvisation, so I think it’s a good fit. Technique is being address already (yay scales), but there’s also the task of understanding what’s going on at any given time. The method seems to be both holistic and – so far – practical.

As an added bonus, I’m getting what amounts to a translation between the distant cousins of Classical Theory and Guitar Theory. For someone who used to teach college level music theory, looking at a guitar theory explanation of something and remaining entirely bamboozled is not the greatest. I found myself wanting to pipe in with “Oh yeah, I know that’s…” a few times, but I’m dedicated to keeping my mouth shut, maintaining a beginner’s mind as much as possible, and letting him do his thing in hopes that I’ll be shredding sooner, not to mention better.