Guitar lessons in NY area

Martin, you beat me to the punch, I just saw this thread. Happy Holidays to you!

I have no reason to doubt that Martin is a very good teacher, and I certainly respect his confidence in his method. But I would like to respectfully disagree with the assertion that wether a teacher is a fulltime teacher or not is the most important consideration. The fact that a musician is an active player as well as a teacher is most certainly not a handicap as far as his/her teaching ability is concerned; it can actually be quite an advantage, for many obvious reasons. Fine players with "a few students on the side" can be, and certainly in the case of the player/teachers that I mentioned, dedicated teachers who teach because they love to teach, as well as play; and implement very thoughtfull and creative teaching techniques which are enriched by their extensive professional playing experience.

Marakanetz, I don't know wether you are a beginner or not, and what your long term goals for your guitar playing are; but I would certainly take very seriously Martin's advise that you look for a teacher with a solid and well thought out method like he himself has. But based on my experience and the experience of most musicians that I know, you should not rule out a potential teacher because he happens to be an active player. After many years of study with a variety of teachers I cannot think of a single teacher that I have had who wasn't also a working instrumentalist.

Best of luck.

Frogman: I am skilled to fluently playing basic and standard chords and selecting appropriate harmonics to the melody/music on the acoustic guitar.

I want to learn an abilities and advantages of an electric guitar. I want mainly to leart to play solo on e-guitar.
To me currently playing on acoustic guitar is the same thing as playing electric one which isn't realy true.

Unlike many acoustic audiofiles here, I do love electric guitar and influenced by lots of famous guitar players like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Mike Stern and others.

I the future I can see myself playing for pleasure my own improvisations with my own arranged accomponement.

Also It's going to be a fun for me if I will ever play on some NY club on the weekend nights.

Hi Frogman, you make some very good points and in the main I agree with you, but after 30 years of experience making my living as a musician I will say that the time it takes to develop your own teaching method is so extensive that most "active" players simply do not have the time to manage both things at a 100% level. This doesn't mean that they can't offer valuable help and insight to a student, and in some instances it is an advantage. A good example is when an advanced student attends master classes. I am referring mainly to beginners and intermediate level students. I can't tell you how many students I have had who have "studied" with an accomplished player who are so lacking in basic skills that I have questioned the former teachers integrity. I have honestly had a number of students who have learned less in a year than I have taught them in 6-8 weeks. I promised myself when I began teaching that I would be the teacher I couldn't find when I was starting out. I originally studied with a teacher who was the guitar player for Johnny Carson's band and he never so much as explained what a major scale was, instead he was showing me a bunch of jazz riffs when I wanted to play like Jimi Hendrix. So I must say that despite the fact that there are some great players who make good teachers, it doesn't change the fact that if a teacher has been teaching 10 - 15 years full time, its a safer bet that students will get their money's worth. Happy New Year to all!