Another High School project!

HI, Terry. 

Thank you so much for answering my questions. They were exactly what I needed to get a better understanding of the guitar and the life of a professional guitarist. You have helped me with my project and inspired me to keep playing , and therefore I thank you. Thank you for your generosity and I will be sure to tell you my grade.

    Thanks, Si M.

HI, Si. Below are my answers to your questions .

 1. What inspired you to play the guitar?

 I just wanted to be part of the music I liked to listen to, like Led Zepplin,  Niel Young, CSN, etc. I had been playing drums since I was 11.  Actually my motivation to start guitar at the age of 19  was to impress a girl. I was going to Purdue and dating a girl at Ball State. She was a music major, played guitar and piano. I would hitchhike to see her on weekends. We would sit around talk and listen to music. She would play her guitar and I really liked it. I'd go back to school , borrow a guitar and start bugging everyone to show me chords. I'd go back to see her, play a song I'd been practicing all week long. She was never impressed. We later broke up but I got more out of the relationship; I learned to play the guitar!

2. Do you think your age, when you started playing the guitar, was prominent in your success?

 Yes, I do believe it was good to start early. I was 19 at the time and now, 40 years later, I'm glad I invested the time to learn to play. I had more time to spend learning , less distractions.  Time to play and practice is very important. But you can start at ANY age ( I have a lot of adult students) as long as you commit to learning.

3. Why did you decide to pursue music into a career? I've always given guitar lessons, most of the time it has been part time. About 2 years after  I started playing/learning , a friend of mine told me if I really wanted to learn guitar, I should teach it. So I did. He was right. About six years ago, I kept telling my wife "I should have given guitar lessons full time 30 years ago". She said that I should go ahead and try it because she didn't want to be hearing that same old thing 30 years from now! It's fun, I get to control my schedule and I love it!

4. What is challenging/difficult about your profession?

Finding new students can be difficult. It takes time and money to find new customers. Once you have them, you must keep them happy. But I would say finding them is the most challenging and most expensive.

5. Did your family/friends support your musical career?

Yes, my wife was my biggest supporter. She encouraged me to do what I loved. She helped me and continues to help me. She took it seriously even when other family members wanted to know if I could even make a living doing it.

6. What type of guitar do you prefer and why?

I love to play acoustic guitar , that's probably my favorite. But I do have a lot of fun playing and teaching electric guitar. 

7. What is you favorite style/genre of music to play and why?

On acoustic ,  I like to play Howie Day, Doc Watson, Neil Young. On electric I like to play Red Hot Chilis , rock, classic and newer stuff.  I play a lot of styles, country, folk , rock , some jazz, some classical. Why, I guess because it makes me feel good.

8. Who are you idols?

My true idols are probably any person that I ever heard play guitar. But I really like Doc Watson on acoustic and Eric Clapton on electric.

9. Do you prefer performing or teaching and why?

I prefer teaching, I guess because I love to help people. But I do like to perform, not as much as I used to when I was younger. I hold Adult Jams almost every month and I perform at those.

10. If you could give advice to starting musicians what would it be? My advice to starting musicians is listen to as much music as you possibly can , practice/play as much as you can and try to learn as many different styles as you possibly can; variety is important.

I hope that helps. I'm a little tired so if there's anything you don't understand please let me know.

Hey, let me know what grade you get! Good luck with the guitar playing.

Thanks,Terry  

High School and Guitar

Mr. Schafer, 

 Hi, I am a freshman at Naperville North High School teaching myself to play the guitar for an English project. Part of this project requires me to interview a professional guitarist and as I was searching for someone, I came across your website. If it's not too much of a hassle, I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me through this email. Also, I'd like to let you know that I will be quoting some of this interview in my paper, so if there's anything you'd like to remain off the record, please indicate that portion as such. Any length of reply would be greatly appreciated!

1. How long have you been playing guitar? How did you get started?

2. What is the most important technique/skill that you have learned on the guitar?

3. How do you usually start lessons for a beginner?

4. Are there certain aspects of the guitar that are particularly difficult? Which technique/aspect took the longest for you to achieve?

Any additional comments:

    Thank you so much!

            SP,  EPOC class 

Hi, S. I would be happy to answer the questions.

1. I've been playing for over 40 years. I got started because I was trying to impress a girl. She was a music major at Ball State and I was going to Purdue. I would hitchhike to Muncie to see her on weekends. During the week I borrowed a guitar and started learning some songs. I would play the guitar for her but she was never impressed. Every week I'd learn a new song and play it for her.  We later broke up; I got more from the relationship, I learned to play guitar.

2.It's hard to say what is the most important technique or skill since it takes several skills on several levels. But, I would have to say that probably coordinating the fretting (LH) hand and picking (RH) was very important. I wasn't able to do much, especially sing and play, until I got that down.

3. First lesson for a student usually starts by learning the string names, names of some of the guitar parts, how to hold the guitar, how to hold the pick, how hard to press down, where to press with the left (fretting ) hand, hand position, intro to reading tab, some simple song, a simple finger exercise and I give them a questionnaire to fill out that gives me an idea of what they want to learn on the guitar and what type of music they want to play on the guitar. (How's that for a run-on sentence?) People want to learn to play an instrument because they want to be part of the music they like.

4. The most difficult thing to learn about playing guitar is the picking, both flatpick and finger-picking. Most people worry about the fretting hand, how to play chords or what notes to play for that hot lick or cool solo. That's easy, just look up the tab or music and memorize it. But , if the pick or finger doesn't make a string vibrate you don't have sound , let-a-lone music. The real finesse is the rhythm , what the RH ( in my case I'm right handed) does.  That's why Collide , Hey Soul Sister, and other songs that share similar chord progressions sound so different; the picking/strumming hand is what creates most of the rhythm. I have had people that have been playing for many years come to me to learn how to finger pick, flat pick or learn new strumming techniques. Learning to use a pick most effectively took the longest time. I continue to refine my pick technique even now, 40+ years later.

Additional :  The resources available today are incredible. 40 yrs ago we didn't have the Web ( however in the early 70's I got a glimpse of the ARPANET), videos,  Skype / iChat, or even a good reliable source of tab/music. I really love and embrace the technology. But , with all the ways to learn how to play an instrument some people still need that face-to-face contact with a teacher. I am grateful of that and that I am able to make my full time living helping others learn to play guitar. And I love every minute of it.

I hope that helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. Good luck playing the guitar.

Terry

   

Terry Schafer

www.napervilleguitarlessons.com 

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60's Day at Naperville North High School

Hi, Everyone.
Friday, May 14th, I was at NNHS and gave four presentations. I talked about my experiences in the 60's, primarily about the anti-war movement. I sang eight protest songs from that time period. Nancy Bolliger, one of my adult students, helped me by singing a few of the songs. We had a great time.

The first two periods were the best because we were fresh and the kids were generally awake. After lunch, both the kids and I were ready for a nap. But we got through and the last period presentation was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of hard work and at the end of the day I was worn out. It was like playing a four hour gig!

I want to thanks Kermit Eby for inviting us and Jennifer Weigand for be so kind and helpful. And the other History teachers were great. The kids were respectful, which I appreciated. They were interested in what we had to say.

It was lots of fun and I hope to do it again next year!