Consultation Student: Jon Omar Arnason

Jon  from Reykjavik, Iceland

Forum name: jonsi

Styles: Rock/Pop/Blues/Jazz – Electric/Acoustic

I have been playing the guitar on and off for the last 16 years growing horizontally during that time much faster than vertically.  After of couple of years of not playing at all, I picked up the guitar in the middle of 2002.  Feeling the desire to get back into playing, I searched the web for lesson material.

 I found an essay written by Jamey called ‘Discover Your Discomfort’ and ever since I’ve been a regular visitor to the guitar principles website.  I purchased the book, ‘The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar’, soon after finding the site and have been working with it, making sure my practice is a correct because my desire for vertical growth as a guitarist and musician is  stronger now more than ever.

      After a couple of months of doing the exercises from the book, I could see the gradual progress I was making.  But reading posts and advice on the forum from people who have taken private lessons with Jamey I figured that I would be able to incorporate the Principles more effectively into my own practice routine if I would experience private instruction with Jamey myself. 

Now, traveling from Iceland to America to have a couple of guitar lessons is not something I do every week, so obviously I had tiny bits of doubt creeping into my mind every now and then as to whether this was going to help me any further or just be a total waste of time and money. 

But to be honest I feel now that only one of the two lessons I had would have been worth the whole trip.  I am now totally aware of the areas I need to focus on to progress further and how to use the exercises in the book to get there and see some serious results.

 Jamey pointed out some details in my playing where changes were required, and showed me how to use the Foundation Exercises for best results.  Using the knowledge and experience gained from our lesson afterwards, I could really feel the results starting to happen straight away.

       Going to see Jamey is the best thing I have done for myself as a guitarist.  I am more confident now than ever of reaching my goals as a musician and a principled guitar player and I will definitely go for a private lesson with him again in the future.

All the best,

Jonsi