True Or False - Even The Best Online Guitar Lessons Can't Replace A Good Offline Teacher.

Tradition tells us that we should learn with a one on one experience in a closed room or "studio".
There is no doubt, a closeness between teacher and student when in the same room.

This can be in itself good or bad.
There is also the dynamics of vocal inflection and facial detail that you can't get on Skype. Still, who needs those details when you are just learning guitar chords for beginners or how to strum a guitar? All basic skills taught on any instrument through a standard or live video call can be as effective if not more effective than the traditional at home/studio lesson.

Looking at the fundamentals of music, we approach three basic subjects: Rhythm, melody, and harmony.

These are not the only musical fundamentals, but they will suit our momentary purpose.

1. Rhythm All music starts with rhythm with some exceptions, post John Cage inclusive. Even with "nonrhythmic" concepts, video still holds up against studio teaching.
A beat is a beat is a beat. No matter if you clap it, drum it, slap it, or hum it, a beat is a pulse that is easily identifiable with repetition.
This is not something that requires proximity of closeness. One does not even need the visual aspect.

Rhythm taught over the phone without the aid of watching it performed, is even more direct because there is no visual distraction.

It is pure rhythm, as you would hear on a recording. We never needed any of those MTV music videos to listen to the music.
We don't need any video to learn rhythm either. All we need is to listen to the beat and the sound of the rhythm. If we want to learn music notation, then we must learn to read rhythms.
In this case, we need audiovisual as opposed to just audio.
The online training video would display whole, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes as well as rests on a staff.

The staff could be a white board or a power point type presentation. How convenient that the written information does not need to make use of paper.
2.
Melody Learning ear training, pitch training and interval training with computer audiovisual aids is more effective than the old studio teaching methods. It may not be fair to assume that with the older teaching method there is no computer to access, but for sake of argument let's say it is so. Even today, not every teacher that shows up to your home will be ready to teach with a laptop. With an online training video lesson, all the advantages of a laptop are right there.

Interval learning software is available to help learn the distance between notes.

Tuning apps are available at the whim of a quick download.

Have we forgotten the simplest method? The method of the teacher playing the notes on the instrument and the student playing it back. On the other hand, just the student reading the notes from their own music stand or on the computer does not lose anything in the translation to video.

3. Harmony The main objection to harmony learning with video would be that the chords come out distorted.
If that were true, then why didn't years of recording technology in the 60's present us with distorted chords? (That is, when distortion was not intended.
) We are at such a stage in personal audio technology, that we can even jam over the Internet with the proper compensating software. This area needs more exploration. I look forward to the day where concerts are held and nobody needs to leave their living rooms; including the musicians as well as the audience.

As it stands, learning harmonies and chord structure online is just as easy (or difficult) as it is to learn offline. There are altogether the advantages of staying in the comfort of your home without having an outsider come in.
There is that slight convenience of not having to clean and organize the house two minutes before the teacher arrives. "Oops, I forgot my music book.
" That excuse is certainly passé at this point.
Even if the dog ate it, there is enough music to download off the Internet for a live online video lesson.

if it's a pre-recorded video lesson, the music will obviously be presented to the student.
If this happens at a home/studio lesson, the teacher must dig up something on the spot, which detracts from the weekly planning.
There must be some advantages to home/studio offline teaching.
The only thing that comes to mind is tone and dynamics.
These are for the advanced student and we are leaving the idea of learning fundamentals.

Learning tone is something that requires a disciplined ear and will not carry well even with the best online guitar lessons.

If there is any other advantage of home lessons over online training please leave a comment. Let everybody know why there is any need to take offline lessons any more when learning the fundamentals of music.