My lesson was...interesting

I went to my much anticipated guitar lesson yesterday and the outcome wasn't what I expected.

Let me explain.

First of all, the instructor was a great guy. Friendly, knowledgeable, and honest. He's a multi-instrumentalist and teaches other stringed instruments including banjo, mandolin and steel guitar. Plus he had an enviable collection of equipment (more on that later).

The lesson started out much as I thought it would. He told me to play the most complicated thing I know, and of course I froze up. Didn't know what to play. I'm not good at being put on the spot like that. So I started noodling around with some scales I've been learning and then broke out a little Rush. I'm so used to playing in front of the two people I trust the most - my wife and myself - that I didn't realize how self conscious I was playing in front of other people. I felt like I was giving a speech in public. Thankfully it didn't last too long and we then started talking about what I was hoping to get out of the lessons and what he could do for me.

My goal with these lessons is to bridge the gap between what I play and what I know, theory-wise. Most songs I play I learned through tablature and I don't know why I'm playing it, I just play it. The "why" is what I want to learn. He showed me some common chord progressions and how they fit together, and played some examples so I could hear what the progressions sounded like. He also showed me how the blues scale is formed, including the "blue notes."

Then the unexpected happened.

At the end of the lesson, he pretty much told me that he didn't really know if he helped me. He said that if we were to have met in a coffee shop and started talking about guitar he would have probably wrote down the same things for me. He didn't even charge me. He said that my technique and dexterity was good and that I could probably learn what I need on my own.

I never really looked at myself as a good guitarist. I always thought I was mediocre at best. To hear him say that - especially with as much teaching experience as he has - really bolstered my confidence. I feel like I'm doing the right things and learning the right things. I'm on the right path to becoming the guitarist I want to be, and I did it myself. He told me to work on the things that he showed me for a few months and if I'm stuck on anything I could come back for another lesson.

Then something else unexpected happened.

He was showing me some of his guitars when he pulled out what I can only describe as the Holy Grail of guitars, at least for me. I swear, I heard an angelic choir singing when he opened the hardshell case. It was a bona-fide Made-in-USA Fender Telecaster HH. It was beautiful. It had an amazing metallic silver finish, a black pickguard, rosewood fingerboard, and of course two humbuckers and a Strat-like hardtail bridge instead of the usual Tele fare. It also had the Fender S-Switch in the volume knob to switch between classic single-coil Tele sounds and fat humbucker sounds. I didn't want to put it down. If I were to have my own Pantomime Horse Signature Fender, it would be this guitar.

Then he told me he was selling it.

My jaw must have fallen off my face and hit the floor. I told him I'd be interested and went home to consult the wife on the potential purchase. The consensus was yes, we can buy it, but we need to wait until we have proper fundage.

I'm calling him today. I hope he'll wait. Wish me luck.

Oh, and I brought the Strat to the lesson.