Yeah, I stopped for a similar reason. On my first lesson, I thought I made it clear that my goal was improvisation. He commenced teaching me a simple version of 9 Pound Hammer… over the next 4 weeks. It literally could have been a single lesson, but I kept rolling with it because I thought this was like a Karate Kid moment. You know “I don’t get what you’re doing, but I’ll trust the process.”
On the 5th lesson he put on a recorded song and commenced improving with it. I said “THAT RIGHT THERE! THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO LEARN!”
He said “I’m not sure what I just did. I was just making it up.”
I said “RIGHT! Teach me how to do that.”
So the next few lessons were on some other simple song with none of the fancy licks he’d just played.
I might have stuck with it, but about that time my wife’s pregnancy got REALLY complicated and she required 24 hour bed rest, so I quit. Soon after that I found Ben.
I like the idea of having him in the cabin. If Ben could corral him and actually get him to teach improv, that would be amazing.
@BanjoBen, if you’re reading this, I’ll do all the legwork if you’re interested in getting Tony in the cabin. Tony is a super nice guy with a lifetime of knowledge of so many things. He really is a walking encyclopedia.
