I've always wanted to learn how to weld. I found this course in our area, and have registered to take it with my son. It's a one day (6 hour) course, with the following description:

"This one day workshop will introduce you to a variety of welding techniques from MIG, TIG, and spot welding to stick welding. The first half will be an overview and demonstration of different ways of welding, what metals to use with which type and what way would benefit each student the best. Then students will have the chance to practice each method and focus on one or two techniques."


We did a forging class at the same place last summer, and it was a lot of fun. My question is, is it reasonable to expect that I could learn enough about MIG welding in that amount of time (basically a few hours of hands-on work under the supervision of an instructor) in one afternoon to be able to competently execute basic welding techniques, or would I just know enough to be dangerous? I'll do this course regardless, as it'll be a lot of fun to do it with my son, but should I be looking for another course that's longer or could I pick up a decent MIG welder and a bunch of scrap metal and practice enough to get to where I could make reliable (if not decent-looking) welds? I'd love to learn to TIG weld, but I think that MIG is probably the smarter/easier place to start and probably the technique I'd be using more often initially. After the current roadster build, I have a '67 Mustang that I plan to do a restomod on, so I'm mainly looking to be able to replace floorpans and other sheetmetal, modify frame members as required (add subframe connectors, possibly a front clip for a Coyote) that sort of stuff.