Helpful Tips for Finding a Guitar Teacher and Learning to Play Guitar

Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your guitar lessons –guitar lessons you are taking now or guitar lessons you may take in the future. They are merely presented as tools to be used in making your experience of learning guitar as rewarding and enjoyable as possible. If you have any questions regarding the following suggestions, please consult with your guitar teacher. These tips will enhance your experience of learning guitar whether your guitar lessons are with an acoustic guitar teacher, an electric guitar teacher, a bass teacher, a classical guitar teacher, or a metal guitar teacher.

• References: Many students feel more comfortable with a guitar instructor who provides references, and, if that applies to you, then you should inquire as to whether the guitar teacher offers  references. However, personal compatibility and rapport with your guitar teacher is of the utmost importance, and you won't be able to accurately assess those vital components without meeting the guitar teacher in person and getting a sense of that guitar teacher’s approach to you and learning guitar.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the references provided by the guitar teacher will be slanted in that guitar teacher's favor. It's not likely that any guitar teacher will provide the names of students who weren't satisfied with the guitar teacher or the guitar teacher’s approach to learning guitar. It is also important to keep in mind that, just as you would have to ultimately judge the teaching ability of any guitar teacher based on your own personal assessments, you will also be ultimately relying on your own instinct to assess the information provided you by the students who are supposedly recommending that particular acoustic, bass, classical, metal, or electric guitar teacher.

• Cell Phones: You have the right to expect your guitar teacher’s undivided attention during your guitar lesson, and he has the right to expect the same from you. So, if your guitar instructor requests that you turn off your phone during the guitar lesson, don’t hesitate to do so. You will probably find that the experience of learning guitar will not only be more fully absorbed, but that your guitar instructor will be better able to give you the guitar lesson that he or she wants to give you.

• Practicing: Again, this is a matter of many minds. Some guitar teachers may advocate a strict discipline of practicing a specific amount of time per day, while other guitar instructors may suggest that you play for the pleasure of it when the mood strikes. As with the guitar teaching approaches of individual guitar instructors, you owe it to yourself to find a guitar teacher whose practicing guidelines are in harmony with your personality and your goals.

• Levels of playing ability: beginner guitar lessons, intermediate guitar lessons , advanced guitar lessons, pro guitar lessons. How does one decide to which level he or she is best suited. These are arbitrary values provided to merely give you a guideline in making your selection of a guitar teacher. The best thing to do is to fully discuss your guitar playing experience with the guitar instructor you are interviewing. Speak to him or her about what you have in mind for your guitar playing and ask how your guitar playing experience thus far relates to your guitar lessons, your music, and your personal guitar playing goals.

Ask specific questions that relate to your unique guitar playing and your guitar playing goals. The more specific and direct you are about what you have in mind for your guitar playing, the more likely it is that a creative connection will be made with your prospective guitar instructor. 

Whether you are interested in acoustic guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons, bass lessons, classical guitar lessons, or metal guitar lessons, it is important that you find a guitar teacher who is well versed in that particular kind of guitar lesson.

If a guitar teacher's resumé indicates, e.g. that he/she teaches fingerstyle and you would like to learn fingerstyle guitar, then mention that specific goal to the teacher and listen to the response. If you want metal guitar lessons, but the guitar teacher doesn't give metal guitar lessons, try to get a sense of whether or not what he or she does teach will help you in a general way move toward your vision of playing metal guitar.

• Reading music: Depending on your goals, reading music may be a tool that will prove to be a necessity and a valuable asset in your repertoire of guitar playing. On the other hand many successful artists and musicians have had highly successful careers without knowing how to read a note of music. Speak to all the guitar teachers you interview about the value they place on reading music and how learning to read music relates to their ideas about how to play guitar. There is no one right way to learn how to play guitar.

• Guitar lessons at home vs. the teacher's studio: Many guitar students with busy schedules find that the convenience of guitar lessons at home allows them to take guitar lessons without the added time and travel that comes with having the guitar lessons in the studio of the guitar instructor.

However, many other students find the freshness of a new environment (especially one devoted exclusively to music and learning how to play guitar) inspiring and a welcome change that will promote their guitar playing and their overall musical growth.                                      

The fact of the matter is that there is no one right answer. Again whether you want to find a guitar teacher who gives acoustic guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons, bass guitar lessons, classical guitar lessons, or a metal guitar lessons and you should find a guitar teacher who offers a guitar?teaching approach that will inspire you to learn how to play guitar.

• Scheduling your first guitar lesson: Before contacting any guitar teacher that you have found through findaguitarteacher.com, you should have at least a general idea of on which days of the week and at which times you could set up a guitar lesson. Save yourself and the guitar instructor the unnecessary steps of having to contact one another an additional time to schedule a guitar lesson. Having days and times ready-at-hand to set up an appointment for a guitar lesson also lets the teacher know that you are serious about your guitar playing and the guitar lessons. Making that kind of impression as a serious student is just as important for the student as it is for the teacher. It sets the tone for the guitar lesson experience. The level of commitment that you are willing to put forward is of equal importance whether you are interested in acoustic guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons, bass lessons, classical guitar lessons, or metal guitar lessons, and will go a long way in helping you find a guitar teacher best suited to your process of learning how to play guitar.

• The guitar teacher's approach: Listen carefully to what the guitar teacher is saying about his/her approach to teaching you how to play guitar. There are many different approaches to teaching guitar, and it's very important that you engage a guitar teacher whose approach of teaching you how to play guitar matches your goals of how to play guitar.

Some guitar teachers emphasize learning how to play guitar scales, how to play guitar exercises, and how to read music, while other guitar instructors advocate a more organic "holistic" approach to achieve results. But the guitar lesson approach that will work best for you is the one that is more in line with your goals and your way of learning. If a guitar teacher's approach is not to your liking, it's better to find a guitar teacher whose approach is to your liking than to force the experience and butt heads with your acoustic, bass, classical, electric or metal guitar teacher every step of the way.

FindaGuitarTeacher.com is an online directory of guitar teachers in the USA. Whether you are looking for learn to play guitar from a guitar teacher who gives rock guitar lessons, blues guitar lessons, classical guitar lessons, jazz guitar lessons, or guitar lessons of any kind, findaguitarteacher.com provides unlimited free access to the guitar teaching profiles of guitar teachers who want to teach you the guitar.