How to Choose the Right Guitar Teacher for You

How to choose the right guitar teacher for you
by Justin Sours
http://www.guitarmadeez.com

Teaching yourself is not a bad idea

The journey of teaching yourself is very exciting and also very interesting and if you do choose to teach yourself, you'll definitely appreciate the guitar more. For the most part I have taught myself. I started playing completely on my own for about 6 or 7 years, then I had felt that I had reached a plateau. Everyone recommended that I take lessons to overcome the plateau but I was very reluctant. I was extremely low on money and I didn't have a very good feeling about the places in my area that were offering lessons.

Choosing a guitar teacher can be an extremely complicated task

So many guitar stores, music stores and general places offer lessons however the quality of the lessons definitely varies. Today, guitar lessons can be anywhere from $20-100 and up per hour which will definitely hit your pocket pretty hard. I found some places only gave 30 minute lessons for 20$-$50 which is absolutely ridiculous. 30 minutes is barely enough time to tune a guitar let alone give an eventful lesson. Also, due to contrary belief there are allot of weirdo guitar teachers out there, believe me...I know!! One of my teachers for a 30 minute lessons showed up 5 minutes late then had the nerve to ask me if he could go smoke a cigarette outside. That was the last time I had lessons with that guy.... I've had allot of guitar teacher horror stories and I've definitely learned the "hard way" in choosing guitar teachers. I now would like to share with you what I've learned about choosing guitar teachers and hope you won't make the same mistakes I had made.

Always schedule a minimum of 1 hour for a guitar lesson

I've seen guitar lessons that are anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours, however a vast majority of guitar teachers only teach 30 minute guitar lessons.... 30 minutes is nothing! Do not be fooled into thinking you'll get better from one 30 minute a week lessons. If you do decide to take guitar lessons, you must take a minimum of one hour in order to get better. I learned this the hard way. I scheduled to take 30 minute guitar lessons at a guitar shop near my house. I was 10 minutes early; my teacher was 5 minutes late. He then fed me the sales pitch on supplies I needed from that very shop and then kicked me out after about 20 minutes of nothing and said that he had to prepare for the next lesson. This is unacceptable! Be smart; schedule a minimum of one hour for a guitar lesson.

Beware of getting guitar lessons from a guitar shop

I've noticed that taking guitar lessons at a guitar shop are usually half-assed. This is not always the situation. Just be knowledgeable enough to understand the quality of lessons that you deserve.

Try to find a teacher that a friend recommends

Friends that are good at playing guitar are the perfect byproducts for good teachers. If you have a friend who’s amazing at guitar, ask him who his teacher is. If your friend sucks at guitar, know not to take guitar lessons from his teacher. It's as easy as that.

Never take guitar lessons from a teacher who is not passionate about playing

I took guitar lessons once from a teacher who seemed to know everything in the world about the guitar, equipment, effects, theory, etc., yet he had never played anything in front of me and "let loose". I had finally asked him to play something and it seemed pretty half assed and inhabited no "soul" to the music. I felt pretty let down. Some people may know what their talking about when it comes to guitar lessons/theory and whatnot, however find a teacher that gets excited while teaching you. Learning guitar is an adventure and your teacher must be able to excite you.

Never take guitar lessons from a teacher who doesn’t impress you while playing

This goes back to what I was talking about earlier. Would you take Spanish lessons from a person with a bad Spanish accent and who has never been to Mexico? No! Take lessons from the Spanish teacher who’s been to Mexico hundreds of times and that knows something about the culture and that most of all impresses you while teaching you. Model yourself after what impresses you and the people that impress you, not only in guitar but everyday life.

If you hear someone that is an amazing guitarist at a concert, party, bar, wherever... That should be your teacher

Many successful people model themselves after previously successful people, just as great guitarists model themselves after previous great guitarists. If you ever see someone playing and they inspire you to learn guitar, or to play like them someday, don't be afraid to ask them where they learned or even if they could possibly teach you guitar lessons. Guitar Center, random guitar shops, bars, coffee shops and many other places are perfect for finding an amazing guitar teacher.