Choosing A Guitar Teacher

As a beginner guitar player, one of the decisions that you’ll have to make when you start off is whether you’d like to teach yourself, or whether you want to learn the guitar from a guitar teacher.

While it has now become easier than ever to become a self-taught guitar player – thanks to resources such as magazines, DVDs, books and above all, the internet – I almost always recommend going for a good, competent teacher, especially if you dream of becoming an accomplished and able guitar player. As infamous guitar instructor and musician Tom Hess puts it, you’ll need a teacher to teach you how to understand and apply the correct information.

Apart from this, choosing to learn the guitar from a teacher also has many other advantages. It can save you from a lot of frustration and disappointment, stuff which comes with the process of being a self-taught guitar player. Neither can these resources answer specific question you might have, tell you what exactly it is that you’re doing right and where you might be falling short, or develop and refine your technique.

A good guitar teacher will also be a helpful resource when it comes to choosing the right instrument(s).

Going under the guidance of a good guitar teacher is therefore essential.

However choosing the right guitar teacher can be as difficult a task as choosing your first guitar. For instance choosing someone who isn’t any good will adversely affect your progress, and will end up in money and time wasted.

Here is a list of important questions that you need to ask potential guitar teachers in order to be able to make a more informed decision:

1. Experience in years – the bigger, the better. Someone who, for instance, has 5 or 10 years of experience under the belt actually teaching guitar, would quite obviously be a better instructor than someone who might have a year’s experience. Experienced teachers will not only be better teachers, they will also help the student learn more, learn better and learn smart. They will be better equipped to answer questions, solve problems, and of course develop and refine your technique. It would also be a good idea at this point to ask how many students in total the instructor has taught during this time (even a ball-park figure would do, as it would give you an idea of

2. Number of students – once again, the more the better. The number of students that a guitar teacher has would be a clear indicator of how good (or not good) he is. A teacher who has a class of 30 students would certainly mean that many other students are happy at being taught by this teacher, as opposed to a teacher who is struggling to get a sizable amount of students at any one point in time.

3.  Number of long-term students – this is a tricky one. The number of students is one thing, however it won’t matter one bit if the drop-out rate very high. Because on one hand, having a large percentage of long-term students means that there is a small percentage of drop-outs; a clear indicator that the students are happy with how things are going. However it could also mean that it takes longer for the students to get to the same point with this teacher, is it would have with another one.

4. Musical background – personally, I wouldn’t read too much into this, as a LOT of good musicians and guitarists out there don’t have a musical background, or perhaps even musical education. Hence for some, this might not be a deciding-factor. However credentials might matter to some, and they would want to go for an instructor who has musical background as well as education (such as a Berklee School of Music grad).

5. Musical specialization – an important question to ask your instructor is the genre(s) of music that he or she teaches and the style(s) of music he specializes in. What you would want to stray clear of at this point is someone who claims to be proficient in all music styles - a jack-of-all-trades. Different musical styles require instructors with different skill-sets, or more specifically, instructors who specialize in different styles of music. For instance there’s a vast different in playing hard-rock than, say, playing country or jazz. Choose an instructor who has experience and is well-equipped to teach you the style of music you want to learn.

6. Payment and cancellation policies – Before signing up with a teacher, make sure you are clear on how he/she expects to be paid, through which medium and at what frequency. Also check what sort of cancellation policy they offer (how much advance notice will you need to give if you want to opt-out, any refunds, etc), in case somewhere down the road you decide against continuing. My advice would be to avoid making a long-term commitment, as it is important to be able to use the first few lessons to gauge if this indeed is the right guitar-learning environment for you.  

7. Lastly (but not certainly any less important than the others), there’s the little matter about money – this might very well be the single most important consideration for many out there, as private lessons (online or otherwise) usually cost quite a bit. At the end of the day, it is your hard-earned cash that we are talking about, so make sure that you get the best bang-for-the-buck here. For instance paying more than usual for someone who is an accomplished name and an able instructor is totally justified, but common sense dictates that you wouldn’t want to pay an exorbitant amount of money for someone who’s relatively inexperienced.

Don’t be afraid, shy or hesitant to ask these questions. Remember that this is your hard-earned money that we’re talking about here, and that gives you the right to ask questions.

Plus not to forget the fact that making an informed decision at this point is the stepping stone for you to become a better guitar player.

Hit the yellow pages or check on Craigslist to find good guitar teachers in your area. Alternatively, you could sign up for an online guitar course, such as JamPlay.com, who offer tons of different guitar lessons, as well as live sessions with their instructors.