How to Choose a Guitar Teacher?
By Chinmay Nighoskar
If you want to become a good guitar player, you need a good guitar teacher. Even if your goals are simple like learning to play a few songs on guitar, you can reach those goals far more quickly, easily, and efficiently with the guidance of a good guitar teacher. Nowadays most of the information that is needed to learn guitar (and music in general) is available on the internet. There are hundreds of YouTube instructional videos, websites, and apps that are available at your fingertips. Even though a lot of information is available, there exists a lot of incorrect and incomplete information. You will need the help of an excellent guitar teacher to teach you how to fully understand and apply the correct information. You can save yourself a lot of unnecessary frustration and disappointment by studying with a good guitar teacher. Remember that YouTube videos and the internet cannot answer your specific questions. They cannot listen to your playing and point out any mistakes that may be present.
What are the qualities of a good teacher?
An experienced and a good guitar teacher:
Encourages you when you do well and corrects you when you go wrong
Shows you how to organize your practice materials and also how to effectively manage your practice time (this is crucial to your progress!)
Explain to you the meaning and importance of the lessons provided to you
Helps you to build your confidence level
Helps you to become secure with your technical skills so that you can execute difficult techniques on your guitar comfortably.
Make sure that you fully understand what you are learning and, most importantly, teach you how to apply it by giving you detailed explanations and encouraging you to ask questions when something is unclear.
Sincerely care about your musical growth and development.
And finally…an experienced and good guitar teacher will take you far beyond what you could learn on your own.
Unfortunately, guitar teachers are not licensed and no organization oversees or regulates them. Anyone can claim to be a good guitar teacher. The number of great guitar teachers, however, is limited. This brings us to this crucial question; How can a student find, and choose a good guitar teacher?
Here are some points that you should consider before you start taking lessons with any guitar teacher:
Full-time v/s a part-time guitar teacher
You need to find a teacher who is teaching full-time and that is his/her main profession. Some of them you’ll find have day jobs like working in schools/offices etc. The problem with these kinds of teachers is that whenever they have something urgent coming up in their main line of work, they’ll skip the classes which will impact your learning.
The other category of teachers is mainly stage performers but part-time teachers. Now they may be great performers but remember, a good scientist may NOT be a good science teacher. A common mindset of performers is to play things to perfection so most of the time they expect nothing less than perfection from students. Now this gets scary for most beginners, plus, it takes away the fun of learning. You need a teacher who can simplify things for you, inspire you, and be patient with you throughout your learning process.
You also don’t want to end up with someone who plays multiple instruments. There is nothing wrong with playing multiple instruments but mastering a single instrument takes years of hard work and practice. You should focus on a single instrument of your choice and stick to it so that you master it completely. Playing multiple instruments would only becomea distraction in the long run, especially if you are new to music.
So in a nutshell, you need someone who is a full-time professional guitar teacher and who is not running around looking for other job opportunities. This will give you stability in your guitar learning. Moreover, great teachers dedicate their time to refining their teaching skills which ultimately benefits their students.
How much does it cost?
Excellent guitar teachers are in demand and usually already have a lot of students. These guitar teachers often are not cheap. There is a saying that goes - “If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” In general, don't look for the guitar teacher with the lowest rates, you usually get what you pay for.
In my experience, students of great teachers are so inspired and motivated to practice that they find every rupee worth spending on learning from that teacher.
Is the teacher interested in you or Himself?
Look out for teachers who ask questions about you first before they guide you through the learning process. A good guitar teacher asks questions about you, your musical knowledge, your guitar technique, your musical tastes, and your musical goals. It is just like a doctor asking questions to a patient before giving the prescription.
Unfortunately, many teachers ramble about themselves that they’ve been playing guitar for 100 years and have 10,000 students and that they are the greatest teacher of all time. This should not concern you. You want someone who can help YOU learn guitar. Is the teacher located nearby?
If you find a good guitar teacher who lives nearby then great! But don’t settle for a teacher just because he/she teaches near your location. You should see what value you’ll get. Will you be able to reach your musical goals faster? Will you be able to make good progress and enjoy the learning process? You can always ask the teacher to see what are the most suitableand convenient options for you.
After teaching guitar for a long time, I can tell you that using the information above can make a huge difference in finding an experienced high-quality guitar teacher. An incompetent guitar teacher can severely hinder your ability to fully develop your guitar and music skills. If you are not progressing well, but spending a lot of time practicing, find another guitar teacher.