Senior Instructor at Halifax Guitar Lessons
All guitar teachers are not the same. I am sure most people realize this in a sense. But when it comes time to take lessons they seem to forget this.
After years of teaching guitar one thing I have noticed when people inquire about lessons is that they think everyone pretty much teaches the same way and that it does not matter who they take lessons with, they should get a similar result.
This could not be further from the truth. The reality is that choosing the wrong guitar teacher can lead you down the road to frustration and quitting the instrument. Usually forever.
Here are 3 most important reasons why you want to find a trained guitar teacher instead of settling for the conventional ones.
1. They Are Trained And Know How To Teach
Aren’t all guitar teachers trained though?
Not really. Many guitar teachers out there have gone to university and may have music degrees but that is mostly theoretical knowledge. They definitely have the ability to teach university level music courses.
That’s not what you need. If it was then the best thing for you to do is to go to university!
Conventional guitar teachers usually have no training on how to be actual teachers and typically have no training specific to teaching guitar either. That means they have to learn how to do that on their own with the students that they attract by using the trial and error method.
Instead of being someone’s guinea pig, wouldn’t it be better to seek out and find a guitar teacher that is trained to teach people and that has specific training on how to teach guitar?
2. They Will Know The Right Direction For You To Be Successful
Most people do not realize this but learning to play guitar can be done the easy or hard way.
Imagine going on a trip from your city to another one that is several hours away and a place you have never driven to.
The hard way is to just start driving and hope you find the city by using guesswork. As you can imagine this could take a very long time and in the end you may never even get to the destination.
Instead, what if you had someone with you who knew how to get to the city and had done it before? By doing what they tell you it would take a lot less time, effort and time and will guarantee you get to your destination.
Learning to play guitar works exactly the same way. If you do not know how to get to the things you want to learn you are likely going to have problems.
A trained guitar teacher will know where you need to go. They would have been trained and taught how to take you from where you are to where you want to go in the fastest way possible too.
3. They Will Make A Detailed Plan Specific To You So You Can Reach Your Goals
You may think this is obvious, that of course my guitar teacher is going to create a detailed plan for me to reach my goals. But this is not usually the case for most of guitar teachers you will find.
Creating a detailed plan for each student, making it personal and then making it fun is not an easy task to do. It takes time. That’s something most guitar teachers do not have because they have other jobs and responsibilities that keep them busy.
Most of the trained guitar teachers I know do it full time. It’s all they do. That means they have a lot more time to think about you and your guitar playing goals and really create a personal plan that will get you where you want to go.
Without this plan you will learn some cool things, but you will not necessarily be moving towards your ultimate goals.
One More Reason You Want To Find A Trained Guitar Teacher
Almost all of the trained guitar teacher I know teach full time – they are professional guitar teachers. Most of the conventional teachers I know teach part time and have other jobs and priorities that take up most of their time.
Professional guitar teachers are totally dedicated to their craft and continue to upgrade their guitar teaching and playing skills.
Teaching guitar for them is something they love to do, it is a passion, they enjoy helping others learn and get better on guitar. It’s basically their life.
If you think about that, which guitar teacher is going to get you the best results? The one who is always trying to improve what they do and teaches full time or the one who does it on the side, part-time, for extra cash?