a potential guitar teacher.
I had lessons before with some guy who was useless and don't want to make the same mistakes again...
I think the first thing you need to do is figure out exactly what you want to do.
What style do you want to play?
Do you want to play rhythm or lead?
Do you want to play acoustic, electric or both?
How much time are you willing to commit to study?
Are you playing for your own enjoyment or do you want to play in a band?
Once you figure out what you want to do, tell the teacher. Then ask how the teacher is going to get you there.
Then ask how the teacher is going to get you there
That is probably the best question you could possibly ask. If you say "here's what I know, here's where I want to be... how can you help?" You'll get a great sense of whether or not the teacher can formulate (and communicate) a game plan, whether or not he or she has dealt with students in the same position you are, and whether or not they're actually willing to put effort into helping you (instead of just going through the motions).
Too many teachers do a one-size-fits-all approach. While it's true all students need some of the same tricks in their bag, you get there fastest if the approach is tailored to your interests.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
A good teacher will ask you those questions that Nick posted.
A good teacher will ask you those questions that Nick posted.
I'm not so sure about that - I think those are more 'self-questions'.
The first thing I ask is if they've played before. If the answer is yes, then I ask them to play me something... if it's no, I ask what kind of music they listen to - I don't want to foster the impression that they're going to learn a 'style', because they won't in the first six months or so while they get some of the basics down.
I don't ask if people want to play rhythm or lead either - I make the assumption they came to learn to play guitar, so everybody learns both. (Imagine going for piano lessons and telling the teacher you just want to be able to bang out chords!)
Acoustic or electric is another one I skip - I'm going to show what's appropriate to the guitar they bring. The exception is a beginning student who brings a classical guitar - for them I demonstrate a short passage of classical, and ask if that's what they really want to go after. Most of the time the answer is no. I assume that if you haven't played yet, you'll stick to what you've got for a while... and if you've played before, you've brought something appropriate to what you want to learn.
Time commitment... well, I'll stress the need for practice. The level of commitment is going to be apparent within about two weeks, and it's pretty rare that I have to instruct a student to practice more. Make it fun, and they progress at their own rate, and often faster than anyone expects.
About 1 student in 50 or 100 will actually know exactly what they want to get from lessons (usually they're folks who've played for some time). I don't have to ask them anything - they tell me what they want :)
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
I agree completely.
Those are really supposed to be internal questions that you should know before you go shopping for a teacher.
If you don't know where you want to go, you won't know when you get there.
Acoustic or electric is another one I skip - I'm going to show what's appropriate to the guitar they bring.
Do you get many people that come in with an electric? I have both, but my teacher says he prefers you bring an acoustic, but I seem to get frustrated more while playing the acoustic. The electric just seems to feel better, and I just think I need to use the electric most of the time to really get a feel of it.
The majority of students come with acoustics or classicals, but I do have some - maybe 10-15% at any given time - who have an electric.
In general, the beginning students who come with electrics come with much better instruments than those with acoustics. I have two beginners now with Strats, and I recall one adult student in the 80s who brough a brand spankin new Studio LP to lesson 1 (she told me she saw it, thought it was beautiful, and spending so much money buying the guitar made her absolutely determined to play like Paul Butterfield).
I'm not sure one is better to learn on than the other. Students can be successful either way - and either way there's a discomfort in changing to the other.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Noteboat,
Are you by any chance close to the Bloomington-Normal area? Or not that far SW.
I'm afraid I'm not that far... I'm about halfway between Joliet and Aurora
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Why can't there be more teachers like noteboat? He sounds so fantastic it makes me want to move out where he lives so he can teach me!
The meaning of life? I've never heard a simpler question! Music.
I'm glad I stumbled onto this thread . . . I too have some questions regarding teachers.
I've been studying with a really good, professional guitarist since early October (before that, I was entirely self-taught). I'm interested in fingerstyle, I started out with just Travis Picking, and I've learned songs with him like "Dust In The Wind", "You Were Meant For You", and now I'm learning "Blackbird". The thing is, I don't feel like I really get what I'm doing. I can play the songs, but I don't understand what's really going on in terms of techniques, and why certain chords are being used to go along with the melody. I only have a half-hour lesson with him every week, so we don't have much time to cover theory. Is theory something I should pursue studying in my own time, or should I ask my teacher to start making it a part of every lesson? Is theory really so essential, or am I putting too much importance on it and worrying for nothing?
And heck, while I'm at it, is a half-hour lesson per week enough? I try to practice for an hour every night, and I've seen some progress, but I just keep worrying and wondering if I'm actually getting anywhere, and if I'm actually learning the right stuff. My teacher is a great fingerstylist and I like him a lot, so should I just trust that he's teaching me all I need to know gradually?
Any advice/info will be really helpful.
"After Changes upon changes, we are more or less the same." Paul Simon
Why can't there be more teachers like noteboat? He sounds so fantastic it makes me want to move out where he lives so he can teach me!
That's what I was thinking. I'm studying at ISU right now, which is close to a 2 hour drive from Joliet / Aurora.
Do you give individual lessons on the weekends? I know some places have terms or semester they make people sign up for. But don't think I'd be able to make it to every lesson.
Teen guitarist, the thing about fingerpicking is that it's based on picking hand patterns (as opposed to classical guitar, where the picking fingers operate independently). In Travis picking, you've got the thumb happening on every beat, so you're alternating strings with it, and playing notes with your other fingers at the same time.
Take that Dust in the Wind pattern - the right hand is doing something like this:
M----------M-----
-------I-------I-
-----P-------P---
P--------P-------
You can use that pattern on other chord progressions (and you should!). Eventually you develop quite a bag of tricks for different patterns to use.
A half hour is plenty for almost all students. If you're progressing well, your teacher will show you more during the half hour. I know they seem to go by quick - at least they do for me - but I also know it's easy to overwhelm a student with material in 30 minutes. Keep at it, and you'll do fine.
BAN310, on weekends it's a bit worse... besides teaching privately, I'm also a staff instructor at Music Makers in Western Springs IL, and I teach there on Saturdays. That probably adds another 30 minutes to the drive... and Sunday is my day off! :)
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Noteboat,
Do you happen to know any good instructors in the Bloomington-Normal area?
