Guitar Pedagogy

A while back a reader of our site asked us a very important question, one that we’ve overlooked since the site’s inception in September of 2006. The question was, quite simply: how do I become a guitar teacher? Here’s my response - not a definitive answer by any means, but hopefully those of you out there who have asking the same question will get some good ideas about where to start.

There’s very little out there in terms of training for guitar instructors. In fact, I think we’re about the only website on the net geared toward teachers and not students! I can’t speak with authority about the existence or lack thereof of guitar teaching schools, etc, but I’ve never heard of any, except the kinds of classes you would get as a music education major in a university program. My guess is that that’s probably not what you have in mind, though - although if you’re really serious about a career as a music educator, it might be worthwhile to get in touch with the nearest university that offers a music education degree - who knows? You might find that you are elegible for scholarships on continuing education, night classes, or some other program that you hadn’t thought of.

You may be ready to starting teaching without going through this kind of a process, however. Knowing the instrument is important, of course, but being able to relate to students and find different ways of explaining things or demonstrating things is twice as important. If you feel that your knowledge of the instrument is limited, take only beginning students. Be honest with whatever students you have about your areas of expertise - no point in trying to pretend that you can play heavy metal just because that’s what the student is into. For one thing, they’ll be able to tell right away that you’re not comfortable with the material, and secondly, they might be very interested to hear what you really like and are good at.

I’ll talk in a minute about how to get yourself out there as a teacher, but first I’d recommend doing a little thinking about how you would ideally teach someone to play the guitar. If you think back to how YOU learned to play, you can think of a few things that you might have done differently. How did you learn chords? Which chords did you learn first? How do you go about practising your instrument? Can you think of a different approach that might have saved you some time or impacted your approach differently?

You might want to hit a music store and look at some of the guitar method books that are out there. There are hundreds, and each one has a slightly different approach to getting someone into the basics of the instrument. These books might give you a sense of how much information to give a student at one time, what things are important to learn first, second, and third, etc, and different ways of explaining the principal concepts. You might disagree with the approaches suggested - that’s OK, too. Thinking critically about another approach will help you solidify your own.

Once you have a rough idea of how the first two or three “ideal guitar lessons” would go, it’s time to start getting out there. The first place to start is your local music store(s) - most people who are starting the guitar go to a music store first, and they inevitably ask the salesman about lessons. For this reason, some stores offer lessons already. If that’s the case where you are, you might talk to the store owner about getting involved with them. Even if they already have a teacher, you might be available at times when the other teacher isn’t, or you could ask to be on the list of substitute teachers in case the main teacher has to cancel. In the event that your local store doesn’t offer lessons yet, you should definitely discuss the possibility of “setting up shop” with them. If they don’t have space, then leave your card and ask them if they would refer you to any customers who ask about lessons. Some music stores also have bulletin boards where you could put up a flyer with your contact information.

You should also put up flyers anywhere you think that people interested in guitar playing might hang out - the mall, CD stores, concert venues, etc, and even your local public schools.

Look online as well for websites like craig’s list, where people put about announcements that are organized by geographic area.

I would do all of these things before approaching an actual music school. Most schools that specialize in music education are looking for teachers who have experience. If you make a few mistakes early on with a private student, you’ll at worst lose the student, whereas if you make a bad impression at your local music school, you’ll be hard pressed to get them to change their minds about you later on.

If things go well, pretty soon you’ll be getting phone calls or emails from interested students. Decide ahead of time what you think would be reasonable to charge, how long you’d like the lessons to be, and whether or not you’re willing to go to someone else’s home to give the lesson. You might want to decide on a policy ahead of time for absences and payment schedules which you should tell them about either when you first make contact or at the first lesson. You won’t be able to plan a response to EVERY question that a prospective student might ask, but the more thought you put into planning the logistics, the better.

When you finally start teaching lessons, the key is to attentive to the student’s questions and interests, flexible in your approach, and EXTREMELY patient. You’ll know things are going well if you are learning every bit as much or more than the student is! Of course, you’ll make a lot of mistakes early on, and you might get quite frustrated at times, but if you keep an open mind and try to think creatively and have fun with your students, they’ll have fun and learn a lot at the same time. Of course, you’ve got GP.com here to give you plenty of ideas for lessons and tunes, etc, so any time you have any more questions, we’re happy to help.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

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