Giving guitar lessons

[JacksonConcept]

Hey guys I've been thinking about giving private beginner guitar lessons in my home (need $$$) but I've never really taught guitar stuff to anyone except a few friends now and then. Does anyone here give lessons and have any good advice on what to expect. What to charge for my lessons?

I realize that I need to work up daily lessons, but how do you handle these people who want to learn but have "NO RHYTHM WHATSOEVER" and don't understand that's the most important thing in playing an instrument or are some people so impatient that they expect to be a player after 3 lessons! I am very patient and want to do this right. I'm a very good player but I ain't no Malmsteen and can only teach technique to a certain degree. I play by "ear" and use tablature only when necessary and want to teach that. I think its very important for a beginner to develop the ability to listen to a guitar part, really hear it and play it on their own. Thats how I learned.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Chameleonfong]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Important things to keep in mind if you wanna make money teaching especially when you're new.

Never turn any student away, even if they want you to teach them songs by bands like "Limping Bark". Don't insult bands they like "Blink WTF" and force them to listen to what you feel is good. But instead, take your time and enlighten them SLOWLY what real music are suppose to be.


my two cents
Fong

[jgcable]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

I have been giving lessons for the last 20 years.
I only teach moderate to advanced players. Usually they are rhythm players who want to learn to play lead or they are lead players who want to learn tricks/scales or specific guitar solos or styles. I find that they seem to stick with it longer, it is much less frustrating for me, it keeps me on my toes because I am constantly learning new things to show them, and they actually practice between lessons and actually get better. The beginners are a real pain and they rarely last more than 2-3 months. Teaching is a great way to pick up some extra cash and spread the "Gospel of Shred". I am at odds thought currently with the guitar teacher at the local middle school. His brother owns one of the most popular teaching centers in town and I am their competition. He didn't like it when a few of my students told him at school that I should be giving lessons to their guitar teachers. My students progressed more in 5 months with me than they did at his place in 2 years. He hates metal and shred and is serious into jazz. He thinks every metal guitar player is a hacker and that they totally rely on effects and distortion to cover their lack of talent. He says jazz players who play clean are the true guitarists and that the modes/scales and tricks I am teaching them are all a waste of time. My response to him directly was "nothing learned on the guitar is a waste of time". Good luck. Giving guitar lessons is fun and very rewarding.

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Originally posted by Chameleonfong:
Never turn any student away, even if they want you to teach them songs by bands like "Limping Bark".

my two cents
Fong

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah I would have to be open to NU-music which I'm not but thats ok. I wouldn't turn them away, hell I remember my grandpa teaching me my first chords and playing Johnny Cash songs! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I quickly started applying those chords to Judas Priest and Kiss! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Drove my grandpa nuts. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] But he was very proud of me when I started gigging and gettin' paid!

Good advice, thanks.

[ June 04, 2004, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Gary Powell ]

[skidd]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

The best thing to do is listen to them. Find out what they want to learn. Give them the tools to learn on there own as well as with you. Make it fun for both of you. One thing that I use to do was once a month (they had to buy lesson in a block of 4)they could bring in anything they wanted to work on as long they knew the previous lessons. Yoy have to decide what kind of teacher you want to be. I hated doing songs. I thought that was a waste of their money. I wanted them to learn their way around guitar, really know the neck. Good luck, have fun!

[Inearthed]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Learn about 10 really basic songs that only have a few chords. Work on the open string chords (cowboy chords) first. A, C, D, E, G are all really beginner friendly chords and they make up a lot of rock songs so people can start playing actual songs very early. Every week the student should be learning a new song to keep them busy learning something and so they feel like their making progress since the first month of playing guitar is pretty difficult and you want to make it as fun as possible. Always send the students home with "homework" be it a scale to learn how to play or a song to learn how to play. Ask them before you give the first lesson what groups they like or if they have any favorite songs and they might give you some ideas for stuff to teach them. Getting them just a normal notebook from the store is a great idea so you can write down things for them in there and transcribe some stuff since naturally some students will move at a slower pace and have trouble learning stuff on the spot.

For getting them into the rhythm, teach them to tap their foot or bob their head whenever they play and just watch them to make sure they're doing that at all times. I'd say try to have them count out loud but that might be a little bit much for a beginner student.

The one thing to expect when giving lessons is to be disappointed with some students and very happy with others. Some students will go home and not practice at all come back and insist that they practiced every day, whereas others will go home and practice their hearts out and come in and wow you by playing the song perfectly. Stress the importance of practicing at least an hour a day.

About the amount to charge, $20-$25 per hour / per lesson seems to be the going rate where I live.

[Inearthed]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Originally posted by jgcable:
I have been giving lessons for the last 20 years.
I only teach moderate to advanced players. Usually they are rhythm players who want to learn to play lead or they are lead players who want to learn tricks/scales or specific guitar solos or styles. I find that they seem to stick with it longer, it is much less frustrating for me, it keeps me on my toes because I am constantly learning new things to show them, and they actually practice between lessons and actually get better. The beginners are a real pain and they rarely last more than 2-3 months. Teaching is a great way to pick up some extra cash and spread the "Gospel of Shred". I am at odds thought currently with the guitar teacher at the local middle school. His brother owns one of the most popular teaching centers in town and I am their competition. He didn't like it when a few of my students told him at school that I should be giving lessons to their guitar teachers. My students progressed more in 5 months with me than they did at his place in 2 years. He hates metal and shred and is serious into jazz. He thinks every metal guitar player is a hacker and that they totally rely on effects and distortion to cover their lack of talent. He says jazz players who play clean are the true guitarists and that the modes/scales and tricks I am teaching them are all a waste of time. My response to him directly was "nothing learned on the guitar is a waste of time". Good luck. Giving guitar lessons is fun and very rewarding.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I got a kick out of this. Challenge him to a guitar off a la Crossroads!

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Wow great advice already guys. thanks for the input. I'm really going to give this some thought. I don't want to disappoint anyone.

I might teach myself a thing or two!

What do I do if someone just has no rhythm at all and can't even tap their foot in time? I know people like this, you know the ones who clap out of time with songs [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] How can I be honest with the student about his/her lack of timing? Should I just deal with it the best I can?

[Inearthed]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Originally posted by Gary Powell:
What do I do if someone just has no rhythm at all and can't even tap their foot in time? I know people like this, you know the ones who clap out of time with songs [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] How can I be honest with the student about his/her lack of timing? Should I just deal with it the best I can?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, I wouldn't be honest about it, just say that its one of the essential parts of guitar playing (keeping time) so it needs to be learned. When I was a wee beginner playing on my $70 guitar that wouldn't stay in tune for even a song I couldn't do anything other than concentrate on guitar playing so my teacher kept telling me to tap my foot and I kept on forgetting to / doing a poor job at it, so what he did was just put the tip of his foot on top of mine and lightly tapped his foot on mine with the rhythm whenever I stopped. It worked pretty well.

Try getting the student to keep time outloud first. "ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR and..." that's easy enough but if they get the accents in then start working in clapping with the accented counts. Seems silly and a waste of time but the student will thank you later for it.

[jgcable]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

A metronome or drum machine will help. Demand that all your students have at least a metronome. I charge $20.00/30 minutes and $30.00 for 1 hour.
I give the 1st 1/2 hour lesson free. Also, if a student is not practicing I cut them loose which is pretty rare for moderate to advanced students but it does occur. Be clear on what styles and what methods you can teach for advanced players. Beginners will have their own idea of what they want to learn but reality is that 99% of what they want to learn first can't be done by a beginner. The Blink 182 and the Sum41 and Good Charlotte stuff isn't that bad to play and really easy to learn and teach. When I taught beginners I would usually go with old Black Sabbath, 25 or 6 to 4 or Smoke on the Water. You Really Got me is a good beginner song too. Remember.. the first few lessons for a beginner are all about tuning, holding a pick, the controls of the guitar and maybe a G chord.

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Inearthed. Good idea. I always wondered if "rhythm" could be taught. I've always had it naturally as do most musician's. There are those who have no clue that they are rhythm-less. It reminds me of Footloose when Kevin Bacon had to teach that redneck guy with no rhythm to dance. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I've auditioned tone deaf singers before...they had no clue.

Thanks

[Immortal]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

I tried to give some free of charge lessons to my friends but I never knew where to begin.

If they only know chords or something. No, they were learners from scratch.
And that pretty much affected my patience. As a guitar player for over 7 years now, I couldn't get it how they can't play Smoke on the Water intro on a single string ...

Patience is the advice from me.

[PowerTube]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

Originally posted by Gary Powell:
.... how do you handle these people who want to learn but have "NO RHYTHM WHATSOEVER"...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've never taught professionally, but only to friends and family. Here's an important thing to watch for. A lot of the time, a student will seem to "have no rhythm," when in fact, it's their physical abilities that are lacking. That is, their sense of rhythm is fine, but they lack the physical playing skills to properly manifest that. Make sense?

I once tried to teach a military roommate to play some things. It seemed pretty much hopeless. I would try to tell him, "You're making a statement here. A musical statement. Don't think of this riff as a series of notes. Think of it as saying something." But, his lack of physical playing ability had him playing everything as this note, now this note, now the next one, etc... Very robotic and non-musical.

But the best tip I can give you is....

KEEP IT FUN!!!! That's the best way to inspire a student.

[HeWhoIs]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

The one thing I've noticed about being a guitar teacher is that it has made me look at things in different ways. Not everyone will identify things as you do so you have to keep coming up with new ways to express what you are trying to say. I've been teaching at a local store for about three and a half years now and it's the best thing I've ever done for my own playing. It also doesn't suck to be paid to play guitar all day!

As far as rythem goes look into using the Wolf Marshall series of books. I think he does a good job of breaking things down and keeps it very simple in the begining.

[JacksonConcept]

Re: Giving guitar lessons

I appreciate the input so far, thanks guys! You all have some great advice.