Why you should take one-on-one guitar lessons.
These days many of us seem to view guitar lessons as an instant gratification hobby like playing video games or going to a movie. People who wish to be a ‘rock-
star’ overnight throw money at video lessons and apps only to find they haven’t made any progress. The technology itself is a fantastic thing, but it can often make us apathetic. So, what’s the next best thing? Hire yourself a guitar teacher. Here are a few reasons why: 1. Playing an instrument is a craft - When you’re hiring a teacher you’re actually hiring a musical mentor, someone specifically fit to serve and nourish your musical and guitar-related curiosity. 2. You can’t stop a video and ask it a question - Well you can but you generally get quite a generic response dedicated to the other thousand players you’re actually learning with. 3. You need musical advice - You need a musical mentor that will give you musical advice outside of just playing an instrument, i.e.. ‘When are you’re ready for your first gig?’ or ‘When and how do I join a band?’ 4. You’re hiring a set of ears - Music is sound and sure we all generally hear the same but musicians are trained to hear keys, chords and rhythms: things a non-musician will likely not hear. So essentially you’re hiring someone to be your first audience member and give you constructive yet tactful advice as to whether you’re sounding good or not. 5. You’re hiring a ‘music supervisor’ - A good guitar teacher is someone who meets you where you are and then introduces you to new genres and ways of approaching music with enthusiasm enough for you to go and research on your own. 6. You’re hiring someone to learn to play with - You’re hiring someone to be your band member and teach you to play in time. This means a group lesson may be beneficial, but if the rest of the class is way ahead, you’ll benefit much more from a teach that can sit with you one-on-one and adapt the lessons according to your pace and learning style. 7. You could be hiring someone to sit in traffic - These days schedules are hectic, there are kids to fetch and work to be done, you wouldn’t want traffic to get in the way of that when it already does. So choosing a guitar teacher that can travel to you is a very worthy/time-wise investment. 8. You’re hiring a ‘psychologist’ - Your teacher needs to be someone who instills confidence when you don’t feel like you have any or might be too shy. A group or video lesson is certainly not going to wait for you to play if you aren’t feeling up to it. I hope you got some advice from this article and if there are any questions or concerns on this topic please feel free to mention in the comments. Until next time, Keep playing. Paul
