How To Find A Good Guitar Tutor

I suppose a better name for this article would be “How To Find The RIGHT Guitar Tutor”. But the right guitar tutor for you will inherently be a tutor that is good for you.

There are quite a few factors to look at when trying to find a guitar tutor. I could simply say “learn here at UGA!!!!!!” however I’d rather simply inform you and let you make up your own mind.

Price

Yep. If you want a good tutor, then it’s going to cost some money (but hopefully not a lot). People are often put off by the cost of music lessons, but it’s really not all that expensive. I think it’s largely because music and education are both something we take for granted and expect to be free. Many download music illegally and public schooling is free in Australia. I could rant on about this for a long time. Basically, find a tutor who is worth what they’re charging. Don’t choose someone simply because they’re cheap. I’ve actually had many students who have previously been taught poorly or incorrectly, so I’ve had to re-teach them correctly. This takes longer and therefore ends up being more expensive.

Charisma

Learning should be fun, especially for young students. In fact, it’s more important for young students than for anyone else. You also want to get along with your tutor. There’s no point paying someone if you just plain don’t like them. Additionally, I’ve heard many stories about guitar tutors yelling at kids. I find this ridiculous. I’ve never yelled at any student and there will almost never be a need to. Perhaps if they’re about to throw the guitar at my head, then I’ll consider raising my voice.

Motivation

Will this tutor inspire you to play, practice and learn more? They don’t necessarily have to be a crazy awesome guitarist, but they should still be able to inspire students by showing them new artists, music and concepts. Find a tutor who inspires you. After all, Inspiration = Motivation = Practice!

Curriculum

Do they offer some sort of curriculum appropriate for the age of the student? At UGA we have The Ultimate Guitar Method which has a junior edition specifically designed for young students (from about 3 years of age) and a senior edition (for ages 13+), but other music schools may have something different. The AMEB CPM Guitar course is quite popular, but really not appropriate for young students. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing good enough out there for young students except for The Ultimate Guitar Method. That’s one of the reasons why we made it!

No Curriculum

Even if the student chooses not to follow a curriculum, can the tutor still work with you to improve your guitar playing? If not, then definitely find someone else! You need a tutor who isn’t just following some kind of manual, but can actually assess the ability, skill and knowledge of a student, visualise where their playing needs to be, and then devise a plan to get them there.

Content

Are you just going to learn songs? Scales? What’s the point in a few scales if you never have a use for them? Make sure that the content you will be learning is the content you WANT to learn. It should also be useful and have a purpose (this relates very much to the curriculum point above). Some guitar courses lack purpose and direction. Whatever you choose to learn, you need to be following a logical progression of skill, knowledge and development. So many beginners are often taught things that the tutor loves, but the student has never heard of or has a use for. Like arpeggios. The Ultimate Guitar Method doesn’t even implement arpeggios until Step D, which is when students start to learn more advanced skills and components.

Location

Of course, you need to be able to attend the lessons. At UGA, we don’t like location to be an obstacle, which is why we offer lessons at our studios and also have a House Call service available. If that won’t work, then we also offer guitar lessons via Skype and FaceTime video calls. These actually work really well and I’ve found them to be the preference for many students. I even have students that live less than 5 kilometres from my studio, yet they choose to learn via Skype!

If you use the above points as a guide, you should be able to find a tutor that suits you and charges a reasonable price that you are willing to pay. After all, guitarists are people with families to provide for.

Need assistance in finding the right tutor? Contact us!