Becoming a good guitar teacher

Question

I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.

So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:

1. What personal and professional qualities a guitar teacher must have and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional qualities a guitar teacher must not have and how to avoid them? And why?

Answer 1

Qualities a guitar teacher needs to have:

Patience. You need patience to sit through lessons with struggling students while keeping a positive attitude.

Motivation. You really need to be motivated about teaching. A lot of guitar teachers aren't motivated about teaching but see it as a way to earn money with their guitar skills.

Communication. This is a skill every teacher should possess regardless of what he is teaching.

Teaching ability. Not everyone makes a good teacher. Some people are skilled in their profession but make bad teachers for whatever reasons. Teaching is after all a skill in itself.

Playing ability. You need a certain level of mastery with the instrument.

As for things a guitar teacher should not have, I would say the exact opposite. This would be a teacher who is bored during the lesson. Isn't motivated to get his student to learn, cannot communication whit his student properly, etc.

Answer 2

At its simplest level, to teach any musical instrument, you need to be able to play the instrument yourself and you need the communication skills to show others how to do it. Beyond that, and what I think will answer your question more helpfully, is if I say what I think are the qualities needed, not just to be guitar teacher, but to be a successful guitar teacher. I think it boils down to three key qualities - versatility, knowledge and reliability.

1) Versatility. It's not enough to just be a "good guitar player". Unless you are a famous recording/performing artist, travelling around giving master classes in your particular playing speciality, you will not earn a living as a guitar teacher by just teaching one or two styles e.g. rock and blues. Nor do students want you thrusting your narrow tastes or repertoire onto them. You have to cater for a very wide range of tastes and aspirations - acoustic, electric, finger picking, plectrum, jazz, metal, blues country, folk etc and be competent in all those areas. And unless you are appropriately qualified, this should specifically exclude intermediate and advanced level classical guitar, which should be left to classical guitar teachers.

2) Knowledge. Being a teacher is ultimately about imparting knowledge. Of course you need the skills to play the things you teach, but you need to teach the theory behind it, plus be prepared to answer questions that arise along the way. It also helps to have a broad and eclectic knowledge of guitar music, plus a reasonable knowledge of guitars, amps and accessories.

3) Reliability. Whether you teach one person or forty people a week, you need to be reliable and self motivated enough to make each student feel as if he/she is your only customer. That way they are much more likely to stick around. To that end you must do all of these things 100% of the time: follow up promised actions, be contactable between lessons to respond to questions e.g. about lesson material, be quick with your resonses eg within 24 hours, write up notes after lessons and thoroughly plan prior to lessons. You must also present yourself in a way that instills confidence in students and particularly parents of students that you are someone they can do business with.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I've had two guitar teachers. One of them was a solid, competent musician and an incredible teacher. I learned more in the year-plus I studied with him than I've ever learned about any subject from anyone over any two year period. The other teacher was a brilliant musician, highly regarded and successful, played with some of the biggest names in the industry---but I hardly learned anything from him.

What was the difference between them? Simply put: the quality of the homework assignments. Keep in mind the most important rule of teaching: you're job isn't actually to dispense knowledge and expertise. Your job is to be a guide for the student's own path to learning how to play.

Understand: your students won't actually learn much during their lesson with you. They will do the vast bulk of their learning during their own practice time. The best thing you can do for them is to make sure they know how to spend that time in the best, most efficient way possible. With that in mind, my advice is to:

Assign Specific, Clear, and Level-Appropriate Homework

The great teacher had an ability to discern where I was as a guitarist and devise homework for the week that challenged me and pushed my limits without overwhelming me. The assignments were very specific and clear. A typical weekly assignment might be:

• Practice the mixolydian mode using these six different fingerings. Each fingering is associated with a specific dominant 7th chord voicing. Play the chord, then play the scale, then play the chord. Move one fret up and repeat. (He had about eight different exercises per scale: chord-scale-chord, three-note-groups, four-note-groups, in thirds, etc. A different exercise each week).
• Practice the dominant 7th arpeggios the same way as the scales.
• Play page 15 from your sight reading book (which he provided, at my cost).
• Play this tune from the Real Book, in the following way:
  • Play the melody in 7th position.
  • Play each chord in the following positions (then he would go through the entire tune and write fretboard positions for each chord). Play the chords in the Freddie Green comping style.
  • Play through the changes using arpeggios. In other words, if the changes are BbM7-Gm7-Cm7-F7, play a BbM7 arpeggion, then a Gm7 arpeggio, a Cm7 arpeggio, and an F7 arpeggio.
• Learn this Joe Pass chord-melody.
• Write your own chord-melody for X tune.

Obviously, I was learning jazz, and this lesson might not be appropriate for a different student. But the point is that it was specific, clear, and appropriate for my ability at the time. When I went home, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and when I came back the next week, I could show him what I was able to learn and what I wasn't, and he adjusted accordingly. Each week, he laid down the tracks in the direction he felt I needed to go, and I simply followed them.

The not-so-great teacher was much more vague. He'd say things like, "Play that solo the way Miles would play it." That's not helpful. He'd give me homework like, "Go home and think about all the different ways you can play a chord," instead of, "Play this chord here, here, and here." I'd leave the lesson not knowing how I should spend my practice time, and so I wouldn't actually learn anything. Of my two teachers, he may have been the better musician, but I didn't get all that much out of our time together.

Know your students' current level and assign them homework that pushes them just enough. Make sure it's challenging so that they don't get bored, but make sure it isn't overwhelming so they don't get frustrated. This is easier said than done, but if you strike that balance just right, your students will have an amazing learning experience with you.

Answer 4

As a former guitar teacher, I would agree with bleak's answer. Being able to play well is very important, but if you do not have the ability to communicate the knowledge to the student, you will not be a good teacher. In that sense, it is like teaching any subject.

Unfortunately, many music stores hire the local rock star to teach, knowing they will draw a crowd. It becomes painfully obvious over time that this person cannot actually teach.

Ultimately, I believe teaching is a gift. There is an internal desire to impart knowledge and a willingness to creatively adapt the teaching to the individual student. While teaching skills can certainly be polished, one who is not a natural teacher will only be so effective.

Answer 5

As a teacher, one should not be strictly restricting the timings of teaching. By strictly, I mean, I have seen cases, where teachers have a funda like 45 minutes of teaching and 15 minutes of doubt clearing. After exactly 45 mins, the teacher will stop teaching in whatever case and exactly after 15 minutes the tution will end.
Being professional is okay, but somewhere, one should be flexible enough to give more time to students whenever required.