How To Motivate Beginner Guitar Students Who Are Becoming Frustrated

By Tom Hess

Motivation tip for teaching beginner guitar students:

Help your guitar students understand that guitar is the most frustrating instrument to be a beginner on.

Your students are likely to be frustrated by common mistakes like not being able to strike the correct string they want to play, not being able to switch between chords very quickly, not being able to get notes to sound clearly and countless others.

It’s critical that you express that you know what they are going through and that things will not always be this difficult.

Here are a few ways to do this:

Talk about how it takes a lot of dedication and practice to become a better guitarist... and most people give up way before they develop significant skills. By just making the effort to improve, they are doing more than most people ever will.
Tell them how when they stick with guitar for just 6 months, it’s going to feel a lot easier (and be a lot more fun). It doesn’t get harder it gets easier.
Help them understand that you (the teacher) are there to help them through the most frustrating process and that you know what it’s like because you’ve been there too.

Doing these things eases your student’s fears and frustrations with learning guitar. This connects you with the student on a person-to-person level (versus just being someone who teaches them musical concepts). This makes taking lessons more enjoyable for them, helps them develop trust with you and makes teaching feel more fulfilling.

Want to quickly master teaching beginner guitar students? Read this guitar teaching improvement advice to learn the 5 big mistakes most teachers make while working with beginner guitar students.

About Tom Hess: Tom Hess is a guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar teacher trainer. He trains guitar teachers from all over the world how to earn 6-figures per year teaching guitar, while working less than 40 hours per week.

Get started working as a guitar teacher and earn a 6-figure annual income.