Guitar Teaching Tips For Starting To Teach A New Guitar Student
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Want your guitar students to stay with you longer?
Then follow the tips in this article for starting to teach a new guitar student.
When teaching guitar to a new student, your first guitar lesson should go differently than you are probably teaching it now.
EMAIL TO GET ACCESS
By submitting your info, you agree to send it to Tom Hess Music Corporation who will process and use it according to their privacy policy.
Here is what I mean:
There is a specific set of things you need to talk about and demonstrate when starting to teach a new guitar student.
These things all depend on whether you are teaching a beginner, an intermediate guitar player or an advanced guitar player.
Get those things right during the first guitar lesson...
... and you’ll earn the guitar students’ respect and reassure them that you’re the guitar teacher for them.
But if you get those things (or their order) wrong?
Then those new guitar students likely won’t stick around for long... no matter how good of a teacher you ‘actually’ are.
Here is how to run a kick-butt first guitar lesson and make your guitar students glad they came to you:
Now, let’s go deeper into each of these points about starting to teach a new guitar student:
Tips For Starting To Teach A New Guitar Student When Teaching Guitar To Beginner Students
Here is what to do when teaching the first guitar lesson to beginner guitar students:
1. Give beginners an overview of what to expect in their first 6 months of lessons.
For example:
When you’re starting to teach a new guitar student (who is a beginner), tell them some version of the script below in their first guitar lesson:
“Mr. Student, I’ve got bad news, good news and great news.
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The bad news is: guitar is the hardest instrument to be a beginner on. All the big frustration happens in the first 6 months of playing.
But the good news is - unlike most other instruments (like piano) that get ‘harder’ the longer you play – guitar becomes way EASIER as time goes on.
So, now that you know what to expect, you are already more likely to get to the fun part of playing most people will NEVER experience. Because most people – who don’t know what I just told you – give up during the first 6 months.
And the best news is: you are in the right place to make the first 6 months as easy and enjoyable as possible. Because *I* know exactly how to help people like you get past the beginner level FAST. And if you simply do what I tell you – I’ll get you playing better than you ever thought you could.”
When you say this:
Your beginner guitar students now understand that it’s normal to be a bit frustrated in the early days of learning guitar. They won’t feel like there is something wrong with them when they are struggling like heck with something in the first few weeks of lessons. And ‘because’ they realize this, they’ll be way more likely to persevere and become good players.
2. Reassure your students that you will hold their hand through the entire process.
You can do this either by telling stories of other students you’ve helped or simply by showing your certainty in your ability to help them.
And ‘after’ getting the beginner students’ mindset right, you are ready for the next guitar teaching step in their first guitar lesson, which is to:
3. Get them to play real music in the first lesson to build their confidence and make them have fun with the guitar right away.
This gives credence to everything you told them up until that point and continues to build their self-confidence to even higher levels.
For more insights on how to teach beginner guitar students, check out my eCourse: How To Effectively Teach Beginning Guitar Students
Tips For Starting To Teach A New Guitar Student When Teaching Guitar To Intermediate Students
Here are some ways to show this when you are starting to teach a new guitar student (who is at an intermediate level):
1. Help them realize why they are stuck via a profound ‘aha’ moment.
A big reason intermediate guitar students get stuck is because they misdiagnose their guitar playing problems... so, they waste a ton of time practicing things that do nothing to improve their playing.
That is also why they often start to lose faith in their potential to become better players.
When you – their guitar teacher – show them the exact reasons they are having the problems they came to you with (right in their first guitar lesson) ...
... this will blow their mind and make them glad they chose you to be their guitar teacher.
Watch this video to see an example of what I mean:
In the video above, the profound ‘aha’ moment came when the student realized why his finger rolling motion was sloppy, even though he was practicing a lot.
2. Give them a quick win in their playing by solving one of their problems in the very first lesson.
The next logical thing to do in your guitar teaching (after showing your guitar students ‘why’ they are stuck) is to get them to experience an actual breakthrough in their playing.
This makes your students even more confident in your ability to help them.
Here is an example of what this looks like:
If you don’t know how to do this, get guitar teacher training.
3. Teach them about guitar skill integration and/or lead guitar phrasing (depending on which skill is lacking the most in their playing).
The best way to decide if you should focus on skill integration or phrasing is to listen to your guitar students play (during their first guitar lesson).
Then, tell them which skill you will work on with them and how it will help them reach the advanced level.
If you’ve done the first 2 things described above – you’ve earned a lot of trust with your students (as their guitar teacher) and they will very likely do what you say with full enthusiasm.
This lead guitar video shows you one way to help your guitar students with phrasing.
Tips For Starting To Teach A New Guitar Student When Teaching Guitar To Advanced Students
When you are starting to teach a new guitar student who is advanced, it is vital that you:
1. Earn their respect by revealing problems they ‘don’t even realize’ they have and show consequences of not solving them.
Advanced guitar students still have problems in their playing they want solved (problems they haven't been able to solve on their own). That is why they are coming to you – the guitar teacher.
Watch this video to see an example of what teaching guitar to an advanced guitar student looks like:
2. Reveal the root issue holding them back from reaching even ‘more’ advanced levels.
Similar to teaching guitar to intermediate guitar students, it helps if the root issue is something your advanced guitar students can fix quickly. However – and this is a BIG advantage to teaching guitar to advanced guitar students – most advanced guitar students are strong-minded.
This means, when teaching the first guitar lesson to advanced students, you can teach them things that take time and mental effort to master. And as long as your advanced guitar students believe in your guitar teaching method – they will generally do whatever you say for as long as you tell them to do it.
3. Train them to remove it the root issue under your guidance.
Training is the way you’ll turn your guitar students (at every skill level) into better players FAST. And chances are, your advanced guitar students have never had any guitar teacher train them to practice. That’s a big reason why they haven’t been able to reach the highly advanced (or virtuoso) guitar playing levels.
Proper training (not only in their first guitar lesson, but in every lesson thereafter) will change that fast.
Now that you know the best ways of starting to teach a new guitar student, the next step to becoming successful as a guitar teacher is learning how to attract more students and get them to start guitar lessons with you. I can help you with this in my free eGuide: Do THIS, And You’ll Get More Guitar Students. Download it today and discover the guitar teaching secrets most guitar teachers will never know.
Want to make more money teaching guitar? Get guitar teacher training.
