Healthy Guitar Bass and Ukulele Lessons
Hey everyone, I am taking time out of my schedule to set the record straight about the requirements shared by the teacher and student for healthy, productive and enjoyable guitar, bass and ukulele lessons with me or any other instructor. The first thing for me to address is what the teacher is responsible for. Obviously, there has to be a connection between the student and teacher. The teacher must relate to the student as a person and musically as well as making the lesson payment, scheduling, cancellation and other business details clear to the student or parent.
Since I have been teaching guitar, bass and ukulele online exclusively I now have a larger commitment to my students. I am responsible to prepare written lesson content based on the student’s wishes ahead of lesson time. This means a additional 15 to 30 minutes or more of writing for each student. I do this to make sure the student is getting exactly what they want. So, I write, I scan and I scramble to email tablature or standard notation to the student before lesson time. I also have a the task of scheduling in different time zones which is confusing at times….lol. I am a dedicated instructor and I love what I do. Teaching guitar, bass and ukulele is very rewarding to me. If I were a student I would take a look at the level of dedication my teacher offers. Is he or she ontime for the lessons, are there many teacher cancellations, is there flexibility in lesson scheduling, are you getting what you want based on the style of music you want to play? These are good questions for a student to look at. Now, for the students part…I am just going to break this down in numbered points. These points should be looked at by anyone considering music lessons and they are from my 25 years of teaching experience.
1. Do not expect to make progress if you don’t have time to practice! I can’t put this in any other words. Daily minimum practice is 30 minutes. Yes, I understand things come up but your commitment as a student is to make up for lost practice time and be ready for your next scheduled lesson. I take my students progress personally and am extremely patient…but if after years of lessons there is no progress it is time to stop lessons. Especially if the lack of progress is 100% on the student.
2. Learning to read music properly is something you need to be interested in. Good luck with tablature on the internet. So, if you are expecting to find accurate notation on (ultimate guitar tabs.com) think again. Remember, part of what you are paying a “qualified instructor” for is their ability to transcribe music. Meaning that the teacher can put the music on paper properly in either tablature or standard notation and demonstrate it to you in your lesson.
3. Be realistic with your goals. I can’t tell you how many times a guitar student who has never played shows up with 4 of the 6 strings on a acoustic guitar they found on the side of the road and expects me to show them Eruption by Van Halen. It is the teachers job to recommend music for your level so don’t be discouraged if certain songs are put on hold until your technique develops.
4. What do you do with your playing? I can tell you that all my students who are involved in playing situations have better lessons. Students who are in bands or play with friends for fun regularly are doing great. Students who never play with anyone at some point find lessons boring or they lose motivation. This is not the teachers fault.
5. Try to be consistent with your lesson scheduling. Every week my schedule changes. I have set students and ones who can’t commit to a set day & time. My job is to accommodate students so I do just that. I move students around, factor time zones and get their lessons scheduled to fit their lives. I find that more than 2 weeks between lessons is no good for progress. It seems that after 3 or 4 weeks go by between lessons we are just reviewing to make sure the previous lesson is understood. Longer amounts of time between lessons is ok if the student makes practice time and schedules when they are prepared to move on.
Please understand that my intention of writing this blog post is to make sure people have great lessons with me or any other instructor. Music lessons require dedication from both the instructor and the student. I want my students to be happy and reach whatever their musical goals are! Thanks, Jeff.
