Choosing a Guitar Teacher in Nottingham

 

Looking for a guitar teacher in Nottingham? How to choose who's right for you..

With so many teachers available it can be hard to choose the right teacher. DSP Guitar Tuition offers a free consultation lesson to help you decide.

“Unfortunately there is no governing body to state who is a good teacher and who is not.”

Here are some factors to consider during your search:

Qualifications -  A good teacher will have a balance of recognised qualifications such as a degree or guitar related exam grades. Be aware not all highly qualified teachers make good teachers.

Experience - A large amount of experience is a good way to gauge a teachers success in their job. Of course experience is just a measure of time and does not automatically mean they are a great teacher. You want a balance of both experience and qualifications. 

Teaching Ability -  Two main categories, knowledge and playing skill.  A good teacher can have a wealth of knowledge and you want a teacher that can convey that information effectively in an organised manor that will benefit your learning. They also need to be highly skilled on their instrument in order to inspire you and to show you complex guitar lines. There are many highly skilled players who have a high level or playing skill but a lack of musical knowledge which impacts on their ability to relate information to you effectively.

Playing Skill - Make sure that the teacher you choose is a skilled musician and that you can see they have spent many years mastering their craft. Taking lessons off a guitar teacher who has only been playing a few years is a bad idea.

Success - A teacher with a large amount of happy students and a high exam pass rate is a great example of a good teacher. Look at the teachers social media, see if their students are happy with their lessons. Most students will stay with a teacher for a long time if they are happy with the lessons. Look at testimonials and reviews for the teacher, this should give you a clean overview of what you can expect. 

Personality - Every teacher will be different in their own way, depending on what you are hoping to get from the lessons will depend on the type of teachers personality you will be drawn to. Maybe you want a casual, relaxed or informal teacher so that it feels more like you are learning from a friend. Or maybe you would like the teacher to be extremely formal and have everything laid out in a scheduled and ordered fashion.

Style - Many students have an idea of the style of guitar or the genre of music that they wish to be able to play. At first it is important not to let this govern the teacher you choose. The most effective way for you to begin learning is to have a teacher that can play the style of guitar you want to but most importantly can make sure you get the basics of the guitar right first time and have a good base on which to build. A teacher who plays in different styles of music and not just the style your interested in can still teach you to be a good guitar player. After you have got a good handle on the basics you can begin to learn the style you are interested in.

Should I teach myself? -  There are a lot of great materials and teachers available in books and all over the Internet. Be aware of online teachers who will give you snippets of information in order to draw you into a monthly fee. They often have too many subscribers asking them questions that they don't have time to answer everyone. This means your knowledge can easily and quickly develop gaps. People can have great success in teaching themselves to play guitar, however even the top players in the world have had lessons at some point in their playing careers.