OH NO! I might have to teach guitar again this year!

lindsmuse · 2011-01-03T18:00:35+00:00

And this is not guitar at you guys level. This is guitar for rank beginners and the occasional random fingerpicker ... Illustration work thin ... maybe .....

OH NO! I might have to teach guitar again this year!

ryanguit

I agree! With all of the above... Dont forget the corperate, money-making adults that only listen to radiohead and dont practice because they so busy. Then say I am lucky to be teaching my passion-I'm not a slave to the system, etc.
How am i supposed to be excited about teaching an adult basic chords that my 13 year olds learn 3 times as fast ?

Thankfully some adults will progress crazy fast just by my lessons. (they arent practicing til an hour before the lesson) and Thank goodness for the 15% that think they can and do! Cos i only drop students when they waste their own time (i do NOT want to be a money making scheme- there too many of those here)

IceCreamMan

mea culpa :-[

prince

Ha! I bet none of you remember the first week when you were still learning......the poor fingers on my left hand. :'(

I do sympathise with the teachers so I will leave Smoke on the Water and Locomotive Breath until last but be warned, there is a new student on the block and he will probably learn 3 times slower than a 13 year old but what the h3ll; I wanna learn. Somebody out there must have the patience to teach me. ?

Bob-Dubery

Renesongs wrote: Teaching the young is a blessing especially teenagers because they know everything already. It's the mom's and pops who's children have fled the nest and now they want to reclaim their lives and do I know any Leo Sayer , can you play Breakfast in America - no Elton John played piano and there are no recordings of Janis and Jimi or Treni Lopez playing the house that rose from the slum and feck I though that everybody that liked the Bee Gees, Bread and The peanut butter conspiracy had died in air plane disasters or of helium poisoning... that I have a problem with ☹ ☹ ☹

I decided to start taking guitar lessons at the grand old age of 48. I had no interest in learning Leo Sayer or Supertramp songs and in fact introduced my teacher to some music and musicians he'd never heard of (Nick Drake and Danny Thompson being notable examples). Good teacher. Very good player. Lovely guy with beautiful manners. Thought there was a solo artist by the name of "Steely Dan" so we sorted that out and then got on with things (when I wasn't playing him Nick Drake CDs).

Wizard

ryanguit wrote: How am i supposed to be excited about teaching an adult basic chords that my 13 year olds learn 3 times as fast ?

ok ... ok ... but my old hands and brain just don't work as well as a 13 year olds !!!
?

ryanguit

its not about patience... its bout not wasting money, private lessons arent cheap. Get 1 every three weeks OR acknowledge you are wasting money. I don't want to waste your time thats all. especially if you're paying for the same lesson!

I assure that a semi committed adult learns better than a teenager anyday. teenagers still need to practice many more hours to assimilate same amount of data long term as an adult. But they have the time IF they DONT own guitar hero... damn

RobK

I think if I were someone who'd come to the forum looking for a teacher, this thread would encourage me to either teach myself, or resort to internet based video tuition.

From what I've gathered here teachers don't like teaching:

- rank beginners
- teenagers
- adults whose kids have left home and now have some time to learn to play an instrument (and some songs they remember from their younger days)
- adults who don't listen to the same music you do
- adults who want to learn songs by their favourite artists, regardless of whether the artist played the guitar
- corporate type/money making adults who have busy lives and little time to practice, but take the time to come to lessons anyway
- anyone who doesn't make fast progress

ryanguit

prince wrote: Ha! I bet none of you remember the first week when you were still learning......the poor fingers on my left hand. :'(

Just flip your guitar upside down and try to play Left-handed (Except IceCreamMan) its hard work starting Guitar BUT most of us did it without private lessons... Not dissing lessons (doing it right the first time is pretty time saving, and learning the short cuts to stuff you thought was impossible is pretty cool) but i think its important to struggle a bit so you know what you paying for...

for the record: I prefer teaching adults because its less likely to be "a phase". Each person has their positives and negatives and its not always restricted by age generalizations...

(i like ellipses dots ALOT)

RobK

ryanguit wrote: its not about patience... its bout not wasting money, private lessons arent cheap. Get 1 every three weeks OR acknowledge you are wasting money. I don't want to waste your time thats all. especially if you're paying for the same lesson!

I assure that a semi committed adult learns better than a teenager anyday. teenagers still need to practice many more hours to assimilate same amount of data long term as an adult. But they have the time IF they DONT own guitar hero... damn

How can you assume you're wasting someone's time or money just by the fact that they're not progressing as fast as you want them to? Wouldn't it be wiser to take some time and find out what the underlying problem is that is causing the lack of progress and fix that?

Telling someone they're wasting their time is a good way to make them chuck that guitar they wanted to learn to play into some dark corner and pick up guitar hero instead.

ryanguit

RobK wrote: I think if I were someone who'd come to the forum looking for a teacher, this thread would encourage me to either teach myself, or resort to internet based video tuition.

From what I've gathered here teachers don't like teaching:

- rank beginners
- teenagers
- adults whose kids have left home and now have some time to learn to play an instrument (and some songs they remember from their younger days)
- adults who don't listen to the same music you do
- adults who want to learn songs by their favourite artists, regardless of whether the artist played the guitar
- corporate type/money making adults who have busy lives and little time to practice, but take the time to come to lessons anyway
- anyone who doesn't make fast progress

I HATE WASTING STUDENTS MONEY- money is for rent and gear. I love teaching, HATE taking money from a student whos put no time in it making me look like the reason i used to never teach. MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME

PeteM

RobK wrote: I think if I were someone who'd come to the forum looking for a teacher, this thread would encourage me to either teach myself, or resort to internet based video tuition.

From what I've gathered here teachers don't like teaching:

- rank beginners
- teenagers
- adults whose kids have left home and now have some time to learn to play an instrument (and some songs they remember from their younger days)
- adults who don't listen to the same music you do
- adults who want to learn songs by their favourite artists, regardless of whether the artist played the guitar
- corporate type/money making adults who have busy lives and little time to practice, but take the time to come to lessons anyway
- anyone who doesn't make fast progress

Not true Rob - I enjoy teaching anyone of any age group who has the real desire to want to learn. Having said that, I think it's also incumbent on the teacher to make the lessons interesting and challenging so that students want to come back for more. If that's not the case then I haven't done my job.

Bob-Dubery

ryanguit wrote: its not about patience... its bout not wasting money, private lessons arent cheap. Get 1 every three weeks OR acknowledge you are wasting money. I don't want to waste your time thats all. especially if you're paying for the same lesson!

Well if I were the pupil I'd ask you to please let those concerns by MY concerns and can we get on with the lesson please.

RobK

ryanguit wrote:
RobK wrote: I think if I were someone who'd come to the forum looking for a teacher, this thread would encourage me to either teach myself, or resort to internet based video tuition.

From what I've gathered here teachers don't like teaching:

- rank beginners
- teenagers
- adults whose kids have left home and now have some time to learn to play an instrument (and some songs they remember from their younger days)
- adults who don't listen to the same music you do
- adults who want to learn songs by their favourite artists, regardless of whether the artist played the guitar
- corporate type/money making adults who have busy lives and little time to practice, but take the time to come to lessons anyway
- anyone who doesn't make fast progress

I HATE WASTING STUDENTS MONEY- money is for rent and gear. I love teaching, HATE taking money from a student whos put no time in it making me look like the reason i used to never teach. MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME

It's not actually up to you to decide whether they're wasting their money or not, is it? It's their money after all, and they choose to spend it as they wish and if they're spending it on guitar lessons(regardless of how much effort they put in) and they feel they're getting their money's worth, it's not really a waste to them, is it?

However, if you hate wasting their money, but love teaching, then maybe you should teach for free - everyone wins - you get to teach and they don't waste their money ?

PeteM

ryanguit wrote: I HATE WASTING STUDENTS MONEY- money is for rent and gear. I love teaching, HATE taking money from a student whos put no time in it making me look like the reason i used to never teach. MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME

I've got a student who is a corporate gent who genuinely hasn't got the time to practice as much as he would like or to join a band. But he enjoys his lessons and makes sure he makes the time for them. He's content to treat me as a jam partner picking up from me as we jam along and he's prepared to pay for this. Have I the right to deny him his weekly jam session? No ways - he's having a jol and that pleases me. He's coming along great and soon he'll accompany me at an open mic session on the numbers he wants to play.

RobK

PeteM wrote:
RobK wrote: I think if I were someone who'd come to the forum looking for a teacher, this thread would encourage me to either teach myself, or resort to internet based video tuition.

From what I've gathered here teachers don't like teaching:

- rank beginners
- teenagers
- adults whose kids have left home and now have some time to learn to play an instrument (and some songs they remember from their younger days)
- adults who don't listen to the same music you do
- adults who want to learn songs by their favourite artists, regardless of whether the artist played the guitar
- corporate type/money making adults who have busy lives and little time to practice, but take the time to come to lessons anyway
- anyone who doesn't make fast progress
Not true Rob - I enjoy teaching anyone of any age group who has the real desire to want to learn. Having said that, I think it's also incumbent on the teacher to make the lessons interesting and challenging so that students want to come back for more. If that's not the case then I haven't done my job.

I know Pete. I was just generalising from what I picked up from a couple of the posts here. You didn't mention anything about disliking or not wanting to teach a particular group.

ryanguit

BAHAHA. enjoy. when you want to be challenged and get lessons that last for more than a week, call me 0724805494.

I am honest, sorry. i'm honest to my students faces, sorry again.

saves everyone time, i lose money... er how am i in the wrong?

I think everyone is confusing arrogance with honesty

PeteM

ryanguit wrote: I think everyone is confusing arrogance with honesty

You said it.

RobK

PeteM wrote:
ryanguit wrote: I HATE WASTING STUDENTS MONEY- money is for rent and gear. I love teaching, HATE taking money from a student whos put no time in it making me look like the reason i used to never teach. MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME MONEY MAKING SCHEME
I've got a student who is a corporate gent who genuinely hasn't got the time to practice as much as he would like or to join a band. But he enjoys his lessons and makes sure he makes the time for them. He's content to treat me as a jam partner picking up from me as we jam along and he's prepared to pay for this. Have I the right to deny him his weekly jam session? No ways - he's having a jol and that pleases me. He's coming along great and soon he'll accompany me at an open mic session on the numbers he wants to play.

A jam session, hmmm, that's a very good description of what I consider to be a good lesson. It's how I thought of my lessons as well. Very relaxed and I enjoyed them and they made me go home and sit and practice some more. I also had no aspirations of joining a band, or even playing in public, and I don't think I was making fast progress, but I enjoyed myself and even after I stopped the lessons, I still kept on practising as and when time permitted. I had to stop as I got really busy and couldn't find the time to make my weekly lessons - something would always come up to interfere. I'll be back, though, just as soon as I get myself organised for this year.

Warren

I've always found it tough to get a teacher willing to take me on without hassle.

When I was 19 and wanted to go for classical lessons, I had to phone three separate teachers before one would even consider taking me on. In the end, I was working and just couldn't get to the 17:15 lesson on time, so I had to put lessons on ice for years until recently.

And again, I've recently had to stop because I felt I wasn't getting enough practice time in between lessons (and also struggling to make the 17:30 time after work with Midrand traffic).

Renesongs

My attempt at adding some humour to the profile of people I teach seems to have been taken up too seriously. In reality I teach all ages, all skill and all levels. In fact I teach anyone who wants to learn guitar, and hey if my student's ambition is to be able to play Ring of Fire, Sandman, Purple Haze or How great thou art, it is my job to teach it to them and do a job I can be proud of.

I have had some students that never practice and can take 3 months to learn Wake me up when September ends but I don't get impatient because it's their dime and some people don't believe enough in themselves to progress so their lesson turns into more of a therapy session involving a guitar and a lot of chat about themselves.

The only students that I actively discourage are those that have absolutely no interest in guitar and are in my class because a parent has forced them to be there.

Teaching is a calling not every guitarist no matter how talented can do it. Every time you teach someone you get to relearn what you thought you already knew but only you get to learn it a little better. 8)