Find a Good Guitar Teacher
Signs of a good guitar teacher
Most people who decide to learn the guitar would benefit a great deal from having a teacher. A good teacher can direct your attention to the work you need to be doing the most, help you to avoid forming bad habits and place you along a smooth path of learning. A good guitar teacher can also keep you motivated and hold you accountable for achieving your practice goals.
While there are many people who are very good at playing the guitar, only a few are good at teaching. So in order to find the right teacher for you, there are signs to look for to know if you are getting the best bang for your buck or not. If you notice that there is a lack of genuine interest in teaching you how to play the guitar, this is usually someone who is only doing it to make some money while his or her own career takes off. This is most likely not someone you want to be learning from.
Another sign to look for is how popular they are. Good teachers are normally busy. They will assemble a loyal student base and you will find that those students will attest to his or her competence. Remember that establishing a teaching practice takes years of patience. This is another sign of a good teacher. If they do have a loyal student base it most likely means that they’ve been doing it a while as well.
Great teachers show enthusiasm for the progress of their students, give their students specific feedback, assign exercises to improve areas needing development and attempt to create continuity from one lesson to the next. Good teachers strive to help their students reach new levels of playing ability.
The best sign of all is that a good guitar teacher is one who is proud to teach. If you have a teacher who cannot tell you anything about their teaching methods, this is a sign that they have not put any thought into it. A good teacher has a plan for each student he or she teaches and has an understanding of the style you want to learn or what path you are heading down. They are proud to help you get there. It reflects their teaching style and it shows how good they are at their jobs.
If you are serious about learning the guitar, one of the best things you can do is go out and find yourself a good teacher. If you are in the Philadelphia area, take guitar lessons from one of the best. That person is David Joel. David has been teaching for over three decades and understands the importance of teaching each person on an individual basis. This not only brings out your individual style but it allows David to focus on your strengths and weaknesses so that he can help shape you into the best guitar player you can be.