Tom Hess had the following comments to make:
“As someone who has taught guitar for more than twenty years, I’ve put together a great amount of information on the topic of effective guitar teaching and how to grow a guitar teaching business. With this in mind, my experience has shown that if you are unable to effectively teach beginning guitar students, you will not only miss out on a large proportion of potential students; but you will be much less likely to build and maintain a successful guitar teaching business. Fact is, beginners make up the overwhelming majority when it comes to student demographics. Understanding how to teach beginning guitar students is key for success in your guitar teaching business.”
Hess comments on what he views as another common guitar teaching mistake:
“Additionally, most guitar teachers treat their guitar students like an “experiment”
Hess also mentions that most guitar teachers have difficulty with similar issues while teaching beginning guitar students. This includes the following:
“Almost every guitar teacher out there makes the same mistake of trying to teach their beginner students in a strictly linear fashion. For most, this approach seems to be very logical, but in reality; it is a very ineffective way to teach guitar. Unlike a subject such as mathematics, where basic rules are laid out and applied in a linear manner; guitar (and music) is best taught in a way that integrates many concepts together at once. This will prevent the beginner guitarist from getting stuck in one area of their playing, because they will be able to draw from many ideas at once. This builds their confidence and allows them to play actual music early on with what they learn. You’ve got to remember, deep down your students all want to be creative and play music, not just learn guitar playing rules and formulas.”
Hess’ online online guitar teacher resource (http://tomhess.net/
