8 Signs You Have the WRONG Guitar Teacher

[@rockytrail3893]

My guitar teacher was a kindly old pensioner who brought music and cheer to a dirt-poor town in the late 1970s. If you didn't own a guitar, he would provide one for you. He would run down to Juarez and pick up several guitars as was needed. He did more for us than taught us music.

[@generalawareness101]

Now, those are the gems of the teaching world. See them rarely in all sorts of fields. More like a father/grand father than a teacher AND those are the ones you will learn the most from too.

[@ZaneDalton]

That’s an awesome story!

[@michaelw6277]

This is the kind of person I want to be.

[@abbeyna01]

Sounds like he was very dedicated

[@rickymccrum8518]

He sounds like a hero to me. What was his name?

[@DeathMetalThrasher]

I'm gonna be a guitar teacher after a few more months. I'm watching this to save me the embarrasment and losing students.

[@The_JustJoshing]

Good luck. Better teach them some Sepultura tunes \m/

[@mrlarvux]

Keep us updated!

[@Jamie16611]

first lesson better be beneath the remains :)

[@yasirujayasuriya7026]

I hope that you don't turn out to be a glorified babysitter like a lot of guitar teachers

[@stephenm8415]

haven't changed your name in 9 years, huh?

[@schreds8882]

I found that getting an instructor who can teach adult beginners makes a big difference. I was 40 when I started learning guitar and in the beginning, I was treated like a 12 year old. That's seriously annoying. When I got an instructor who treated me like an adult, it changed everything.

[@ParkourRhett]

Awww poor baby! He didn't give you a widdle pacifier for your tears for playing "Horse with No Name?" Awwww

[@GamerGeekThug]

​@ParkourRhett bruh what the hell is your problem lol 😂💀

[@designlychallenged8898]

So... I should see my guitar teacher's daily tradition of throwing a chair at my head while playing out of tempo as a warning sign?

[@Cthulhu_Awaken]

Nice teacher you have! If that's a warning, I wonder what the full-scale reaction would be. 🤣

[@SteveOnlin]

My teacher speaks in a weird swedish accent and when I make mistakes he pours a bucket of paint on me

[@yayayaokoksure]

A warning sign, if you don't have the will. Motivation, if you're made for greatness.

[@billw8648]

next teacher I have who doesn't bring a guitar and borrows mine gives me 2 free lessons!

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Nah, I did that a lot. haha

[@TWHueyGuitar]

What I do is I ask potential students what three songs they most want to learn. I look at what chords, scales, and techniques the student will need to learn for those songs. I spend the first few weeks focusing on those areas (depending on the students' progress), and then start working on the building blocks of the actual song.

[@davesaenz3732]

Thats a good approach. Ultimately its like going to the gym. You want to work on something specific. I would hate to learn how to play country when I want to sound like Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads or Van Halen.🎸

[@narc440]

Yeah my teacher would so something similar, he taught me a scale and chords and chord progressions, then also taught me how to play iron man by Black Sabbath because I told him I was a big fan of them and Tony Iommi

[@yallevereatenbeans2723]

I had a teacher for years who just gave me tabs, every week he'd just ask me what I wanted to learn, write out the tab, we'd fumble through it for a bit and that was that. He wouldn't even check how I was doing with the song I learned last week. Had been playing for years and I knew what a pentatonic scale was but had no idea what I was supposed to do with it, didn't know the notes on the fretboard, just really basic stuff I had never learned. Thing was that he was a cool guy and I was pretty young so I didn't know better. It just occured to me years later that I'd been with him a long time and I'd totally plataued. When I switched I actually got the guy who had taught my last teacher and started getting better pretty much immediately.

[@ianwhite7389]

"Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym." Jack Black

[@SpywareVA]

Ah, a fellow Tenacious D fan

[@guitarreilly]

And those that cat teach gym become president

[@paragang2114]

i had a teacher like the whiplash guy. I learned so much and benefited a lot believe it or not. I always thought he was just teaching some bullshit songs and stuff but later realized he taught me everything i needed to benefit from music theory and things i could add to my style.

[@NICKWAPPERER117]

Same here. I was all Rock N Roll and the dude had me learning jazz lol shit was rough. And he was too, but ill always have what he taught me. Thanks for sharing dude

[@chadross]

I feel like for a lot of youngsters this approach leads them to quit early - which isn't a bad thing necessarily if you want to "weed out the non serious ones" - but it either shows the perseverance and drive of skill/talent and/or abuse of power and desire.

[@Cookie0927]

Late comment but I believe when it comes to a teacher being harsh, its subjective. Some people might benefit more from a teacher that is really nice. Some people might benefit more from a harsh strict teacher. It depends on the student.

[@hohoucgguztizi4655]

My guitar teacher that I had at school, and the one that sparked my passion for guitar, had a clock on the wall, but he took out the hands and wrote on it, "time to work" he was a really cool guy and always kept me wanting to learn guitar, maybe it was also that it was a class but it worked nonetheless!

[@davesaenz3732]

"Time to Work!! Awesome!!!🎸

[@NeonRadarMusic]

To the second point, I feel like it's useful to ask a student not what they want to learn, but what music they actually LIKE. That way, I use the music they like as a means to let the techniques and theory (things that are near-universal across genres) come in the form of music that they actually enjoy. I find that my students discover what kinds of music they gravitate towards that way and it inspires them creatively and I can use the music they like as a gateway to other styles that inspired the music they like so they can follow the trail and appreciate the history.

[@skipneumann1]

Another interesting thing to look at is how the music store “runs” their lesson program if you are the student or the teacher. I taught at a store where the owner would start flashing the lights, turning off the power, and knocking on the door when the 1/2 hour was over. As a jazz student, I had a teacher who played the whole time- it was never my turn- didn’t stay long

[@adamcraneguilford6236]

I am blessed with a fabulous teacher named Jerry Schillinger, a master of jazz chord melody playing. He teaches in the most patient and thorough fashion. I have played for forty years, so the lessons are advanced and the techniques he teaches are quite difficult to master. He is the best teacher ever imho

[@73challenger5031]

On the other side of this, I'm an decent guitarist and only play for the joy of it. I write songs and record them and when people hear me play, they like it. I get the occasional person who wants me to teach them. I'm reluctant because everyone I try to teach, never sticks to it. I start out with basic, open chords and show them how important it is to work on making sure all of the notes ring out in the chords. If they return, I'll show them some basic progressions and how to move from one chord to the next and then I never see them again. I'm super patient because I don't want them to fear it and I'm not charging them any money and just want them to learn how great music is but, they just don't want to commit.

[@davesaenz3732]

I take a class with you any day. 🎸

[@brapamaldi]

another approach to try may be something like simple one string melodies. it may be that the chords are a bit daunting to a beginner, but if they can play a few 'tunes' even if they are on a single string, it may be just what they need to keep them interested and coming back for more?

[@jfo3000]

I've taught a few people. They see me play and ask me to teach them. I try to show them a couple songs they want to learn, the C major scale in the first 3 frets, and position 1 of the pentatonic scale. Most people give up within a couple weeks. Had two stick with it a while, with one becoming very accomplished. I think most people give up early on, they don't really want it. They see us play and think " If he shows me, I'll be able to instantly do it." Then they give it a try and get a rude awakening, that it hurts and will take months to get it happening. It's a normal occurrence. Most folks won't dedicate time and effort to anything worthwhile.

[@Gabrostil]

The closest thing that i have to a guitar teacher is your channel

[@yannam5339]

How is your playing level?

[@jakeblanton6771]

Same bro

[@w.allencaddell6421]

Me 3, let's hook up FaceTime and practice together. My name is Wayneo,,,

[@andreagarcia-rp2ch]

SAME

[@andresardon2286]

X2

[@palix5925]

I had a teacher that overly praised me, and I would get angry every time he did that. He would tell me to "improv a solo" and then stop me after I played a single note and he would write a solo and make me mime it, then say "you wrote that all by yourself. that's awesome!" I'm getting irritated just thinking about it. haha

[@jayyoutube8790]

One thing I noticed about my teacher was we shared internet in the same music (before he passed away) I believe that is how he became my best friend in the end. I had so much respect for him knowing he was a former US Marine with an “honorable discharge” (heart condition) I was devastated to find him sitting on the couch, cold to the touch. He was gone. Find out he stopped taking his heart meds and didn’t tell anyone. RIP Mike Vohar II

[@bresea702]

I'm so sorry you had to find him like that😣

[@urex1717]

My only guitar teacher was a classmate who showed me how to play E, A and D. From there it was magazines and listening to a given recording over and over again. The internet is such a blessing for young and old guitar players. The same can be said for those of you who share your knowledge.

[@3cardmonty602]

My initial guitar teacher kept me in Scales & Exercises forever. I had an hour long lesson, and he’d dedicate the last 10 minutes to a song, & made me play rhythm while he played lead. But I wanted to learn lead. I think I was just a warmup to his Saturday night gigs. Ugh!

[@daniel_naaden]

been teaching for a few months, still with my first student, thought i'd give my take-away from this 1. i try hard to not do this, especially when i'm teaching online for most of my lessons. 2. my student barely knew anything about guitar, so i taught him how to play, and then i asked him about a few songs. then i started giving him some songs that i liked that were similar to the few songs he'd heard, and i told him to choose which one to learn. still working on this tho, i fall into it every now and then. 3. it's very tempting lol, but i desperately try not to. if i fall into it, i cut it before 10 seconds. 4. this one is especially difficult for me. i try hard to cover the details. i try very hard to NOT say good enough, i push my student. 5. i really hope he doesn't see me like that, because i try not to be. definitely something to keep in mind, especially if i'm in a bad mood one day for no reason. 6. i praise where praise is worthy. if he tries a solo and doesn't get it, i say "ok, could be better, let's work on these parts that you didn't get." again, i do try pushing my student. 7. good to keep in mind. i had that mentality at one point, but watching enough videos changed my mind on that. 8. will make note of this for the future. great video, i've learned a lot from that, thanks!

[@charlesbranch4120]

Thank you for this episode, Mike. I started with books, then found my instructor, who said most of her students are over 50 and two are in their 90s. Great 8-page intro in the workbook explains what material will be taught, not so much that it overwhelms, and a mix (of right and left hand work, rhythm, reading tabs, etc), getting comfortable with (developing "mastery') with each lesson, and then moving on to the next. A private Fb group builds fellowship, like the way we learned math in high school, getting together in the math resource center and working through the problems together, educating each other so we all understood the concepts. Being self-taught, helps with understanding the difficulties of students. I had deleted my Fb account several years ago, an archive of Cordova, Alaska's Centennial DC-3 Adventure flight to McCarthy, where two full flights on the 18-seat airplane spent the weekend touring Kennicott's copper mill, power plant and the towns. I opened a new FB account for the sole purpose of joining the guitar group. Thanks again for the "Here's Your Sign That..."

[@fadge4105]

Great tips man, thanks. Whenever anyone has asked me to teach them lessons I've always shied away from it because the doubt starts from 'what should I teach first?'..or 'maybe I cant play what they want to learn?'..this is invaluable stuff for people like me.

[@handlebarmustachio9301]

My first in-person teacher insisted on me learning styles I hated, and reading music. Instead of loving the instrument and playing songs or even riffs I loved, I was stuck learning country love songs an how to read the Hal Leonard book. Nearly quit guitar forever. Thank god I left and found someone more effective.

[@ChrisAnthonyGuitar]

Great video! I’m a session guitarist and absolutely love teaching. I’m inspired by learning and progressing, and still take lessons myself occasionally which benefits all aspects of my career.

[@theragingplatypus4743]

Very frue about glossing over the details but hard for a beginner to know because they don't know what details are being glossed over. Okay you covered this after. Well done.

[@JT_Grogan]

Hey dude, I just recently started teaching and this is actually really helpful on both sides. I'm definitely guilty of the "what do want to learn today" and subconscious clock-watching.

[@danielguerola]

As a teacher I really do appreciate the content of your video. Mandatory watch for instructors!

[@pentalarclikesit822]

I quit formal lessons because the guitar teacher kept insulting me. He was an excellent guitarist, but he was a jazz guitarist, and was very open about the fact that he considered the metal, grunge, and punk that I was into and wanted to learn as "noise for stupid people" and referred to any rock after the mid 70's as "commie drug music." He did encourage me to bring in songs I wanted to learn, but if anything wasn't in standard tuning, he would make fun of me and complain about having to detune his guitar "like a druggie." I also liked the show M*A*S*H, and wanted to learn the theme for it. He showed me the basic chords and then said, "If you were good, you could do this," and started playing a combo of the gutiar and vocal line. It sounded great but when I asked him to show me some of that part, he openly told me, "you're not good enough." The final straw was when I showed him a song that I wrote. First he told me that I should not try to write music until I was better but, "the kind of music you listen to, I guess it doesn't matter." He then accused me of "looking things up that we hadn't gotten to yet," and of ripping off the chord progression (Am/C/Em/Dsus2) because "you're not smart enough to stay in key otherwise." He then told me that he wouldn't teach me anymore unless I promised not write music until "we had done three years of lessons." I quit the lessons, and kept writing music.

[@paisleepunk]

shoulda sold him out to a black nash org, he may call himself a "jazzer", but in reality, he was disgracing the whole shebang

[@fushiguro8913]

I left guitar teachers after 3/4 years of lessons (been playing almost 10 years now). I was kinda blessed to have a great guitar teacher, always hated when the lesson was over. He took me through the guitar grade books for most of it but sometimes he asked me if I want to do the book or something more fun. He always came up with suggestions as to what he thinks I should attempt and introduced me to new techniques/styles all the time. Technically he wasn't the best guitar player like he couldn't sweep pick, he couldn't shred that well (only mentioning this coz that's the type of stuff I like), he broke his pinky and it hindered his playing a lot but he was still so good at keeping me interested and helping me with basic/intermediate level stuff

[@clascaulfieldjr3653]

Me to bass teacher: I want to play this fast metal song with mostly 16th notes, tempo changes, and slap on a 5 string bass. Teacher: okay you’ll get there but how about you play the same whole note at 40 bpm first. 😔🤔Well played, Mr. Bass Teacher

[@dulymaximus]

I cant help but think of that guitar as a red velvet cake

[@jerrybeilgard5824]

I found a teacher that was a university music graduate. If you dont take class's you have difficulty knowing how to structure a class. That doesnt mean that taking lessons is a prerequisite to teach. It just gives that insight.

[@doomslayer3418]

bro you made one of the best videos this one and students today and in 1997 are extremely true and so relatable being a student back in 2000 and a tutor now ,,,, these two videos speaks my mind !!!!!!!

[@nightsblood]

Like a week ago I realized my guitar teacher is glossing over the details and not breaking stuff down to me, yk, like, he’d be like „2nd barre moll chord at 7th fret” and expect me to play it perfectly when I didn’t even know how to play a barre chord

[@waynebrown1394]

Another great video Mike as always, I have a great teacher. He has played with many people that are in the country hall of fame. He is still a studio musician in Nashville and he still plays with 3 local bands. I went and saw him at many of his gigs and he is awesome and not only plays guitar he can play the pedal steal and just about everything that has strings. I trained a pedal steal guitar player to be a cop like 20 years ago and I just found him on face book. I told him that I started lessons on guitar and told him who my teacher was and he knew him from Nashville. The best thing about him is that you have to be the devil to not like him and he is very humble. I guess I got one thing right in the past 3 years. I lived in MN from 2005 to 2008 would of loved to had you as a teacher.

[@charlesbranch4120]

Great comment, Wayne. Since I retired to tropical Idaho (the lake country in the north that reminds me of MN), I drove out to Stillwater, MN for my niece's wedding in 2014, northern WI and spent several days with my cohort fish biologist friend at Brainerd/Baxter. We rode our bikes on the trail between a couple towns one afternoon, had lunch at a place where he played with their band, Hans Blix and the Weapons Inspectors. In Alaska during the 1980s, we seemed to have our hands (sometimes more) immersed in cold water every day, and at 65 now, I recall our shared comments on whether that would lead to arthritis in our fingers later. It's taking a while, but chords start sounding better after a time. Happy to be here!

[@waynebrown1394]

@@charlesbranch4120 I did some networking work in still water for about a year a beautiful place.

[@emily_the_studd]

Wow you’re such an honest teacher! Thanks for explaining the teacher side of things too.

[@Jambles3224]

Asking my students what they want to learn is my biggest flaw thanks for pointing it out because I totally thought I was helping students not hurting them

[@jadm110]

How about having the members write in and give examples of what they like in a guitar teacher ( positive attributes ) so we have the Yin and yang of guitar teaching philosophy covered

[@michaelw6277]

I'm only beginning my journey as a guitar player, but I do have thousands of hours of instructional design and "behind the podium" instructional work. One thing I can add is that teaching is a skill that's completely separate from the subject being presented. The most amazing guitar player on the planet might be completely incapable of actually teaching in a coherent and productive way while an intermediate player who has very solid fundamental knowledge and skills combined with the ability to organize, adapt, and present that knowledge to an individual student effectively might be the ideal teacher to get you moving in the right direction.

[@GreekGroover]

This was very helpful man :) Thanks for the tips. I found myself in #2 . Happy to improve and become the best version of myself! You're inspiring!

[@Bowe_Music]

This could easily be applied to ANY music teacher, especially the last one. Great video!

[@davesaenz3732]

You seem a great teacher. But honestly, my instructors in college.... yeah, they really couldn't do. Very few did. 🎸

[@prentum6551]

My parents got me lessons when I was a kid, I wanted to learn to play but i didn't have any artists or music I was a fan of and all the teachers would do is ask me what I want to learn or what songs I wanted to learn and I never wanted the songs at all I just wanted to play lol. getting back into guitar now years later i'm teaching myself scales/chords/improvising and loving it so much more.

[@professorsc213]

It's amazing how music and martial arts run such close parallels. So many musicians I've worked with in the past are also into the martial arts as much as I am. I think your videos excellent!! Your students are so fortunate to have you as an instructor. Much respect to you. 😀

[@thedude2122]

I got my first teacher after a year of being self taught and by the time I got him I had played some gigs at our school and played longer concerts doing some alt rock songs and some other stuff. He was really good and primarily played some kind of jazz fusion. I’m not the kind of punk guitarist who is like I don’t need theory I actively learn it. But I remember one of the conversations we had about the songwriting with some of my favorite bands. We talked about sound garden (he was also a fan) and I showed him Jesus Christ pose he hadn’t listened to that song. but he said that with most of those bands from the alt scene that so long as the vocalist is good the rest of them don’t matter. So he has completely discredited the talent of the other members of the band and said what they played did not matter cause Chris (rip) was such an amazing vocalist. Never have I lost respect for someone so quickly. I had booked him for like 10 lessons and went to 4 or 5 lessons because I slowly began to tell that this was a side gig for him in between doing the odd gig and sound engineering. Some of my other friends even guys who were way better than me ditched the lessons and the money we had spent on the guy.

[@rawkinj6609]

ALL teachers should follow these rules!! I've been sometimes harder on students that showed potential. Also, trying to teach too much information, babbling knowledge, wanting them to know what you know asap. Thanks for this!! Cheers!

[@freshestemo]

These are the only lessons I’ve had so far. Love the site and lesson outline. Keep it up. Such a great job

[@Santiino]

Started online almost a year ago...the improvements are really great and it is just the perfect thing with all the lockdowns goin on.

[@zalirose_]

I hate teachers who ask what do you wanna learn. I had one like that but they did ask about specific song but that was that all the time. I didn't hate it back then but now I'm like I learnt nothing cause I always wanted to learn songs by the same band (so half my bad but my teacher should've taught me other songs) the band's guitar stuff was super simple, e.g. power chords. I didn't even learn how to play octaves or harmonics so I have had to teach myself.

[@NDFlyFisher]

My first teacher’s approach was to ask me what songs I wanted to learn. Then I got a demo on how to play with a little technique but very little explanation. I only lasted 3 months.

[@RandyBakkelund]

yeah same here, and for me i had to sit there through most of my lessons that my mom paid to watch him tab out the song by ear and write it out sloppily with pencil on my notebook, no theory details at all, just tab. I took lessons from this guy for 1 whole year when i was about 14. He did teach me how to do pinch harmonics and eddie van halen basic tapping, so i guess it wasn't terrible but the songs i learned i don't even care about anymore, so learning how to play a full song is a waste of time to me in general now, if it's just for the sake of saying you can play it from the tab, but not know any theory of what it is, then that's not really learning much that is valuable.

[@shericordes9744]

Thanks for the info and affirmation Mike! I try to learn something new every year and decided to start guitar lessons this year (Spanish, ...way past 12...;) Yes, been watching your other videos! ;) ) and was wondering about a teacher. (He is great so far!) As an artist and art teacher, I get that last point a lot! Yes, I have been teaching it for 20+ years, not because I don't "do" it, but because I want to encourage and inspire people to try it too!

[@timtaylor286]

Wow, well done. Great observation. It’s so obvious that’s what happened to music, but I never realized why until I watched this

[@noobdriver2639]

1 sign you have the GREAT guitar teacher: you're subscribed to The-Art-of-Guitar

[@moto238]

Excellent video, words of wisdom. There are also lousy students too.

[@rossonero135]

Changed my first teacher because of reason 1 🤣

[@jadm110]

+1 i have had a few of these, one used a kitchen timer. and halfway through teaching a riff (rrrrrrrrrring!)"LESSON OVER" go home - --- NEXT STUDENT! some times a concept takes a little longer to convey the content of the lesson and the instructor has to be aware of this. and this is true for every teacher in every subject!!

[@rossonero135]

Woow.. How rude... Mine had a discotheque out of work (and a bar on the next floor) so he used the space for teaching and he would say 'practice this chord i'll be back' and he would go to the bar to work, or he would be fixing something upstairs and then comes back and says good work 😂 and storms off again... I was a beginner so any kind of teacher is good for me... But i changed him after few weeks.. 😁

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

@Sasha Zezov thats just peak wtf, how is he allowed to do this lol

[@astewart9410]

In my small town, I took one lesson once (that’s it). The instructor did at least five of these in one half hour. He also wasted about five minutes tuning. Plus the kid before me was slow packing up to leave and the kid behind me was peeking in the window at 20 minutes into our 30 minutes, so it wasn’t a concentrated half hour. All he gave me was chords for House Of The Rising Sun. I never went back because that was money I didn’t want to spend that way. I mostly use the internet now.

[@desertfox432]

Great video, I'd add: 9. Being influenced by management to purchase curriculum, instruments, exams. (Just imagine the motivation lost struggling to pass a children's exam on a mediocre overpriced instrument at age 30, let alone the humiliation of pressured to perform a children's piece at that age.) 10. A teacher that is obviously overworked with too many students, projects to have any attention for you. 11. Someone that is so different from you, that the difference isn't a learning experience, but a struggle in communication and conflict of goals. 12. A teacher looking for a trophy to impress his/her colleagues and embellish their resume. (you mentioned a similar thing in Whiplash, but the difference here is recognizing the prowl for a trophy in character as a minus).

[@OriginalKingRichTv]

Mike!!! It finally clicked for me! Caged, intervals and the fretboard. 🥳I couldn’t have gotten here so soon without you!

[@t3hgir]

isn't it wonderful when the fretboard starts to look like home?

[@mariosanelli7117]

Always had a desire to learn to play but started later in life..late 40’s early 50. Definitely not a prodigy 😂 although my teacher treated like most of what I was doing was correct. I knew it wasn’t after watching countless instructional vids and reading a few books but he wouldn’t help me discover what was wrong, why and how to fix. He’d just blaze through it himself as if I’d pick up what exactly I needed to fix. Spent next year and half trying to correct on my own while attending 1 to 1.5 hrs per week of private lessons still ending where I left off. It’s now been a few years without a teacher as lost confidence in both myself and my teacher but finally found you Mike 👍👏. I have, like all of you here, a passion to play guitar at a high level and have subscribed to your online lesson packs Mike. I have full confidence in your teaching methods, abilities and approach as you provide structure, direction and incorporate the students goals as well ie customize. My dream is to play well enough to play in a band even if just periodically. Love to make a living in music but will happily settle with playing a few songs here and there in a band. Btw one technique I continue to struggle with is vibrato. Can do the bends but my vibrato is terrible 😨. My wrist just locks up on me. Can’t seem to figure it even after using thumb and/or palm as pendulum. Thanks again Mike 🎸

[@VilleKuitunen6]

You bring a very, very important message. I'm 44 years old now and have been playing the guitar for about 30 years. I didn't have the best teachers I can tell you. They weren't all bad but didn't really know how to teach and were basically repeating the stuff you're mentioning here. I'm not all shit with the guitar but my level of playing went up ridiculously fast when I found the righ teacher (Jeff McErlain) and a couple of useful KZbin channels (your channel and Ben Eller mostly). Now I'm even able to shred a bit, which I thought I'd never be able to do.

[@leesaiga1785]

You've perfectly captured it! From experience, it's easy to find a good guitar player who teaches. But it's REALLY to find a real guitar teacher. One thing I would add, is if the teacher had levels from beginners to advanced, with clear explanations and descriptions of what you need to learn at each level, and a logical thread, each new skill leading to the next - so you can visualize your progress. That's often missing.

[@AfterTouchhh]

I had an amazing teacher last year. He was really passionate about teaching and I would even ditch my friends during school break just so I could get an extra 10 minutes from the lesson. He was the first and probably last teacher that made me want to learn more. His name was Manos tavlakis. He was the first teacher that I would study every single piece he gave me. I would play before bed and even before the bus arrived in the morning. At the time, we were in lockdown but even so he put so much effort in teaching me what I needed to be taught. He even dragged me out to face my fears, and he succeeded. He told me that we were going to be playing for the school (in front of a lot of students) and he would not take no as an answer. Despite the fact I cried during rehearsal, I played in front of the school. I messed up twice but I got right in and we got a really nice applause. After we finished he didnt even mention the mistakes I did. I would say he was surprised on how I managed to get right back in the song because we had not discussed if I were to fail how I would get back in. He told me to join and play with others, something that I really want now but I'll have to build my skills and courage in order to find passionate people who want to jam. I was told at the beginning of the year that he would come back at the school but I heard nothing since then. The teacher I had originally for that year was basically a show off. He would always talk about random things and waste time. I learned nothing from him. I would play the same song over and over again even though I would struggle at some parts and he wouldnt correct me. I was so bored of them that I even skipped lessons. Now I have a teacher that is almost the same as the one I just mentioned. So I'm going to turn to youtube and also this channel to learn. Good guitar teachers are rare. So rare. Its crazy.

[@DanzoSrife]

I think you also described a few bad doctors that I had to walk out on too! hahahaaha

[@Subharaj_Ghosh_Guitar]

Great points there man. I've heard a lot of those myself from my students as well

[@aaronwkeech7328]

What if my instructor does not challenge me enough. I get taught one simple bar of music. As soon as I get home I nail it. What should I do?

[@ryanwilson5936]

Ditch the instructor and teach yourself with KZbin videos and tabs (or by ear if you want to be really good, you seem to have great potential). Play what you want instead of paying for lessons YOU don’t need. Most of what you learn on guitar at any level can be self taught extremely easy these days thanks to the internet. Just search for what you want to learn. Instant free lessons. Now you have more money gear.

[@timothyt34]

My first teacher never taught me anything and asked me what I wanted to learn so he did this for a few months and I just left him. My second teacher never wanted to teach me so he got his daughter to teach me and I didn't enprove at all and my third teacher moved away after 4 or 5 months. So I decided to teach myself and it is working really well.

[@melaniebuford]

Maybe I am the only student looking at this positively different. When I was a teenager, my first music teacher kept choosing songs for me to learn without my input. Without wanting to know my favorite genre in music I wanted to learn. So, when I found a different music teacher for other reasons outside music, I felt liberated. Music freedom because they were not only letting me choose the song, they made it where the song could be my own. So from my experience, there’s nothing wrong by it. But that’s just me.

[@torrw2434]

I got lucky and found a great teacher online. I take lessons through Skype twice a week. First lesson is guitar technique and the second is music theory. Really talented teacher and amazing player. Couldn’t be happier.

[@mellofan2012]

My guitar teachers always turned me away from playing bass when deep down i felt like a bass player. Choosing between the two is still a hard choice i have to make

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

Damn

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

You can still play both!

[@themixmusicandmore6280]

I had a guitar teacher that would ask if theres a song i wanted to learn and when i brought it to him he would just say he doesnt know what the guitar is doing in that song and instead teach me something i didn't want to learn

[@UltimateRaven41]

What i really hated, back then when i was learning the guiter, though i still am learning, but my knowlengde is much wider and bigger, was to cover every time a new song. I neither know why we cover exactly this song, why not another, what does i gain from this song, etc... what i like is to have talk with the teacher about music, theory, understanding the instrument i play and other instruments, which have a similair build like a guitar; and different practise methods to increase certain techniques - something, which i do with my students! This way the student won't never know what's happening in the lesson and they get excited every time about the lesson. Cheers

[@Laz3rCat95]

I have never taken a guitar lesson but this stuff definitely applies to all types of music lessons.

[@mikesmith4052]

I absolutely love this. I have the upmost admiration, respect and love for you bro

[@AdventureAndySnM]

Do you feel that telling a student that something is good when it isn't necessarily the best is problematic? This is in response to your point about how telling a student that something is good enough can be problematic. I can often think of a few things that would make a particular passage in the music that we are working on better, but I believe it is more beneficial to keep moving so that they get a good variety of material in order to keep their interest. What are your thoughts on this? (I teach woodwinds by the way haha)

[@boboschme2193]

36 yrs old, been teaching Guitar for 17 years now. Well, to make it short: I hate it! I am definitely someone who you could describe as a failed Musician. I got around 60 students at the Moment and 90% of the time it is absolutely agonizing and makes me hate my life.

[@SidAlienTV]

..... Same here, bro. Well, I had a couple nice exeptions. A 17 year old bassist who played so good. Things like Stevie Wonder "Sir Duke" with such a good taste. Other young guy who played trombone, no idea from bass, one year later we learnt together Jaco Pastorius licks on my fretless bass. Another one that was a catastrophe but I had 3 years patience and he played in a very energetic Gary Moore/Slash style. Maybe 2 or 3 more, the rest are basket cases.

[@ochi762]

Thank you for this video, I was just thinking about that and you really helped me.

[@Remmy_Swag]

Out of 3 teachers I had, they were all terrible for checking the time constantly, walking around looking for extra cables and tuners and showing off with ah here's another blues riff to discourage you by saying you'll never be able to play it as well as me 🤪

[@TJ-vt6rt]

I never had a teacher, I taught myself guitar and piano. Probably got some terrible bad habits and finger positions but hey.

[@flbiker57]

Great video, Mike.

[@preheated]

I have a teacher at school who tells me my that high strings were ringing and that I shouldn't have my fingers out when holding a guitar pick. My guitar teacher now who is a very good teacher got me over ringing strings months before in a about 10 minutes and I didn't have to change the way I hold my hand when picking.

[@MrRevertis]

Check, check, check, yup, had that one too... sheesh. How do they expect me to tell them what I need to learn? Had my last lesson with a teacher a week before covid, another 'so what do you want to play' session, so I said I guess I'd like to be able to start to solo and improvise a bit, I'm mostly self-taught and I sort of knew one minor pentatonic scale. He sticks on a backing track and immediately starts jamming like a pro and waits for me to join in, I kind of tried to just copy him a little bit for ten minutes, no idea what I'm doing, getting more and more flustered to where I could barely hold the pick let alone find a note in the right key, while he he says "have you ever played a real gig? no? I'm not surprised", and "come on, it's only six strings, just play". I could feel my confidence dropping through the bottom of my shoes, couldn't touch the guitar for two weeks afterwards, while I was trying to work out how to never go back the whole country went into lockdown so I avoided that at least. I'd quite like to get back to taking private lessons but I'm really gunshy about getting back into that situation, is it ok to email a teacher ahead of time? Tell them why I'm a bit wary, and not at all confident, is that rude?

[@inperf3ct]

Now that's just really shitty and unprofessional behaviour, from a 'teacher' really. Some advice I could give as a self tought intermediate player who is also drawn to improvisation is to learn the notes on the fretboard by memorizing where all the notes of the lowest open string are located at and using that knowledge to navigate around with the pentatonic minor. That's where I started a few years ago after many years of not even having a guitar and mainly just playing open chords previously. Another thing that's super important is to develop some kind of routine that you can stick to. It's really daunting at first but if you keep at it then those pieces will start locking together and one day you'll notice that you just accidentally shredded a little for the first time. (I'm being very liberal with what I mean by shredding here lol) Mike's awesome and The Art of Guitar is a great channel but you should also look up Ben Eller Guitars and Bernth here on youtube, they've helped me so much. Ben Ellers' advice especially has helped me with improvisation. Have a great time playing!

[@bobravenscraft5376]

Mine would yell at me. 6mos later. I know at least twice his level. MY PAYBACK

[@klasewiberg]

Do a "This should be everyones second guitar lesson", or 30th or something for us intermidieate players. Great video!

[@gregpendleton4957]

Man I wish I could find a teacher like you.

[@robertgoyette5863]

this is an important video for parents too. I had the complete wrong style of teaching when i started

[@loaferwolf3230]

i agree. i would first just teach them their fav song to build confidence and then move on to the fundamentals

[@JubaDeMetalAlumínio]

And if your student's favorite song have 24 minutes and is kinda virtuosic?

[@omartrachen6794]

My guitar teacher is guilty of 2 things: wasting my hour and showing off a little... I hope he could improve on those 2 areas... Thanks for the video

[@ronhutcherson9845]

The point about asking “What do you want to learn” reminds me of my education classes in college. In general, children feel insecure when parents aren’t in charge and the same dynamic applies to students and teachers. I’m normally a passive person so I have to watch out for that when I’m in a position of responsibility.

[@thedaughterwhomjesusloves9369]

Totally agree about my teacher offering to teach just to show off their skills to boost his ego as if he was deprived given the chance to perform on stage! He never praises, never lets me up making me feel small correcting my playing and embarrasses me in front of others. Sometimes you wonder how can they come from the same grace based church.

[@Driessens_Peter]

LOL, showing of infront of your students and then just say : Now practice! and going away for a smoke. Thats the ultimate bad teacher then i guess

[@bobravenscraft5376]

Major scale. Never went back last week. Figured last box on my own. SKYS THE LIMIT

[@TroyShaw]

I have the same guitar but it's an epiphone.

[@RyObes]

Love your videos. You really help me

[@hotpenguin607]

I started learning guitar for a while I'm happy to know that my guitar teacher basically have bone of these red flags He's not the best at explaining details sometimes, but we always get to the bottom of it together

[@SteveOnlin]

1-It's skwisgaar skwigelf

[@andrejz8954]

Great video Mike! Thank you for the tips! You're cool! :)

[@larryalexander900]

My first guitar teacher used to hit me whenever I did something wrong, that was when I was ten. Didn't really inspire me to play classical guitar, I only got serious when I was 35.

[@doomerius1300]

Woah, that's really shitty

[@SUMFANIUM]

"those who do, teach best!."

[@HeyHoHolly]

I always had the feeling my former teacher just teached me because he needed someone to play along with. It felt like: "Learn this thing. Great, you learnd this thing and now I'm going to play along for the rest of the hour." I just learned songs and that's it. When it came to musical theory his response was something like: "There is this other teacher in our group. He'll teach you but you have to come here on another day of the week." At least those theory lessons were included in the fee.

[@danielpinkstar215]

I have a classical guitar who is very rigid and thinks everybody else is wrong apart from him. I was under Abrsm. I wanted to do Abrsm's fingering because that is what worked best for me, but he wouldn't let me do it. I practiced and practiced his method, even though I was uncomfortable with it and finally said about the exam and he told me I wasn't ready. Yet I kept up with him the whole way, done his fingering and nearly burst into tears throwing the guitar in the gutter. Everybody says I should leave him, but Abrsm guitar teachers are very few and far between. I then got sick of going over the same ground all the time and got more enjoyment learning from books than his lessons. He disses everything ABRSM does including other guitarists who are musically sound with great technique, yet only he is the best. He re arranges all the exam board's fingering which I prefer to his own method. Today he showed me a piece arranged by Sergovia, then someone else and then he arranged from both copies his fingering and wanted me to memorize his! I am really unhappy, the lessons have been a slog and have not even been able to share my love of music with him even. People tell me he's a bully like that guy in Whiplash and tell me for my own sanity I need to get out and go with someone else. I need advice and serious help, what should I do? ="" ( Daniel

[@trevorclark7985]

my first guitar teacher (2nd grade) did most of these things well. We went through the method book most of the time but he would ask me what i wanted to learn. He taught all of pink floyd’s money to a 4th grader.

[@noahhughes1433]

My teacher, at a point to where I was confident in my playing, asked what I want to learn. Now I learn polyphia and buckethead