Teaching Guitar Mistakes to Avoid

Teaching the guitar to a beginner can be a fun and rewarding experience for all involved.

While it may be difficult at times to build up skills and techniques needed to play the guitar, when it all clicks, your student will excel.

However, there are a few common teaching mistakes you will want to avoid when teaching your beginner. We cover it all here.

Guitar Teaching Mistake #1: Linear Teaching

The first mistake teachers make is attempting to follow a linear teaching pattern.

This usually involves learning one skill at a time, not moving on to the next skill until the first skill is mastered.

However, with musical instruments, especially the guitar, it is helpful to learn a variety of skills and techniques, using them together or in conjuncture in order to build skill.

Plus, if a teacher were to take a more linear approach, it may be weeks before the student even touches their guitar.

This can lead to boredom and frustration, resulting in giving up on learning to play the guitar all together.

Guitar Teaching Mistake #2: Getting Caught Up In Book Work

While every student is different and some may come to lessons with basic knowledge of reading sheet music, it is a good idea to offer a variety of ways to read music.

Starting off with standard notation and music theory is probably not a winning strategy for most beginners.

Try to teach using a combination of book work and technical skills. That will keep your student engaged and help them with at-home practice.

Guitar Teaching Mistake #3: Being Unprepared

It should go without saying that you need to come prepared for your lesson. Create a syllabus if you’d like or come to class with an idea of what you want your student to learn that day.

Having a set schedule will keep you and your student on track so that they make the most of their guitar lessons.

Likewise, a dedicated student should also come prepared by practicing or reviewing skills or techniques they learned in the last lesson.

Guitar Teaching Mistake #4: Teaching Different Students in the Same Way

Students are not the same. Some are visual learners while others may be auditory, or any other type of learning.

Teaching students using a “one-size-fits-all” approach is probably not going to have the effect you’d like it to.

That is why it is important to approach each lesson with your individual student in mind. Work with them to develop a lesson plan that meets their needs and their goals.

It will make lessons much more fun and effective when your student is fully engaged.

Guitar Teaching Mistake #5: Not Listening to Your Student

That being said, the last mistake we will cover is not listening to your student. Your student came to you to learn how to play the guitar.

The beauty of that is that there are so many different ways to play the guitar – rock, jazz, classical, you name it. Understanding what style your student aspires to play is a good start.

Once you know that, you can cater your lessons to that style and start to dive into what your student would like accomplish in the next week, month, or year.

Having an end goal to work towards is a great way to structure your lessons.

Instill Good Practice Habits

While these guitar teaching mistakes may be common, they are easily avoidable with a little awareness and communication. And you can never go wrong when you encourage healthy practice habits.

Encourage regular practice, even if it is just a few minutes out of the day.

Provide simple, yet effective practice tutorials for your student so they can build on skills they may be struggling with during lessons.

Conclusion – Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Guitar

Ultimately, learning the guitar will take lots of practice and dedication, but all of that pays off at the end of a good lesson.