Hi guys!

after at least a year of looking on the site i decided to sign up again!
(i do have another account but for some reason it doesnt recognise my email address =/ )

anyway, i guess what im after is some teaching advice.

i recently set up teaching guitar from home, i figured why not? i've studied music all my life and have my grade8 plus its something iv always wanted to do!

ok so first things first, i was going to teach from home but what do i need in order to do this?
like insurance or w/e, also as far as im aware you dont need any kind of degree?

I've decided to do a 'first lesson free' promotion for the time being to attract students however, I'm not sure what to do during this first lesson in order to get the potential student inspired and come back for more, what would your advice on that be?

I have a good understanding of theory, chords etc. but i know i need to make my first free lesson extra 'special' but im just not sure how to go about it.

So basically, any advice you have regarding starting up a new teaching business from home in general or anything related would really be much appreciated!

Here's a visual of the things i like to play when im not teaching as well as a couple of my own tunes on there too; www.myspace.com/simonredfernuk

Thanks for your time guys i look forward to hearing from you all!



Simon Redfern

I'll skip the parts about rules and regulations, as I'm not familiar with the UK laws.

I have been teaching from my home(s) over some years. All I had was two chairs, two amps and a table. I focused on what each guitarist wanted to learn. The first time they sat down I asked them "What do you want to learn?" and that got the ball rolling. The trick was to teach them what they wanted to learn, while also feeding them with stuff I think they should learn. So if they wanted to learn tapping, they had to get into theory. Sweeping = theory, strumming = theory. I like theory.

I also gave them homework.

If I should give you any tips...
- Try to pinpoint what you want to teach them, and make sure they learn it.
- Give them enough time. I gave lessons that lasted for 60 minutes. Then I had 15 minutes extra at the end, just in case we were in a good discussion/playing. Don't have an alarm chiming when the time's up.
- Try to sell lessons over a period of time. I prefer fixed days and hours. A lot easier to keep track.
- Never show off! As long as he thinks you are good, that's good enough. Nobody will be paying to watch you play.

That's something to start with, I guess. Of course, you may want it for a fulltime job, parttime. What do I know...

They were some good tips!



I teach on a pretty irregular basis nowerdays to be honest, and I have found 3 simple steps to make things happen for any student of any level:

-Tell them what you are going to teach them
-Teach them it
-Tell them what you just taught them

Couple this with regular and relaxed home practice, and you have a recipe for results on the instrument and block-bookings to come.

wow guys thanks for the comments yeah i agree, teach them what they want to learn first and foremost. Theres nothing like teaching a student something and watching them learn!

I have been teaching for a year. Mostly younger kids.

I think it depends on the student. For your first lesson free you should really try to excite them. Find what they like and play it for them or show them something easy that will hook them i.e Smoke on the water, PHs, Bends, power chord riffs, AC/DC, you know.

If you have a young student then appeal to the parents.

If you teach at home you should set up a place where parents can wait and hear what is going on, or see if possible. That way everyones comfortable.

I use Guitar pro 5 to make exercises and scales customly for my students. It helps make the lesson look more professional becuase you can put things like " exercise for (insert student name here)" . I know it sounds stupid and maybe even synical but it just looks professional.

Teach the genre they want but not nessicarily the stuff they want. Dont throw them in head first. If they wanna learn Jazz teach them pentatonic scales and teach them blues riffs. Classical- teach them how to fingerpick triads. Metal-powerchords and arpeggios(lots of minor apreggios and eventually major 7s).

Hope this helps man. Good luck with everything.