Are Guitar Lessons Worth It?
Updated: Apr 12, 2022
The perspective of someone who never took guitar lessons and ended up becoming a guitar teacher:
Given that some self-taught people can become instructors and play guitar professionally without a lesson answers the question: Can I learn to play guitar without a teacher? YES!
So, why even bother with a guitar teacher? Is it even worth it?
Thousands of people every day are searching online to figure out how to play guitar. There are tutorials videos all over YouTube and online chord charts for just about every song out there.
Many people are self taught and they end up as fantastic guitar players! Others swear by the benefits of having a private teacher. So how should you decide which method is best for you?
(Keep in mind that this article is written by someone who was mostly self taught.)
I started playing the guitar at the age of 12 and my first three chords, I learned all by myself. I sat in my room for five hours straight just to learn ONE of those chords! But it got easier to play the different songs with each new chord I learned.
There came a point where I couldn’t figure out what I needed to do next in order to progress. I had hit a wall!
Luckily, I had three older brothers who had been playing the guitar for years and years. By watching them play the guitar, I was able to pick up techniques and methods for playing more advanced music. With my brothers’ help, I was able to progress much further than I would've been able to without their help.
Everyone hits their “wall” at some point or another. And after my experience teaching students I realized that guitar lessons accelerate the learning progress by a lot!!
My students learn chords and songs 10x faster than I was able to learn them.
My students understand theory and technique far better than I did at the time.
My students are more accustomed to performing than I was.
It’s probably a bad business decision to say this (because I teach guitar lessons), but it IS possible to learn guitar without a teacher! 100% possible! I’m living proof! However, it is going to take you MUCH longer to learn on your own.
Spending hours searching the internet for videos and trying to figure it out on your own is much slower than taking a 30 minute lesson where you can have a clear direction of what you need to practice during the week.
If you are still debating whether you should learn by yourself or take lessons, you can take a FREE 30 minute zoom lesson here: