I've tried three in the last six months, and been unimpressed with all of them. They represent very poor value for money in my view Their main qualifications seem to be that they've reached Grade 4 or Grade 5 of the Rock School exams (I'm about to start studying for Grade 2) but that doesn't mean they can teach!
In most cases I seem to be paying £30/lesson every week just for some guy to act like he's my friend and chat about general stuff rather than TEACH me anything. My most recent lessons I've been lucky if we've done anything on guitar for more than 5 minutes! And if I ask anything related to music theory I get answers like "I don' really read music"!
My first instructor, with the benefit of hindsight, was the best. Unfortunately he was quite some distance away so adding two hours onto an hour lesson time on an already busy weekend was a pain. His first "trial lesson" for free was excellent. I got a folder, good notes on correcting bad practices like the way I held my plectrum, the way I was hitting the strings etc and some printed material to practice for the next lesson But as the weeks went on, we seemed to do less and less actual guitar playing or teaching and more and more filler chat about the state of the music industry. It didn't feel like I was getting any real value for money. I had a Rock School exam booked and was told I was already ready for it (which I probably was, as it was just the Debut exam) and that seemed to be an excuse not to encourage me to improve musical theory (which I've always struggled with) try other non-exam pieces etc. The written material I got at the start just sort of dried up.
The second instructor was by far the best player, but he was touring with a musical and so lesson availablility, even though he lived on my doorstep, was very poor to predict. Whole weeks of unavailability were in the calendar. I only had one trial lesson with him. Again, he didn't seem to know how to teach. He'd grabbed a couple of difficult tabs beyond my skill level off the internet and printed them out, but spent most of the lesson showing me what a great player he was. Again, I didn't feel I was being taught anything, other than having someone just watch me as I struggled to learn some new material and being given a couple of downloaded tabs to take home and try and master on my own.
The third instructor had a very impressive web site and some good feedback. A very nice guy, but the least accomplished of all the instructors although uniquely he travelled to you to teach. I think he'd managed Grade 4 and teaching guitar was his full time job, but most lessons have become him chatting about stuff in his personal life and there's very little guitar "tuition". I've had no guidance at all, other than when I ask a direct question (and even then the answer seems to often be a disguised "I don't know but don't worry about it"). Most weeks I just go through playing the stuff ready for the next exam and he says "I think you're ready". No feedback at all on all the bad stuff I'm doing like sounding buzzy notes, hitting strings I'm inadvertently blocking etc unless I specifically mention the problem (and even then, I often get no real answer back). Occasionally he tries to jam along with me as I'm doing exam pieces and is all over the place with bum notes etc so that all it does is throw me off rather than help in any way at all. Again, I feel like I'm paying £30/lesson for a guy to just come round and chat about life in general rather than TEACH me anything. Certainly I'm not being pushed or encouraged in any way.
The cynic in me thinks I could actually pass myself off as a guitar teacher just by getting through my Grade 4 exam and being "chatty" and friendly with potential customers, if this is the state of the market.
I'm sure there are good teachers out there, but how do you find them?
