My Hunt for a Guitar Teacher…

I do not consider myself even an average guitarist by any standards; I am someone who can hold a guitar and play some riffs that sound something close to music to an untrained ear! There however comes a time in almost every aspiring guitarist’s life when simply playing his/her favorite songs is not enough. I think my time has come (it is more of a once-a-year itch!) to take my very-average guitar playing skills to the next level. So I spent several hours over the last three days to search for someone to hand-hold me to the world of “leading.” For the uninitiated, lead guitar-ing (or leading) refers to the use of an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar to perform melody lines, instrumental fill passages, and guitar solos. Though my search for this illusive gawd-type teacher continues despite several contact numbers and conversations, the exercise has helped me segment the guitar teachers into the following four segments (I have added my two cents on their worth!!).

The show-me-the money type teachers are full-time road-warriors who go from one student to another through the day. They rarely play for any band (because they are either too bad or too old) and treat each class like a commercial transaction (teach 2 riffs per class often from old time Hindi movies). Their target students are mainly small kids belonging to wealthy parents.

The I-also-teach-music type teachers are normal office going folks who picked up some guitar playing skills during their college days, again often several years back, and want to make some money on the side along with their normal jobs (mostly call center and BPO night shift jobs). Their target students are small kids in the neighborhood and people like me who dream of becoming guitarists through once-a-week 45 minute practice sessions after office hours.

The I-teach-music-like-mathematics type teachers associate themselves with some third-rate local music schools (often named after music notes – suur-sargam, sa-re-ga-ma, etc.) that spring up around school vacations. The schools often ask for deposits upfront and the instructors spend the first few months teaching students basic music reading skills till either the students get bored and quit or their summer vacations end.

The I-need-some-regular-income type teachers, mainly full time guitar players in small time (waiting to make it big) local bands, want to have some regular income to buy music equipment and travel with their bands. Mostly young (between 19-28 years old) teachers, often self taught, and very enthusiastic. I think folks in this category make very good teachers as they often adopt non-conventional methods to accelerate learning (to free up time for their own practice). These are however the most non-regular teachers as they are often away for their own rock-shows or music practice sessions.

I am searching for this fourth-category teacher. Fellow bloggers and readers, please respond if you know any I-need-some-regular-income type guitar teacher.