How can I imagine a first guitar lesson?

We receive a wide variety of questions about music lessons every day. That's why we have started to write a handbook - together with experienced teachers, we answer these questions as precisely as possible. Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting topics from the articles in the handbook here on the blog.
In this blog post, we would like to show you how you can imagine a first guitar lesson. Denise Suhner will give you an insight into possible goals, content and the process of a first guitar lesson. You can also find this topic in the handbook article "Learn to play the guitar for beginners".

A first guitar lesson is essentially about three things: you get to know your teacher, you make music together and you get an initial idea of what the lesson could look like.
The important thing is not to go through as much material as possible, but to find out whether you can work well together - on a personal, musical and organizational level.

The first step is to get a feel for each other. The teacher wants to understand why you want to learn the guitar, what music inspires you and what experience you already have. At the same time, you have the opportunity to ask questions - be it about the lesson structure, styles or very practical matters such as how flexible appointments are handled. This will quickly show whether the "chemistry" is right. It is important that you feel comfortable and that the teaching style suits you. You should also clarify whether your expectations match musically: For example, do you want to accompany pop, learn classical technique or improvise? And last but not least, we will discuss whether your schedules harmonize.

To make the lesson lively, we usually play together early on. This can be something very simple - for example, a small chord movement or, for beginners, a song that you can accompany with empty strings. This moment is often particularly nice because you immediately realize that music is created by playing together. At the same time, the teacher gets a first impression of how you hold the guitar, strum it or feel it rhythmically.

The teacher builds a first small input on the joint playing. This could be a new chord, a technique exercise or the beginning of a piece. The aim is to give you something concrete that you can try out at home - something that neither overwhelms nor underchallenges you, but makes you curious. This often gives you a feeling for how the lessons might develop over the next few weeks.

A first lesson usually goes quite naturally: you get to know each other, clarify questions, play with each other, immerse yourselves in new content and finally discuss what happens next. If both parties are happy, you arrange a next appointment. And if it doesn't work out, that's completely fine - our Instrumentor team will be happy to help you find a suitable teacher.

We will continue to add to the handbook for music lessons in the future.
If you have any questions about music lessons, please feel free to send them to us.
Maybe you can even give us the topic for the next article?

You might also be interested in these articles:

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