Dave Wirth
This is tip #26 of my new book, How to Learn Guitar and Have Insane Amounts of Fun:
There is a big difference between a guitar teacher and a well-meaning friend: guitar teachers are people who are paid to teach guitar. Friends, no matter how much we love them, usually care more about playing music. It's okay. You'll learn something from them. From my experience however, cajoling a friend into teaching you guitar will not last long. I am certainly not recommending that you skip this option altogether. What I am suggesting is to take a good look at what you are getting.
When you exchange some hard earned cash for a guitar lesson, you're putting your teacher on the spot. Thinking of him as your paid advisor means you have the power in the situation. If he doesn't teach you what you want to learn, you either move on and find a new teacher, or demand that he teach you what you want. Friends, on the other hand, will only help you out as far as they can before they get tired of doing so. That's okay because friends aren't paid to teach. Believe it or not, teaching guitar is actually quite difficult. Paying a guitar teacher can help guide you to your goals faster than relying on a friend to learn.
If you had the entire book, you could figure out that success in learning guitar from a teacher depends upon criminally overlooked factor in potential guitar schools. Want to find out?
