How many in-person lessons you will need in order to play guitar depends on what level you wish to reach. A professional in-person teacher should be able to teach an absolute beginner to play a simple song by the end of their first one-hour lesson.
With weekly lessons and at least 2-3 hours of practice per week a beginner should be able to progress to intermediate level within 3-6 months. It’s also worthwhile noting that the number of lessons is not as important as the actual quality of the instruction provided. The more you practice playing guitar and the number of online resources you take advantage of will reduce the number of how many in-person lessons you will need.
In-person guitar lessons can be very expensive indeed. However, there’s still no substitute for being taught one-on-one with a private teacher who can provide the immediate feedback you can only receive in person. Live online guitar lessons are certainly helpful but your remote instructor may not properly hear or see what you may be doing wrong. A private in-person teacher will help instantly correct any mistakes you’re making and prevent you from developing poor habits which can wind up being difficult to reverse.
On-Line vs In-Person Guitar Lessons
Online guitar lessons are a terrific way to learn how to play guitar in theory. However, in practice, the technology required to ensure that there’s no sound latency has not yet arrived. As such, being able to play along with your guitar instructor at the same time is not currently possible. Unfortunatley many beginner guitar players opt for this route out of either convenience or budget reasons or both. Ultimately most students choosing this learning method become so frustrated that they drop the whole idea of learning how to play guitar entirely.
When you do set out to find a guitar teacher, remember to inquire whether or not he or she will also provide instruction on how to use the many resources available online. Knowing these self-learning techniques will reduce the number of in-person guitar lessons you’ll need. Thus saving you money.
