Yes, you heard me right. You can get paid to learn guitar. It’s not easy, but it is doable.
There is an ancient Latin principle, Docendo discimus — “The best way to learn is to teach”. I have found that to be absolutely true over the years.
Learn, by teaching
While you learn guitar there will ALWAYS be someone who is better or worse than you. So, no matter what level you are presently at, you’re ready to teach:
- IF you have been playing for the better part of a year, and you’re good at it.
- IF you know your basic guitar chords, can kick butt at playing some songs, and have mastered the basic scales, you’re ready to teach.
It doesn’t mean you’re going to be great at it, yet. But the goal is not to present yourself as a “master-teacher”, rather a teacher that has something worthwhile to share with absolute beginner guitar students.
Becoming a guitar teacher/instructor will do several things for you:
- It will force you to learn more techniques to stay ahead of the student, while always having something new to teach them. Therefore you will become better, while learning to teach them.
- It will put some extra money in your pocket. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. That depends on you.
- It will create some lifelong friends. I’m still friends with some of my students from over 20 years ago. Some of them gave up on playing guitar, but became fantastic artists in different art-forms.
Getting your feet wet
Start out by giving basic lessons for free to a friend and see if you have the patience for it. Teaching guitar comes down to patience. Cause if you don’t have patience, you’ll never make it as a teacher, trust me.
Consider the definition of patience carefully before you proceed:
“the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”
HeeHee. If that description fits you, continue reading.
Getting Paid. ie. How much can you realistically charge, if you’re still a beginner yourself?
Don’t charge more than $5 or $10 per hour to start. Also, only give 1/2 hour lessons when you’re starting out.
NOTE: If you ever end up having more students than you have time to teach – it’s time to raise your hourly rate. 😉
Another way to get paid to learn guitar, is bartering
Bartering is a great tool – because if you can exchange your guitar knowledge with somebody who has expertise in another field, it’s a win-win. Barter ideas: Car repair, household repair with a contractor, lessons from someone else on How to ______ , the possibilities are endless.
I once had a math tutor who was explaining advanced math concepts to me in-trade for guitar lessons and it was a lot of fun. I would teach him my 1/2 hour lessons, then right afterwards he would teach me his 1/2 lesson. If it’s just a knowledge exchange between friends, that’s one thing, but if its a professional contractor, please read the following disclaimer: Blah Blah...Make sure you report your cash earnings to the IRS and make sure to consult your local tax regulations on how you can legally go about reporting barter transactions…Blah 😉
At the time I stopped teaching guitar lessons 1-on-1 (17 year ago), I was charging $30 per half hour lesson. Of course I was highly experienced on guitar at that point. If you do the math on that: If you teach 5 students on Tuesday nights and 5 more on Wednesday nights, that’s 10 students total for the month. 10 students @ $30 per lesson = $300 per week. X 4 lessons a month = $1600, and that’s in your spare time.
Keep in mind when teaching advanced students, you are also developing their personal learning path, AND teaching them specific songs they want to learn. So that adds up to some homework on your off-time. I would usually focus three lessons per month on their general studies. The fourth lesson each month was devoted to teaching them a song they wanted to learn. It’s important to mix up the challenging lessons with fun stuff.
The dollars and cents of getting paid to learn guitar
With all the above being said, as an advanced guitarist who is still developing your craft, learning how to get paid to learn guitar is an exciting concept and you could easily earn an extra $100+ teaching per month, while you’re still learning.
Once you get really good on guitar, you can have access to a LOT more students if you teach out of a music store. But, they will charge you an hourly rental rate for the room, or $5 per student lesson, etc. HOWEVER, if you teach out of your home, you can keep all the money you earned for yourself. Some people don’t want strangers coming into their home, which is understandable. So, you need to make the best decision for your own personal situation.
A MOST IMPORTANT NOTE
After playing several years, I had the opportunity to teach at a music store. I knew how to play very well, but I didn’t know how to teach. So I booked a single lesson with a local guitar legend from my hometown named Vic Trigger. During this lesson I asked him, “How do you teach guitar lessons to students”? He told me his techniques of teaching and was very generous with his information. THEN I asked him the most important question that was burning in the back of my mind. I said, “But Vic, what if someone comes to me for guitar lessons and they are better than I am?” I’ll never forget his simple reply. He said, “Then take lessons from them!” That changed my life and immediately gave me the confidence to move forward as a teacher.
LAST NOTE
Although I’ve covered all the basics in this lesson, I will eventually be working on a premium lesson to show you how to earn serious income teaching guitar lessons.
Some of the things it will include are:
- How to get 100’s of students to sign up for intro lessons.
- Should you teach at a music store or from your home?
- How to screen students before inviting them into your home.
- How to evaluate new a student’s proficiency on guitar.
- How to identify any bad habits they may have learned and correct them.
- How to structure your lessons.
- How to constantly create new content for them to learn.
- How to manage a simple payment system.
- MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: How to keep students engaged, which is the biggest challenge in growing your student roster.
So give it a try! Go and find your first student and experience how it feels teaching. Even if you only do it once. It may be a fun hobby, a way to barter and earn side-money, or it may turn into a lifelong career, as it has for many of my friends and fellow guitarists. Above all, have fun!!
-Tommy