What are the best guitar instructors? That is a broad question with many answers. I will try to cover most of the answers in this article using some of my own personal experiences with students.
The best guitar instructors can do far more than just teach you to be able to play your favorite songs. They can transform you into a musician by being not only a teacher, but a mentor. The evolution from a guitarist to a musician does not happen merely by going through a book or watching some instructional videos, but by the nurturing of another musician who has been where you are and can guide you along your journey helping you to avoid mistakes that they have made. The best guitar instructors will teach you how to play the guitar, but also how to take care of it and maintain it. They can show you how to set it up to your own personal preferences and style and how to get your own personal sound and tone and how to dial in your amplifier. The best guitar instructors will help you to create your own licks rather than just play others. They can help you to develop song writing skills and how to prepare to record in a studio, which can help you to avoid making costly mistakes. The best guitar instructors know that the key to developing personal and unique style is by using a variety of styles and genres to mold your own. They can introduce you to styles and genres that maybe you have never heard and how to be open to anything, they know that there is good and bad in all genres.
As an instructor I love seeing students evolve from a kid that wants to play there favorite Green Day songs to musicians that can improvise a solo over a 12 bar blues and write and record there own CD. I have seen this many times in my career as a guitar instructor. I have had students who at the age of 12 are writing songs that I am jealous of. I have had students that went from only being interested in playing metal, to be proficient country players. It is far more rewarding than I can describe here.
So how do you find the best guitar instructors? Search online; ask around your neighborhood, at local schools and at local guitar shops. The best guitar instructors are well known and will have good reviews and referrals. Will you know if you have found one of the best guitar instructors immediately? No, you will not. Developing that kind of relationship takes time and most certainly can not be decided in one lesson. When you have found the one, you will know, and it will change you as a guitarist and a musician forever.
