3 Reasons Why Free Online Guitar Lessons Usually Don't Get The Results You Crave
By Maurice Richard
It seemed like a great idea.
You had a brand-new guitar in front of you and you were ready to learn. The next logical step is to find someone to help you play it.
A quick search on your computer brings up a massive amount of results and many of them are free and you can do them online from your computer.
So, you start clicking and then you start learning. Pretty exciting actually. Your dream is finally coming true!
Over time that excitement may start to wane because the results are not coming and you are starting to get frustrated.
If so you would not be the first or last person to feel this way about free online guitar lessons.
As a matter of fact, most of the people I talk to have experienced this so you are definitely not alone.
Here are 3 reasons why free online guitar lessons usually do not get you the results you are looking for.
1. Untrained Teachers
Teaching guitar is not something everyone has been trained in and most of the people online simply have none.
Just because someone can play a guitar does not make them a good guitar teacher. Going to University, being in a band, performing live, touring, and recording albums is pretty cool stuff but does not qualify you as a good guitar teacher.
Anyone can put up free materials, videos and lessons online. There are no rules governing this. They do not need to have any qualifications whatsoever. So, you will get a lot of information but it is not necessarily correct or even taught properly.
And even if it is taught properly it is not tailored for you and where you are and that is critical for you to be successful.
Learning to play guitar is not the easiest thing in the world and if you do not do it the right way you can easily get stuck and frustrated and quit.
Which leads to the next problem.
2. No Support
This is the probably the biggest problem with free online guitar lessons.
There is no doubt that the internet is filled with just about anything you would ever want to learn on guitar and for free. Some of it presented well, some of it presented not so well.
However, the information is definitely there. So why aren’t we seeing hordes of killer guitar players storming the industry that have learned online for free?
Because the information given online is not provided with the proper support to help you implement it properly. You can watch someone demonstrate a skill on video over and over again but you will not always see everything they are doing.
There is no way to make sure you are duplicating the skill properly on your own. That leads to bad habits, improper playing technique and that leads to getting stuck and frustration.
Most of my students have tried to learn online and they almost all struggled and got frustrated and just could not follow along.
Once they received proper direction and support we were able to fix the problems and help them succeed.
3. You Get What You Pay For
In life, you generally get what you pay for. Not always of course, there are always exceptions, but it typically works that way. We all know this of course.
When it comes to online guitar lessons it works exactly the same way. You definitely get what you pay for. Free lessons may seem like a good idea but because they are free, or cheap, there is no guarantee they are going to get you a result.
It's a crapshoot. Some of the material may be good, some may not. The problem is that since you are just starting out and are not a trained guitar teacher, you have no way to know the difference between what is good or bad.
This makes it more likely that what you get is not going to help you progress much and worse, teach you the wrong things at the wrong time and create bad habits and get you stuck.
Many people who try to learn online get frustrated and think they are the problem. That's not likely the real issue.
You Are Not The Problem
Most people go online to try and learn to play guitar. It's a medium we use every day and seems like a logical place to start the journey.
Unfortunately, this leads a lot of people to get stuck and frustrated and many actually quit – sometimes forever. We do not want that to happen to you.
You are not the problem. The issue is the method you are using to learn with. It has many weaknesses and I highlighted a few above.
For most people the best way to learn to play guitar is to take lessons locally and do it with an in-person guitar teacher.
For the best chance of success do not just pick any guitar teacher. Seek out and find one that has actual training on how to teach guitar.
About The Author:
Maurice Richard is a professional guitar teacher that operates out of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been a member of an elite guitar teaching mentorship program since 2007 and has taught many people how to learn to play the guitar. Find out other reasons taking free online lessons can slow down your progress on guitar by going to his website today!
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