the Price of Guitar Lessons

The price is the per lesson cost of guitar lessons given by a graduate student in music at the local university. The person taking the lessons is my 10 year old son. A variety of tutors are available in a variety of instruments and all cost about the same price. Instrument rentals are also available at reasonable cost.

The kid has been taking guitar lessons from the same tutor for the past year and has made astonishing progress. And really seems to enjoy playing the instrument, practicing most nights for about an hour without prompting from us. He hasn't been interested in public performances (concerts and such), so we haven't pushed him in that direction, but he has played for the family quite a few times just to show off what he's learned.

Honestly, I think he'll be sad when his tutor finishes her graduate degree this summer (2008) as she has plans of moving to Chicago, but we already have recommendations for a replacement tutor, which we'll be checking out soon.

See if they offer a trial lesson and if your kid (or you, if you're taking the lessons) comes home excited about learning the instrument after a challenging lesson, it could be worth it to stick with that tutor.

Setting performance goals for the student and tutor helps keep things moving. For example, a public performance or being able to play a challenging piece by a certain date are reasonable goals to set.

Regardless of who you go with for lessons, rent an instrument to start. You'll find yourself with a higher quality instrument for less money than buying a student quality instrument, and not only will you not be out the potentially large depreciation cost of a new instrument, you'll have one that's been professionally maintained and has a proven record of playability (some new instruments can be difficult or impossible to tune and keep in tune, which makes them exceptionally difficult to play well).