https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:32:06 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/paged/2/#post-88366 Fri, 04 Feb 2005 22:12:57 +0000
:D]]> Guitar Players Discussion gizzy https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/paged/2/#post-88366 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-88358 Fri, 04 Feb 2005 21:41:54 +0000
Ofcourse, it should be accepted as a gift, and they should not expect free lessons every day or whatever. If they really want to claim your time whenever it suits them it is different, and they expect a service instead of an act of kindness. As such I see no problem with keeping it free if it is loosely organised.]]> Guitar Players Discussion Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-88358 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87936 Wed, 02 Feb 2005 14:15:13 +0000
If the situation develops that she begins to expect the lessons regularly, or if she levels off and her enthusiasm wanes, i.e. she does not put the practise in between lessons, then you could perhaps reconsider the arrangement. Either the lessons stop, amicably because you've both gotten something out of the arrangement, or you discuss a rate.

Voluntary work, whether it helps one person or a thousand, is a noble pursuit. It lifts you above the petty opinions of those who think that everything in life needs to have a monetary value attached to it, and it some ways it can spiritually free you from the rat race - help you to realise that most things are much more important than money.

If you take up teaching as a profession, then the voluntary side can become a real chore, and it would be better for you to continue voluntary work, but in a totally different arena - it needs to be easily separable from work, for your own sanity!

For the short term though, while you are still both enjoying the arrangement, don't even think about it.]]> Guitar Players Discussion longdave https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87936 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87747 Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:34:30 +0000
I saw first hand how things can go horribly wrong when your in a business like teaching music, dance etc.

I don't know how it's like teaching musical instruments, but my wife would have a lot of sisters and they'd each take one or two styles of lessons (tap, ballet etc) and when you have two or three children taking lessons a month the bill could get pretty steep and most of these were people who considered my wife a "friend" and really didn't feel the need to have to pay on time.

My only point is if it's a business you have to treat it like a business or you won't survive. If it's a hobby, anything goes.

Chris]]> Guitar Players Discussion cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87747 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87733 Tue, 01 Feb 2005 14:37:25 +0000
If a friend asks me to help them move, no problem. I'll work my butt off, no invoice in the morning - they're asking a friend for one-time help. Friends help friends. On the other hand, if a friend wants guitar lessons, and they ask me to give them at no charge - well, they know that's what I do for a living, and they're asking for an ongoing commitment of my time. Would you ask a friend who owned a bakery if you could possibly have two loaves of bread free every week?

I do have one friend that I've taught with no exchange of money - she's a craft artist. My wife loves her handmade soaps. My friends gets lessons, my wife gets soap. She proposed the barter, and I immediately agreed. Barter can be a wonderful way to work out an exchange of talents without sullying a friendship with commerce. It also allows you to continue the friendship without either being disadvantaged - she values my teaching time with her soap making time.

I don't see a comparison between giving free time to the community or church and giving free lessons - on the one hand you work for greater good, on the other, you assist one individual. As I mentioned, I've donated lessons to charity auctions - that gives my time and helps the greater good, but the recipient of the lessons is also helping the greater good - last year one guy paid five times my going rate at auction! He's happy, I'm happy, the charity is happy. It's a way that I can give x% of my time without running into conflicts of playing favorities - who should I give free lessons to... the one who asked first? The one with the lowest income? What will I tell the others when I've 'run out' of free lessons?

One other rant while we're on the topic: in my great-grandfather's era, musicians were widely accepted as a profession. Every movie theater (silent movies, you know) had musicians; every restaurant; every tavern; every church dance. Technology has changed things, I know, and that killed a lot of the jobs. But when I started to play, there were a few open mics - other than that, every bar paid their musicians. On the low end of the stick, maybe they'd only pay $15 for the band, but they'd pay something. Through the 90s I watched the rise of 'showcase venues' that would have six acts instead of one, and not pay any (or only pay one) - because of the 'valuable exposure' they were giving. Now we're seeing pay-for-play clubs spring up.

If we, as musicians, are not willing to place an economic value on what we do, the world will agree that musicians should not be paid.]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87733 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87729 Tue, 01 Feb 2005 12:39:39 +0000
I understand this is all different if you are a professional teacher with paying students, like Noteboat and cnev, but if you are not a professional you'd really shouldn't mind too much if a friend just asks if you could teach him/her some stuff. That's why you are a friend, because you help them if you can, without sending a bill the next morning.

Charging a friend money. Talk about cultural differences... :?]]> Guitar Players Discussion Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87729 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87637 Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:22:13 +0000
For what it's worth. When I was married my wife had a dance studio with about a hundred or so students and all I could tell you is that most of the people that considered my wife a friend were the ones that didn't pay on time. Some would go months without paying before eventually settling up.

The saying is true don't go into business with friends/relatives and don't give your knowledge away for free. Granted you may be new at this so maybe charge her some introductory rate that will increase in say six months(you might do this for your first 10 students or so) as kind of a rewrd for signing up with you.

In any event you need to be firm about the money thing if you ever want to make a living at it.

Chris]]> Guitar Players Discussion cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87637 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87370 Sat, 29 Jan 2005 17:18:07 +0000
The longest lesson I ever gave was last year, a 2-hour one, but that was a special situation: he'd played guitar for 40+ years, and was a former guitar teacher, but he hadn't really played in a while. It was more of a jam session. We did everything from jazz standards to Hendrix and Santana to CSNY. I didn't really 'teach' anything, although I did point out a couple things on some notes... I basically just laid down rhythms for him so he could work his fingers back into shape.

Other than that, I've got a classical student who takes occasional 60 minute lessons - she's working on celtic music, so she's coping with unfamiliar tunings - and some brother/sister, brother/brother, and mother/son combinations that take longer lessons because there's two of them to work with at once.

You can show plenty of stuff in 30 minutes, and I've found it's best to focus on no more than a few (2-3) major objectives in a lesson, or else the student's practice might be unfocused during the week.]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87370 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87364 Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:51:01 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Kyle https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87364 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87346 Sat, 29 Jan 2005 08:58:30 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion freerider https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/kyle-the-teacher/#post-87346