I’ve spent more money on bad guitar lessons than I care to admit. So when someone asks me, “Are guitar lessons worth it?” — my honest answer is: it depends entirely on the teacher.
I know that’s not what you want to hear. You want a simple yes or no. But I’ve been on both sides of this — as a frustrated student who wasted years with the wrong teachers, and as someone who’s now taught guitar for over 30 years. The answer really does come down to one thing most people never think to ask about.
My First Teachers Taught Me Nothing I Could Actually Use
My first two guitar teachers did the same thing: they sat me down with a method book and we worked through it page by page. I learned to read notes on the staff. I learned some exercises and a few chords.
What I couldn’t do after all those lessons was play a single song I actually wanted to play.
Not one.
My parents were paying for lessons and taking me every week. I was doing what I was told — and none of it connected to the music I was hearing on the radio and wanted to learn. Those teachers weren’t bad people. They just didn’t know any other way to teach. Method books are an easy way to teach. They take no thought because the work has been done for them, so they taught from method books. Whether that approach actually worked for me never seemed to cross their minds.
So I Tried Teaching Myself
After that, I figured I’d be better off on my own. I started learning from guitar columns in Guitar for the Practicing Musician and later Guitar World, picking things up by ear, working through whatever I could find. At the time, this was a godsend — it was information I’d never had access to before. But it was also too much, and I didn’t know enough to know what was important for me and what was not. So I worked on a little bit of everything. This was before VHS and DVD instruction became popular in the late ’80s, and once those came along, I bought plenty of those too. Over the years, I spent thousands of dollars trying to teach myself and wasted more hours than I can count on material that never helped me play what I actually wanted to play.
And honestly? I did learn some things during that period that I still use today.
But here’s what I didn’t realize at the time: for every useful thing I practiced, I spent just as much time — probably more — practicing things I have never used or were not important for what I wanted to play. In 30-plus years of playing and teaching, some of that material has never come up.
The problem with teaching yourself isn’t that you can’t learn anything. You can. The problem is you have no way to tell the difference between what’s worth your time and what isn’t. There’s nobody filtering for you. So you practice everything with equal effort and hope it all pays off eventually. Some of it does. A lot of it doesn’t. And you won’t know which is which until years later — if you stick with it long enough and gain enough experience to start telling what’s important and what’s not. That’s slightly different for every style of music, which makes it even harder to sort out on your own.
Then I Found a Teacher Who Made Things Worse
In high school, I tried lessons again. This teacher was different — he was a legitimately good player. I thought I’d finally found the right guy.
But here’s what he did: he taught me whatever he was currently working on. His material. At his level.
This was the 1980s. Shredding was the thing every guitar player wanted to do. And this guy was working on serious shred material — fast, technical, way beyond what I could handle at the time.
I didn’t understand that then. All I knew was that I couldn’t do what he was showing me, and I walked away thinking I just wasn’t cut out to be a good lead guitar player.
That’s the real cost of the wrong teacher. It’s not just wasted money. It’s the damage to your confidence — believing you can’t do something that you absolutely could have done, if someone had met you where you actually were instead of where they were. Luckily for me, some light bulbs did go off on my own and I did learn to play lead. But that teacher interrupted my progression — he didn’t help it.
College: Great Players Still Aren't Great Teachers
I went to college for music, and I’ll be honest — I learned a lot. My playing got better and I learned a lot about music. I also learned that I don’t like to play jazz — an expensive lesson. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t get a music degree.
But here’s what surprised me: I learned as much from being around other serious students and playing in groups with them as I did from any of my instructors.
The most sought-after guitar teacher in the program was a local guitar hero. A phenomenal player. First call for any gig in the area. He had a master’s degree. Students waited to get into his studio.
He also gigged so much that he was regularly half asleep during lesson times.
Great player. Advanced degree. Incredible reputation. And yet — not a great teacher. Because playing guitar and teaching guitar are two completely different skills, and one does not automatically come with the other.
It Took Me Until I Turned 30 to Find a Real Teacher
I didn’t find a teacher who actually transformed my playing until I turned 30. And when I did, two things happened.
First, I improved faster than I had in the entire previous decade. Things I’d been stuck on for years started clicking because this person understood how to diagnose what was actually holding me back — not just throw more material at me and hope something stuck.
Second — and this is the part that changed my career — he taught me how to teach. Not just what to teach, but how to think about each student’s current ability, how to build from where they actually are, and how to structure learning so that progress is consistent and visible.
That’s the difference. That’s what makes guitar lessons worth it.
I still take lessons today from that same teacher — over twenty years now. Not because I have to. Because I want to. The right teacher always sees things you can’t see on your own. At this point I see him more as a coach than a teacher. Pro athletes still have coaches to help them through slumps — he does the same thing for me. He specializes in the style I want to learn, he doesn’t take beginners, and I had to fill out a questionnaire that took over an hour just to become a student. That’s a level of instruction most people don’t even know exists.
I teach differently — I work with beginners, intermediate players, and the occasional advanced player. But the principle is the same one I learned from him: meet the student where they are and build from there. And find a teacher who actually plays the style you want to learn. I don’t teach jazz or classical because those aren’t my strengths — and any teacher who claims to teach every style at every level is spreading themselves too thin to be great at any of them. That’s not a knock on anyone. It’s just how specialization works.
The Students Who Left and Came Back
I’ve had students leave for lessons that were cheaper or closer to home. I get it — price and convenience matter.
But more than a few of them have come back and told me they regretted that decision.
Clay from Middlefield left for about five years. When he finally reached out again, he was sheepish about it. He thought I’d think less of him or hold a grudge.
I was just happy to have him back. Clay is a good player. He loves guitar, he loves to learn, and that’s what matters to me.
But here’s the thing Clay figured out on his own during those five years: not all guitar lessons are the same. A lower price doesn’t mean the same instruction for less money. It usually means different instruction — and that difference shows up in your playing.
So Are Guitar Lessons Worth It?
Yes — if you find a teacher who actually knows how to teach.
Not someone who hands you a method book and flips pages. Not someone who teaches whatever they happen to be practicing. Not someone who’s a great player but has no idea how to help you become one.
A good teacher meets you at your current skill level and builds from there. They diagnose what’s actually holding you back. They know the difference between what you need to practice right now and what’s a waste of your time. They don’t just play well — they’ve been trained to teach well.
The wrong guitar teacher can cost you years and convince you the problem is you. The right one can have you making real progress in weeks.
I know, because I’ve been on both sides.
If you’re wondering how long it actually takes to see results with the right instruction, or you’re trying to figure out how to choose a teacher who won’t waste your time, I’ve written about both. And if you’ve been putting off starting because you’re not sure lessons are the right move — they are. You just need to find someone who knows what they’re doing.
Want to see what the right instruction feels like? Book a free trial lesson — in 30 minutes, you’ll walk out playing better than when you walked in. Guaranteed.