The benefits of taking your guitar lessons online

Guitar lessons are a great way to use your free time to learn how to play the music you love on guitar.

Or you can prepare for an upcoming show, audition, or performance. Learn to improvise or jam.

But you may wonder if the quality of your online guitar lessons will be less if than in person guitar lessons.

In many ways, online guitar lessons are just as effective as in-person lessons. And they can be even more helpful if done properly.

Here’s how!

Taking online guitar lessons gives you a chance to study music and improve your guitar skills without having to leave the comfort of your home.

It also saves you the time and money necessary to commute to and from your guitar lesson. It’s a benefit that many of our students have told us about since we started our online program after covid began. They just love the convenience.

That will give you more time to focus on your practicing. You’ll also have more time to get other things done as well!

Learning from home is very convenient, but can it really give you the same quality experience as going to see your guitar teacher in person?

Admittedly, learning from home can lack an important component that traveling to a music school for your guitar lessons could provide…a distraction free environment.

A focused learning environment for any activity is crucial to your success. It’s why we go to the gym to exercise, or to the library to read.

Sure, we can exercise and read at home, but the gym and library provide a focused environment that helps us to have greater success with those activities.

But no reason to worry, it’s easy to create a similar environment for learning guitar at home! If you can set that up, and we are sure you can, then you’ll get all the benefits of in person lessons and more.

You just need to make sure your space is good for your learning.

First, pick a space. It can be anywhere at home: a whole office or study if you have the extra room, or even just a corner of your bedroom.

All that matters is that the space is clean, distraction-free, and has everything you need for your lessons. That means it has your equipment –  like your keyboard or guitar, your music, and the laptop, smartphone, or tablet you’ll use for your lessons. These items should also be easily accessible.

By providing yourself a focused environment for your online guitar lessons, you’ll be able to give your full attention to the music you are learning and your online guitar teacher.

Research has shown that learning information in the same place that you apply it increases your ability to retain that information. (You can read the synopsis of a study performed at Iowa State University on the effectiveness of studying and testing–or learning and applying knowledge–in a similar environment.)

When you take lessons in the same place that you practice, it facilitates your brain’s ability to recall the information discussed in the lesson.

(But you’ll also want to learn how to access info new places if you want to perform. Try our course on learning music if you want to know how to do that.)

When you have created a dedicated space for your online guitar lessons, then you’ve also created a space for your practice between your lessons.

So you’ll get the benefits of having a focused learning experience, and a distraction free place to practice what you’ve learned in your lesson.

Nowadays, the internet provides you access to so many amazing guitar teachers from all over the world.

For example, we’ve had students fly from all over the US to take lessons at our school in NYC because of our reputation. But now you can reach us through the interent without needing to fly!)

It will be much easier to find a great guitar teacher online who is a great fit for you, and is also well trained as a teacher.

If you do take lessons with a teach who is far away, It’s also important that you can see and hear your guitar teacher clearly. And (perhaps more importantly) that your guitar teacher can see and hear you clearly.

Fortunately, these days in 2020, most internet connection are fast enough, and the most computer or phone cameras and microphones are good enough to do that.

But if you want to really be sure you are heard and seen clearly in your online guitar lessons, we recommend:

• An electronic device with a large screen (we’ll explain why below)
• A USB microphone, an amplifier or audio interface
• A pair of headphones
• A strong internet connection

We recommend that you use a laptop, desktop, or any electronic device with a large screen. Because this ensures that you are able to see as much of your teacher as possible, and that your teacher can see you as well!

Sometimes you’ll need to place your device further away so your teacher can see a wider view. If you have a small screen at a distance, it might be too small for you to see.

This is extremely important because then your guitar teacher can assess your posture and give you valuable feedback. And you’ll be able to see it clearly too.

You can use a smaller screen, too (like a smartphone, for instance). Just be sure to attach it to a tripod of some kind. Then, you can adjust the height of your camera to an optimum position. You can also move the camera further back so that your guitar teacher can see you well.

While you might not see as well with a smaller screen, this situation can still work. We know you want to see well, but really it’s the most important that your teacher can see you.

Pro-tip: To really optimize your online guitar setup, try a two-camera set up. Use the larger device to view your guitar instructor face to face, and an additional, smaller device with a tripod to focus on your hands. Or focus on whatever your teacher needs to see at the moment.

Just be sure to mute the smaller device, or you’ll hear some pretty bothersome feedback!

See here for a full list of all the things you’ll need to do in setting up for your guitar lessons online.  Let’s  get back to how online guitar lessons can help you learn the music that you want.

When you take guitar lessons in person, you’re not often able to properly warm up beforehand since you’re too busy commuting. Or maybe you can’t warm up because there is another student in the with teacher and you don’t want to disturb them.

If you are not warmed up, it can be a little difficult to get into the swing of playing what you’ve been practicing all week. Or you might waste time in your lessons warming up instead of learning new things. It could even be a little intimidating or uncomfortable because you might not feel your best.

With an online guitar lesson, you can warm up and get ready on your own before your lesson starts. You’ll be prepared to jump into playing right at the start of your lesson. And you’ll have more time to work on your songs with your guitar teacher during your lesson instead of warming up.

With in-person guitar lessons, your guitar teacher will likely never see you in your natural practicing habitat, so to speak. They won’t be able to offer any specific advice to help you have better practice sessions at home.

In an online guitar lesson, however, your teacher has the unique opportunity to observe you in your own practice space.

If you’ve found a teacher who you’d like to learn guitar with online, hopefully, you’ve also found a teacher who cares about giving you an amazing lesson experience.

A great guitar teacher won’t let anything stop them from helping you get the most out of your time together. And also, your time apart (that is, between your lessons)!

If your guitar teacher is knowledgeable, and professional, they will be sure to offer their feedback on how you can have the best learning experience. In all the ways.

This includes helping you optimize your lesson setup.

They can recommend the best camera angle and positioning for you, if you don’t get it perfect the first time. They’ll stick with you until you find the right setup for the space you have available.

As we’ve previously mentioned, deciding to take your guitar lessons online gives you access to teachers all over the world.

That also means you might have too many to choose from…but not if you know where to find the best teachers!

Sage Music is the place to find knowledgeable, professional, and helpful guitar teachers who are all about helping you reach your personal guitar goals and learn music in the best way. Plus they are the best trained guitar teachers anywhere in the world.