# Online Private Lessons



## Flaccid Chaos (Dec 19, 2021)

*I wish there were a beginner forum

Just wondering if anyone has tried online private lessons, via Skype or Zoom, for example. What was the experience like? What kind of camera setup would I need? I'm a teacher myself (not guitar) and teaching online is just not the same. I really need a guitar teacher though, and, I'm willing to try online until the pandemic is under control, which I'm sure will happen soon 

Thanks for reading


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Maybe my experience can help.

I've moved my music students (mostly guitar, but some other fretted instruments too) to Zoom every time there's a school lockdown. Latency means it's impossible to play in time with one another, so ensemble/duo/accompaniment playing is gone which is too bad because it's a huge part of how I teach. My style then veers towards a tutorial style, demonstrated parts that get repeated back, and solo arrangements. I have the best internet service available to me but connections are only as good as the weakest, so get the best high speed you can afford. The iMac camera works without issue, but I use a Blue Yeti mic because it sounds better, has a mute button, gain, four pattern modes, and a shock mount. Headphones will reduce echo and other weird sounds, especially where service is poor. My mic and headphones are hardwired for reliability's sake. My students generally use whatever they have, from cellphone to tablet to desktop. Sound and picture can range from okay to awful. Let your teacher see your hands and face. If you're serious about this, err on the side of luxury and use the best computer you can afford. Reading off a device doesn't work as well as people think as there's too much scrolling, too many interruptions, too small an image, too likely an eventual power failure...nothing, I mean nothing, beats black ink on white paper in a binder on a music stand.

Other tips...be set up, tuned, and warmed up when you log on. Do not sit in front of a window, but have adequate light. Use a quiet room without interruptions. Have your materials printed (I email sheet music prior). Be dressed as if you were going to work or school. Do not share your bandwidth with others or have other apps/programs running during your lesson. Your teacher ought to take the same care.

Some of my lesson materials are backed up by a dedicated Facebook page, YouTube, my website, and email (sheet music, video & audio examples). Ask you teacher about resources like these.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

I have done a couple of more advanced online guitar workshops and I got out of them what I needed to get out of them, but everything @Mooh says is true. The main obstacle internet-wise is your upload speed. You need at least 5 Mbps and 10 is preferable.

I also teach guitar/bass/mandolin/ukulele part-time, but have opted out of online teaching. Initially, the demands of having a school teacher and two students doing online school was pushing our internet service to the brink, so it just wasn't do-able. We now have fibre in our neighbourhood and both kids are away at school, so that is no longer the case, but I just can't get excited about teaching online and we are in the fortunate position of being able to get by without my income. My suspicion is that on-line teaching is particularly difficult for beginners. For example, in person, I can easily see what is wrong with a finger placement and I would imagine that it would be much trickier with even the best camera online. Even things like muscle tension in the shoulders are easy to see in person, but probably harder to diagnose over the web. Perhaps @Mooh could speak to this as well.

If it were me, I would wait a few weeks until in-person lessons are a possibility.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I won't teach children who are rank beginners online, the early technique and posture stuff is nigh on impossible to get across, to observe and assess. However, if they have a couple of months under their belt, it's doable though far from ideal. There's been some troubleshooting to do when we've returned to in-person lessons. The use of visual aides and demonstrated concepts is hampered too. Using the secondary screen to make sure I haven't drifted off camera is like the time it takes to glance in your rearview when driving...not so much the time it takes as the divided attention.

So much is compromised and sacrificed with online lessons that it's really only a matter of financial survival (I still lose about 25% when I switch to online) for me while student success is largely stalled, but most won't backslide; and some continuity of lifestyle and education is necessary for their wellbeing, even if I find it personally taxing.

Immature students, like many 8 to 11 year-olds, simply can't NOT treat the virtual like a TV, sitting passively and unengaged. This makes me more animated and faux-excited...and exhausted. Either way though, I find online to be much more tiring than in-person. Sure, I don't miss sanitizing between every student and being careful to make sure I don't let the dogs out if the gate is open, but minor housekeeping things are more than offset by the stress of online digital noise, trying to listen around glitches and drop-outs and freeze-ups, Zoom's own deficiencies, etc.

Speaking of Zoom...and *feel free to correct me if I'm wrong*, but it seems to be optimized for the tenor speaking voice, hates bass guitar (especially with lower bandwidth), often defers to the loudest party (regardless of my settings) muting the softer party. I experimented with other platforms to no avail.


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## NotFromToronto (Dec 10, 2009)

So… I thought I’d share my experience for whatever it’s worth. I’m not a beginner by any stretch… I usually describe myself as a lifelong intermediate. 

I decided to do some lessons last year to get over what seemed like a multi-year plateau and it was all done via zoom.

The lessons were helpful but certainly different. In my case, the instructor was less rigid on time than would have been the case in person. So if something very productive was happening we’d often go longer than an in person lesson would have allowed.

I attempted to do fancy things with the audio to improve quality but most of them failed due to shortcomings of my equipment. So almost every bit of audio came down to just relying on the audio from my regular Bluetooth headphones/mic.

Ironically I stopped the lessons shortly after being informed they were going back to in-person. But this was a for a combination of other factors. In general I felt that online lessons were a decent substitute for in-person, but not as impactful as in-person.

So… better than no lessons at all, but I’d still look to move back to in-person as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

NotFromToronto said:


> So… better than no lessons at all, but I’d still look to move back to in-person as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.


Yes, better than no lessons at all. 

Maybe we too soon forget what a privilege it is to afford lessons in a society that provides for them. When I started playing guitar, I lived in a town with no guitar instructors and my parents weren't willing to take me somewhere else. I struggled, pestered pros, and friends, and friend's siblings, haunted music stores I had to hitchhike to, and subscribed to Guitar Player Magazine. By comparison, online is the stuff of Rosie the Robot, George Jetson, and his boy Elroy.


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## Flaccid Chaos (Dec 19, 2021)

Thanks for that Mooh, you mentioned some things I hadn't thought about.


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## Flaccid Chaos (Dec 19, 2021)

bw66 said:


> If it were me, I would wait a few weeks until in-person lessons are a possibility.


I think after reading the responses I will wait a while. I have a pretty structured practice routine and along with YT and other resources I'll be ok for a while. Thanks.


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## amarullio (4 mo ago)

Hi! Thanks for all the suggestions! I've had some experience with online guitar lessons myself, and while it can be a bit challenging at times, it's definitely doable with the right setup. Like Mooh mentioned, a good camera, microphone, and reliable internet connection are all key. I personally use a webcam with a built-in mic and have found it to work pretty well for my lessons. As for the platform, I've used Skype and Zoom for my lessons, and both have worked well. However, I've also had good experiences with iMind, which is a video conference platform that I've found to be user-friendly and reliable. It's definitely worth checking out if you're considering online private lessons. Good luck with your guitar journey!


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## polyslax (May 15, 2020)

Good old Amarullio. Two posts, same modus operandi: pick an old thread that allows you to concoct same tale where you can slip in a link that, I assume, generates income of some sort. Tiresome.


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