Guitar Lesson Prices? (poll)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve played guitar for quite a while. I have never taken lessons, but I was a paid musician on a fairly regular basis. I recently talked to a friend who gives lessons part-time for extra cash (she plays piano).

I have put some thought into this - I would like to give it a go. I have tutored and taught at the local college (TA type work) so am familiar with teaching, just not guitar. I also have a lot of experience, so I know I can work through teaching guitar.
I have a few little kinks to work out first, but I am working toward having a few students lined up…

So, here’s the poll:

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child?

1a.) What instrument?

1b.) How much were you charged?

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher?

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?

Brendon

2

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child? Yes

1a.) What instrument? Piano / Drums

1b.) How much were you charged? Piano = $20/30 min Drums = $25/30 min

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher? Shop with teachers

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price? N/A

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?

$10 per lesson might be a tad steep. $10 forever is probably a bit low. Most stores around us rent student instruments for a fixed period of time - generally with a rent-to-own proposition.

3

I’ve taken guitar lessons for about a year and a half from a private teacher at a guitar store in Reno. He recently raised his prices (for the first time in a couple of years) from $20 to $22.50 for a half hour lesson. I don’t know how much he kicks back to the shop, but he has a room there reserved for his lessons, and he has students five or six days a week.

As far as renting an instrument… I don’t think $10 for a half hour lesson is out of line. It sounded kind of steep to me at first, but after thinking about it a little, I don’t think it’s that bad. I’m not sure how many takers you’d have, but it seems like something you could state up front and then not have to worry about when it comes up.

It’ll be a whole lot easier to point to the paper where they agreed to it than it would be to negotiate on the spot.

4

I keep thinking about the rental fee. Basically, I have several acoustics and electrics and I don’t mind letting people use them, but I would llike to make it clear that it is better for students to own their own. I do not want to rent my instruments out for more than just time for a lesson. The main reason is, I have several acoustics, but when I play shows I take two (for tuning reasons) and one for backup in case something happens. I don’t know if I could do both, and would like to keep playing shows. I was thinking that maybe if I charged 20 per half hour of lesson, I could added 3.50 per lesson (regardless of length) if they needed to use my guitar. I don’t know if that would sound out of line, but I figure that would sound better to a person looking into their child playing…

Brendon

5

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child?

Yes, my son.

1a.) What instrument?

Electric Guitar

1b.) How much were you charged?

$25 for 30 minutes which most of the time ran over to about 45 minutes.

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher?

Private teacher at my home recommended by the Guitar Center.

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?

n/a

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?

n/a. The Guitar Center sold me a reasonable starter package for <$200

6

My wife is currently going to guitar lessons. She knows how to play “rock” guitar, but is now learning the methods for classical and flamenco. She is paying $25 for a half hour, but as her slot is the last of the day, and last of the week for that matter, it often goes over by 15 minutes or more. This is perhaps helped by the fact that on Fridays she is the only person the guy teaches that started out knowing how to play… he gets to teach to a more advanced level, and gets to play at a more advanced level in the class.

She currently has access to 5 guitars, and is considering a 12 string. But none of that is really salient to your question, because we’re in Australia, and the going rates are not that relative (despite most of the above posters suggesting ours are in line).

Back when she was in high school though, her dad would not buy her a guitar until she knew how to play a little, and knew she wanted to go through with it. This leads to a vicious cycle wherein she needed to find either a teacher who would let her use a guitar (even at a fee), or borrow a friends guitar. Her dad was happy to pay for lessons, but not the guitar, go figure.

So if it’s likely that in your area there are perhaps people for whom an upfront cost of $200+ is an excessive lump sum, but could easily afford say $5 a week over 10 weeks until their child was certain it was what they wanted… then I would say offer the guitars as a rental. You can always waive the fee if you feel the need to. If the parents can barely afford the extra lessons, but they can scrape by because it’s helping their kids. I don’t know.

I am firmly of the opinion that I’d rather spend $250 for a guitar ($200 + 10x$5 rentals), if I knew my kids really wanted it, than spend $200 and waste it after a couple of weeks, when my kid decided that it was not really what they wanted to do… and now let’s try drums!

As a further option, could you possibly justify the cost of a really baseline, plywood top nylon string guitar, and have that around just for teaching purposes. That way any damage to the guitar is not at the risk of you not being able to play shows. Obviously, the cheaper the guitar, the less you’d have to charge for the hiring of it… and maybe even once it was paid off, trash the fees entirely?

7

I think you are right about the fees, and the cheap guitar, Khadro.

I might stop by the shop tomorrow and see what beginner guitars they have to offer.
Of course, I have thought about parents who are in the same position as me and Mrs. Small. We could afford to maybe get our child lessons, but that would be a little tight. Of course, I know parents (my sister being one of them) who would give up anything if the gift might benefit her daughter - so I figure fees can be discussed as the child becomes interested. I want people to learn, and if that means knocking $5 off a lesson to get them in, I might consider that a small victory - as long as the child is learning and the parent is helping when they can. I come from a place where you pay what you can and if that isn’t enough, they will do the best to work with you (the advantage of a small town) but here, most people don’t. I think this will give me an advantage over the other places offering lessons in town - there is one and they are at 35-45 per half hour depending on what teacher you choose…

Brendon

8

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child? YES

1a.) What instrument? Guitar/Bass Guitar/Clarinet

1b.) How much were you charged? ~$7-$9/30 minutes (this was about 12 years ago)

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher? At a shop, don’t know if the teacher was with the shop or renting out the room

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?

I think $10/lesson is too high. Maybe $5 max, but probably more like $2 or $3. I understand that you need to charge for them to use your instrument so you can afford to buy a new one should something happen (also excess wear and tear etc…), but $10 per lesson and they’ll just take the kid elsewhere.
If these students don’t have instruments (and you plan to do this for a while and have more students) maybe you could strike a deal with a local music store. I assume you have a place where you get all your instruments/equipment. I’m thinking you talk to the owner and say something along the lines of “Hey, I’m gonna start teaching guitar and a few of my students don’t have their own guitars. I would let them use mine, but I don’t want to have to worry about something happening to one of mine the day before a show. So if I sent them here, could you give them a deal on a cheapo (or decent) guitar. Maybe like 10% off.” and see what they say.
OTOH, you could just go and buy a few more guitars and loan them out for a certain amount per month.

9

I put myself through my university music degree teaching piano and voice lessons.

I don’t know if the location has anything to do with it, but when I was going to piano lessons, I paid at least $20 for a half hour for someone with a B. Mus. or significant teaching experience; teachers with multiple degrees charged more, sometimes much more (and got it too, and their studios were always hard to get into).

That said, I know posters/the OP may be thinking of “beginner-level” lessons, and I am referring to my own lessons when I had already been playing for many years (ie. leading up to my university auditions). BUT, students pay to have the experience of the teacher at their personal disposal, not merely for the level of performance that they are actually attaining at the time of the lesson. It then follows that one ought to pay more for a teacher with more experience and qualifications [without getting into a debate about how a music teacher ought to be “measured”].

In music lessons, as in everywhere else and perhaps even more, it is so important to get someone with a good reputation who knows what they’re doing. Someone who can’t recognize and diagnose pedagogical problems could be setting a beginner up for a lifetime of musical (and sometimes physical - think tendinitis) problems. Ok, sorry, that’s a little off-topic.

With regard to my experience as a teacher: for lessons from a professional teacher (ie. one with a university degree in music), lesson-takers where I worked paid $17 a half hour, and $13 a half hour if the teacher was still in the process of getting their degree. As I understand it, the place where I worked was one of the lower rates available.
To the OP, it is not at all unreasonable to charge $15 or 20 or more a half hour depending on the going rate in your location, your skill and qualifications, what you feel comfortable with, and so on. You don't have much experience? Charge a little less. You have spent 10 years teaching and you are confident you know what you're doing? Charge a little more. You get the idea. Good luck. Also, one more thing: with regard to "lending" your guitar for a fee, you will find very quickly that students who can't practise on their own will have a lot more trouble retaining things from lesson to lesson (harder to remember when the concepts haven't been reinforced), will have trouble developing the strength in their hands and finger calluses, in the case of guitar, to allow them to progress, and consequently will have trouble moving beyond the basics until they can play a bit more regularly than just once a week. I had a student whose parents refused to buy her a piano, a keyboard, anything - but insisted that she continue lessons - but that's another story altogether. :D On preview: I'm talking in Canadian .

10

I would think a student isn’t going to make any progress to speak of unless he has an instrument to practice on at home. If he wants to start out with a rental, I would expect that some shops in the area offer that. (I once rented a guitar when I was out of town. I think the fee was $30 for 2(?) months - I only needed it for a week, but it was only rented in 2-month increments.) I question whether a teacher wants to be in the instrument rental business. Guitar stores already have the inventory, and can always sell a rental as used and still make some money overall. Tougher for an individual to do, I would think. But if you’re going to rent instruments, see what the area stores charge for a guide as to what’s reasonable.

11

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child?
Yes, for me.

1a.) What instrument?
Acoustic guitar.

1b.) How much were you charged?
£124.00 for 1 yr (30 2 hr classes). So under a fiver per class but this is a group setting with about 8-10 people.

**
1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher?**
Through the local college.
**
2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?**
n/a

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?
I really don’t see how someone could learn an instrument and not have one at home for practise.

12

self

guitar

100$ per month, 30 min per week

private

a fee makes people value the insturment, but what’s the point of having one only for the lesson?

13

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child?

Yes. I have also been teaching privately (and intermittently, depending upon my schedule) for a number of years

1a.) What instrument? Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Theory

1b.) How much were you charged ? I have paid from $10 to $40 for lessons, when I was a student. I charge $25 per half hour and $40 per hour.

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher? I have both studied and taught in both settings.

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine?

I would second the above comments that a student really needs an instrument of their own to begin to make any significant progress.

14

1.) I pay for my daughter’s lessons.

1a.) Guitar. Acoustic at first, now electric.

1b.) Rates recently went up a bit, but it’s $72 bucks a month. Her lessons are half an hour per week.

1c.) Private teacher

2.) ?

3.) If they are just using it in your presence, I wouldn’t bother with the fee. Do you mean you’d let them take it home?

15

1.) Have you ever purchased music lessons for you or your child? Yes, Both of us.

1a.) What instrument? Guitar.

1b.) How much were you charged? $25/half hour for her, $20/half hour for me. Charged by the full month w/ payment at start.

1c.) Was it at a shop or from a private teacher? Private teacher for her, shop for me. (When I say shop, it was always the same guy but he taught at a place that sold guitars.)

2.) If #1 was no, what would you consider a reasonable price?

3.) If I charged a flat rate, would it be out of line to charge $10 (or so) for a rental fee if the student doesn’t have an instrument and would need to use one of mine? No experience there, we have our own.

16

Thanks so far Dopers. I agree that a student will need their own instrument to make much progress, but I am also thinking about people who refuse to purchase the instrument until the child finishes so many lessons because they worry about the child’s commitment. I figured allowing them to use an instrument might help a little with deciding if it is right for them. The two students I know are very interested (one wants to start as soon as I figure out a schedule) have their own instruments, but I didn’t know if the issue would come up and just imagined it would…

Brendon