When it comes to taking up lessons there are different categories of people: There are the ones who are complete beginners who never touched a guitar before. Some of these students may be very young, some may be a bit older. Both the young and older need to learn similar skills: Getting to grips with the guitar and making some pleasant, pleasing sounds with it for their own enjoyment.
I cannot stress enough the enjoyment factor: We play music for fun, whether you are a pro or a beginner it all starts off and ends with fun. We simply play music and guitar because we enjoy what it does to us. We get a buzz out of play, and people listening to someone playing pick up on the vibe.

The next group of people are the folk who have played a bit in the past. They may have some experience but they may not have  played for a long, long time for all kind of reasons. The people in this group need to be reunited with the guitar, the funfactor, they need to revisit their former skills and build on them as quickly as possible.

For any kind of group of people, my task, as a tutor, is to motivate and inspire any of these people, introduce them to the wonderful world of the guitar and the sounds it can make, the various playing techniques we use to bring out such sounds.
Usually the inspiration process does not take too long, however, people taking up lessons need to realise that it may take a little time to get into their lessons. The taking time comes from being introduced to a new world, a world with new habits, jargon and culture.
It does help if students are madly in love with the idea of playing the guitar. Usually this is not a problem, but sometimes students need a little help in the form of being shown different kind of guitars and what some of these guitars sound like when played in a certain way.

The next group of people are the students with experience, but they may feel that they need to learn new skills to improve their playing. People who fall into this category should think about what it is what they want to learn, since they can already play. The better students are in communicating their needs to easier it is to help them quickly. Not everyone is good at expressing what it is they would like to get out of their guitarlessons. Often I can spot quickly what a student needs, however what a student needs may not be what a student wants. Again, it boild down to communication. Most of the time this is not a problem and does not take up too much time as well.

may see you soon again,
Eddie