Lee Webb

I’ve realized something lately. I’ll probably never teach guitar again. Not because I can’t but because there doesn’t seem to be much call for teachers like me anymore. In the smart phone universe, I’m a dinosaur. My method of teaching requires motivated students who actually practice. The internet attention span is my enemy and has created student issues I can’t fix. It’s based on one of the cruelest lies ever told to the world: that everything should be fast and easy. When it comes to learning music, a lack of focus is a big problem. It makes playing seem like a “trick” and many modern minds have trouble with the long, tedious process of teaching an instrument to their nervous systems, much less doing the mental reps needed to learn theory or reading. They can’t focus long enough to attain the basic skill level required to get the landing gear up, so to speak. They get bored, as if the guitar and piano exist solely for their amusement. It gets hard and they quit. They shut down. They give up before the good part starts. Anyone who plays any instrument even halfway well will tell you that the first couple years of learning are pretty brutal. It takes the heart of a lion to endure the frustration and pain of building basic musical skills. Countless repetitions while seeing little progress is the experience. Anyone you’ve ever seen play well has gone through it and there has never been any other way. In other words, it’s the polar opposite of the internet/smart phone/social media experience. I can teach anyone to play the guitar. What I can’t do, however, is teach anyone to want to play the guitar bad enough to stick it out and conquer the basics. People either have the desire or they don’t. These days, most don’t. My problem as a teacher is that I can’t come up with some shiny new way of high-tech learning that leaps students over the hard parts. I could claim to and peddle bullshit to beginners but that’s not me. I always aim to speak the truth.