Why you should keep records of your guitar students

When I first started teaching guitar I used to keep track of my guitar students’ progress by keeping everything in my head.

This was fine in my early days of being a guitar teacher because I didn’t have many students.

I always knew what we’d done in previous lessons, what tasks I’d set them and what I needed to teach them in the future.

Basic guitar teaching records

As time went by and my guitar teaching skills developed, I accumulated more and more students. It started to get more difficult to keep track of everyone’s progress.

So, to make things easier I started to make little notes in my diary alongside each guitar lesson I taught.

This was very helpful.

It took he pressure off me having to remember what material we’d covered in the guitar lessons and kept things running smoothly from week-to-week.

Planning for future guitar lessons

As more time went by though, I realised that some of my guitar students would probably keep coming to me for several years. Their needs were becoming more complex.

Some of my more advanced guitar students were developing their playing on several fronts and had material that needed to be revisited in the future.

The little guitar lesson notes in my diary were becoming insufficient for the level of teaching I wanted to deliver.

Far better guitar teaching records

Eventually I realised that I needed to keep proper written records of all my guitar lessons. I made a simple template in Excel and made copies of it for all my guitar students new and old.

Did it make a difference?

You bet.

I could glance back at the previous six months of guitar lessons and quickly see what material we had or hadn’t covered. I could see exactly which tasks we’d set.

I had records of what tempos each student had achieved for certain exercises.

I had notes on how they had handled each tasks I’d set. I could make notes on what material we needed to revisit in future guitar lessons.

I could note down ideas for future guitar lessons that weren’t appropriate just yet, but which would be very beneficial to the guitar student at a later date.

With proper records of guitar lessons, everyone wins

Keeping records of your guitar teaching takes so little time and effort at the end of each lesson. The pay-off is huge though.

With good record keeping your guitar teaching acquires a continuity and fluidity that would be hard to achieve otherwise. You will deliver better guitar lessons because of it.

It makes for a better learning experience for your guitar students and a better teaching experience for you.

This is why you should keep records of your guitar students’ lessons.

Keep it simple

Keeping records of your guitar lessons doesn’t have to be complicated. We all work differently so adapt things to suit the way that you work best.

If you’d like a simple spreadsheet to get you started, visit my free resources – spreadsheets page where you can download two spreadsheets. One is to keep track of your guitar students’ progress. The other is to keep all your guitar students’ contact details in one place. Instructions are included within the spreadsheets.

Add rows or columns to these basic templates as you see fit, but keep things simple so your guitar teaching records are quick and easy to maintain.

To be a successful guitar teacher, keeping accurate student records must be a part of what you do. Don’t wait until you’re forced to keep them because things start going wrong. Start now. You’ll be glad you did.

	Stuart Bahn
	Stuart Bahn is a professional guitar teacher in London, and creator of the Be A Guitar Teacher video course.

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