The ideal age for being a guitar teacher?

What’s the ideal age for being a guitar teacher? I don’t think there is one. If you’re considering becoming a guitar teacher it’s natural to have a few doubts (see my article Imposter syndrome and being a guitar teacher).

Becoming a guitar teacher can be a little nerve wracking. That’s normal. But don’t let concerns about age contribute to that.

Never quite the right age to teach guitar?

In almost any area of work, it can be tempting to feel that we are never quite the right age. Teaching guitar is no exception.

If you’re young it’s easy to feel that older students might not take you seriously.

Or maybe that you don’t have yet enough life experience to start your own business. If you’re older you might think that you should have started teaching guitar when you were younger.

Or maybe that some guitar students would just prefer to have a younger teacher.

An extreme guitar teaching example

Let’s say you’ve just started teaching guitar but you’re a little concerned that you might be too young. Imagine you’ve taken on a beginner guitar student who is 30 years your senior and a Nobel Prize winning physicist.

Wow! Now this might be a little intimidating if you’re only 20 years old.

Think about it though.

Their age certainly means that they have more life experience than you do. But what does that have to do with learning the guitar?

Their Nobel prize is an amazing academic achievement but they’re still a beginner when it comes to playing the guitar.

You know guitar. They don’t. So what’s the problem?

What is the ideal age to start teaching guitar?

The ideal age for being a guitar teacher for most people is now.

As long as you know your stuff and you work to a high standard, your both old enough and young enough.

Being young brings certain advantages and disadvantages. Being older brings other advantages and disadvantages.

If you’re interested in teaching the guitar, try to avoid unhelpful thoughts about age. There isn’t a perfect age for being a guitar teacher. Once you’ve been teaching guitar for a while, you’ll find that you become comfortable teaching people of all ages.

It may take a little getting used to if this is a new experience for you, but don’t let it hold you back before you’ve even begun.

Prepare properly. Commit to your new career and start teaching guitar now. Let your knowledge and guitar teaching expertise be what you’re judged on. Not your age.

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

photo credit: Nicolas Alejandro Street Photography via photopin cc
photo credit: Ella Fence via photopin (license)
photo credit: Indian Boogie @ BAG Thursday via photopin (license)

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