When I first started teaching guitar, way back in 2007, I thought my job was simple: show people how to play songs, scales, and techniques, and they’d naturally become better musicians.
Eighteen years later, I’ve learned that teaching isn’t really about guitar at all.
It’s about people. It’s about practice. And, more than anything, it’s about purpose.
1. People don’t just learn, they reveal themselves
Every student who picks up a guitar brings their entire life with them.
The shy teenager who barely speaks but pours out their soul in a solo.
The overworked professional who practices for ten minutes at midnight because that’s all they have.
The perfectionist who won’t move on until every note is clean.
The free spirit who ignores exercises but writes songs that make you cry.
Over the years, I’ve realized that teaching is 50% music and 50% psychology.
You’re not just training fingers—you’re navigating emotions, motivations, fears, beliefs and identities.
And that’s the beauty of it: music an guitar eventually become the mirror where people see themselves more clearly.
2. Practice isn’t only about time, it’s about attention
We glorify hours. “Practice four hours a day and you’ll be amazing.”
But I’ve seen students practice for 30 minutes with full focus and grow faster than others who grind for three hours distracted.
Practice is not about the clock—it’s about the quality of attention you bring to the time you put in.
Are you listening to the sound of the note?
Are you noticing the tension in your hand?
Are you present with what you’re doing, or are you daydreaming about something else?
In martial arts, we call this zanshin—the lingering awareness that transforms repetition into mastery.
On guitar, the same principle applies. Ten mindful minutes beat two careless hours every time.
3. Purpose is the fuel behind all progress
This is the lesson that took me longest to learn—and the one I now teach first.
If you don’t know why you play, you will eventually burn out.
The “how” and the “what” won’t sustain you through the plateaus, the sore fingers, or the creative blocks.
Some play to express emotions they can’t put into words.
Some play to connect with others.
Some play because music keeps them sane.
Hell, some of the people I’ve coached who made huge progress, or even got to have musical careers, did so simply because they enjoyed playing. Their purpose WAS and IS playing the guitar in itself.
Your purpose doesn’t have to be grand—it just has to be yours.
Once you’re clear on that, practice stops feeling like a chore and becomes part of your life’s rhythm.
The teacher becomes the student
Eighteen years in, I’ve realised I’m still and will forever be a student myself.
My students teach me mindfulness and patience. They teach me creativity. They remind me of the joy of discovery.
And, most importantly, they remind me that music is never just about music.
It’s about people finding themselves.
It’s about practice turning into presence.
It’s about purpose lighting the path forward.
That’s what teaching has taught me.
And it’s what keeps me picking up the guitar and showing up to teach every single day.
👉 Here’s a question for you: If you’ve learned something through music, martial arts, or any discipline—what has it taught you about yourself?