One of the driving principles behind Start Teaching Guitar is that we can all learn from each other. This “Guitar Teacher Interview” series is a chance for us to hear from other guitar teachers around the world and hopefully get some ideas for our own teaching businesses.
This interview is with Craig Bostick, a guitar teacher and recording studio owner from Longview, TX USA. To find out more about Craig and his teaching business, visit his website at http://www.bostickmusic.com
Guitar Teacher Interview
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? What’s your background?
My family and I moved to Longview, TX about 2 years ago. I’m originally from West Monroe, La. I’ve been playing guitar since 1987 (wow, I’m getting old!). I’ve played in various bands and done a lot of work in my recording studio “The Rock Shop”. I recorded background music for Duck Commander of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” starting in 2004.
Tell us about your guitar teaching business. Are you doing it part-time or full-time? How many students are you currently teaching?
I’ve been teaching off and on since 1992. I’m now teaching about 15 students part-time. I mainly teach private and small group lessons.
What’s been the biggest key to success in your teaching business so far?
I try to find out what gets my students excited about music and work from that point. I try to break music down into it’s simplest form so my students can have a “victory”.
What’s been your most effective way of attracting new students?
Word of mouth and my website.
What’s been your most effective way of keeping your existing students from quitting?
Enthusiasm! Life is hectic, I want guitar lessons to be a high point of the week, not another thing they haven’t finished or feel bad about. One thing I’ve stopped doing is asking, “Did you practice last week?” It will be obvious soon enough, and if they did, they always tell you!
What helps to keep you motivated to continue when things don’t seem to be going as well as you would like?
At the end of the day, teaching guitar is fun, fulfilling, and a great way to make a living. It also allows me to have control of my schedule and spend time with my family. It is worth all the work!
What advice would you have for someone who would like to get started teaching guitar lessons for the first time?
Realize that your job is to help people reach their goals musically. You are there to help them, not to show how much you know. If you go in with that attitude, you will be successful.
Can you share one tip that has worked for you to help your students get better results on the guitar?
Be enthusiastic and encouraging. People want to feel like they’ve done a good job and can make more progress. You are their guitar coach.
Well, that’s it for today’s Guitar Teacher Interview. If you’d like to be considered for a future interview, enter your name and email address below to join the Start Teaching Guitar community. I send out occasional interview requests to this mailing list.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback please leave a reply below!
