Guitar Lessons
Why Guitar Lessons?
No other instrument has made it’s mark on popular culture and entertainment quite like the guitar in the past century. From the rhythm and blues coming from the Deep South in the early 1900’s to the brain-melting hair-metal solos of the 80’s, the guitar continues to make it’s mark. If your desire is to entertain and be part of that cultural conversation with music, learning to play the guitar is a must!
The Basics…
At Studio811 Music School we offer weekly private guitar lessons for beginner through intermediate students in our beautiful new studio space conveniently located near Braem Park in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
Any student age 6 and up is eligible, including teenagers, adults, and seniors. Most beginning students will benefit from 30 minutes of instruction per week, while more advanced students may opt for 45 or 60 minute sessions. For busy adults, we also offer bi-weekly 60 minute sessions. In addition to private lessons, you will also be invited to participate in two yearly recitals and optional group lessons.
Beginner students will start with a traditional method book. Currently, we use the Hal Leonard Guitar Method books. Students will learn music theory and how to read notation through this book series. Once students reach a certain level of comfort and ability with the guitar, we will start to introduce riffs from popular songs and have students challenge themselves by learning their favorite songs, too.
We emphasize a learn-by-listening approach while at the same time having a lot of fun giving students a lot of freedom to choose what songs and styles to focus on. Some students might gravitate to electric guitar solos, while others might see themselves as future troubadours with an acoustic guitar. We can accommodate whatever goals you have for learning!
How this works…
If you’re interested in guitar lessons for yourself or your child the first step is to reach out and schedule an introduction lesson. At this lesson we will gauge ability, interest, and talk about goals. This is a great way to get a feel for what it will be like learning at Studio811.
If you decide to proceed, I will schedule another time to step through our studio policy document and make sure you know what to expect from us and what we will require of you. A small deposit and your first month’s tuition payment will be due at that time (more on this below). You will be given a weekly time slot, a method book, and you’ll be ready to start lessons!
I typically try to schedule my lessons back-to-back, so please do your best to arrive on time!
A single parent, grandparent, or guardian is welcome to attend any and all student lessons. For very young students, this is essential for helping them with practice at home. It is perfectly okay for parents to stay in the waiting area, wait outside in their car, or go run errands during the lesson.
We encourage daily practice. Please aim to practice at least 5 out of 7 days per week. Initially, practice should be 5-10 minutes every day at first. A little bit every day is better than taking off multiple days and then having a longer practice session later. Some practice will involve listening assignments in addition to assignments from your method book.
Cost and prerequisites
We require a $75 non-refundable deposit per-semester to reserve your weekly lesson slot. This payment goes towards studio maintenance, sheet music extras, access to practice apps, etc. This fee will also be used to cover some of the costs associated with recitals and solo competition.
Monthly tuition is as follows:
$125/month for weekly 30-minute sessions or bi-weekly 1-hour sessions.
$188/month for weekly 45-minute sessions.
$250/month for weekly 60-minute sessions.
We offer prorated tuition payments for the summer session to accommodate vacations and other activities. Please reach out to us ahead of the summer months to discuss options.
You will also be required to pay for any needed method books. We will procure these and will pass the exact cost onto you. Typically method books cost about $9-$15 a-piece on average.
While cash or check is preferred, we also offer electronic payment options for tuition payments. This includes direct withdraw options so you don’t have to worry about being late or missing a payment during the semester. If you choose one of these, we will require an small service fee to offset the portion that payment processors take. Typically this is an additional 3%, but can vary depending on your chosen payment method. Unfortunately, we cannot absorb this extra cost being a small business.
You must have your own guitar and bring it to lessons each time. It should be in good playing shape with the strings and fretboard properly set up. If you’re unsure if that’s the case, we can discuss it at the initial introduction lesson. We also request that you have your own tuner and metronome as well.
We encourage beginning students to start with an electric guitar, even if their end goal is to play an acoustic. An electric guitar is much easier to learn on while the student develops a certain level of strength and ability with their hands.
You don’t need to bring an amplifier to lessons. Initially, this won’t be needed and we have plenty available at the studio to use. However, an amplifier can be helpful for practicing at home. There are also devices you can plug into that emulate an amplifier sound and also have headphone outputs to keep noise levels low in your house. We can make recommendations if this is desired.
Having a quiet space free from distractions is also essential for practicing at home. Please do the best you can. Parents, please encourage your students to practice daily to get the most out of guitar lessons!