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Online learning is amazing. I wish it had been around when I first learned to play guitar and sing. With so much information at our fingertips, there’s nothing we can’t learn alone in our own homes.

Are you learning to sing or play guitar online but haven’t yet considered getting a teacher IRL? Having a vocal coach or guitar teacher IRL can be life-changing. Whether in studio or on a video call, a teacher lesson meets you exactly where you are and serves you exactly what you need that day. And one one-on-one lessons make you feel seen and uplifted by the teachers’ energy and enthusiasm for your progress.

To be clear, I love online learning! I teach online and learn online. With so much content available to us, It’s an amazing time to learn music online.

However, one of the downsides of learning to sing or play guitar online is that it can give the illusion that these things should be a much easier and quicker process than it is. There’s no immediate feedback, no way to know if we’re developing bad habits. No one to ask specific questions as they arise.

A private lesson, at least occasionally, will help supplement your online studies.

You can also listen to the Podcast about this Blog post here:

https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/groove-sing-all-the-things/id1788378217

No Substitute for One-On-One Lessons

I believe that a student can learn more in an hour with a teacher in a private lesson than months or sometimes years of learning solo online or from a book. It’s a completely different experience. A great teacher can diagnose your hangups, energy, and mindsets and prescribe new mindsets and exercises.

They offer support and understanding. They’ve been where you are. They provide personal stories and anecdotes. They encourage, advise, relate, calm us … they see us.

It’s more difficult to feel seen and understood when learning to sing or play guitar online alone. Enrolling in a course would be a close second to one-on-one learning because you will have some access to personal attention.

Feeling seen and supported is incredibly important when learning or expanding our skills. So if you are able to have private lessons in addition to your online learning it will be very helpful. There is no substitute for a one-on-one lesson with a teacher or coach who you trust and feel understands your needs.

I came across another article about the benefits of private lessons. You can read it here.

Information at Our Fingertips

If you are pursuing learning to sing or play guitar exclusively online, you will undoubtedly learn valuable information and make progress. There is plenty of information online to learn from. But as I stated earlier, it is easy to create bad habits and not know it because you don’t have anything to compare it to yet. That’s where one-on-one feedback proves to be invaluable.

For instance, you might be muscling up high notes, or squeezing your throat while singing, or playing with too much tension in your fingers because you’re using too much pressure. The list goes on. These are things that a teacher will point out immediately and teach you proper techniques to make your playing or singing easier.

And if you’re anything like me, you’ll need to hear some of these things many many, times and practice correct techniques instead many many times before they become second nature. These things take a lot of time. More than you might think. Everyone learns at their own pace, but generally speaking, learning an instrument takes a lot of time and dedication. (With singing you ARE the instrument.) You are training your mind and your muscles. Having one-on-one attention and creating healthy habits will pay dividends in the long run.

Online learning will always be a valuable tool as well. And I believe it is the future of education. But it will also never take the place of learning from a teacher or a coach.

Great Teachers Change Lives

I’ve had amazing teachers in both private lessons and in the classroom and I am so very grateful them. They changed my life for the better and made me who I am today. There was always accountability, energy, mutual respect and admiration. I looked up to them,(and still do) and they always somehow taught me what I needed to learn that day.

As a teacher IRL and online I want my students to feel all these things. I want to make their lives better, easier, more exciting. I want them to feel like they belong and are in the right place to be supported and encouraged. All of the things that my teachers did (and do) for me.

Great teachers bring out the best in us. They make us believe that we can do it.

Most of the singers who you admire all work with a coach no matter what level of success they’ve reached. Everyone needs that feedback from a trusted coach or teacher because we can’t see ourselves the way they do. Just like athletes have their coaches, we musicians need ours too.

We Can’t See Outside Ourselves

We cannot see outside of ourselves. We need someone with the knowledge that we lack. Because we don’t know what we don’t know. Getting feedback from a teacher you trust is so helpful.

We have to become much more body aware whether singing or playing … something we learn in private lessons by getting helpful feedback.

If you’re learning to sing or play guitar online alone you could be internalizing bad or unhealthy habits and not even know it. This can lead to frustration and not knowing why you feel ‘stuck’. You feel stuck because you are.

Lessons as Therapy

I cannot tell you how many times I showed up to my lesson full of doubt, self-loathing, and anxiety. Feeling like I wasn’t going to sing well, or I just knew my voice was going to crack going up to that high note. Because I had spent all week practicing by myself and not being able to sing the way I wanted. 

Or the many times I showed up and burst into tears before I ever sang a note. The frustration with this stuff is real and it builds up and sometimes just overflows. Luckily I had supportive and loving teachers who talked me through tough times. 

I went to weekly lessons for years. Showing up to my lesson, face to face with my teacher, singing, allowing myself to be vulnerable, and getting feedback, advice, and encouragement from my teachers, I would leave my lessons on cloud nine!

With my excitement for singing or playing and self-worth restored, I was ready to go back out in the world and keep practicing and believing that I would reach my goals. 

This is a difficult place to get to alone. That’s why I am a believer in great teachers and private lessons. They encourage us and help us to see our potential, which left to our own devices is sometimes just destroyed. As artists aren’t exactly known for being kind or patient with ourselves. (We are usually very critical of ourselves and need outside reassurance.)

The Takeaway

Find a teacher you like and show up to as many lessons as you can. Preferably every week or every two weeks. Even when you don’t feel like it. Show up. Even when you’re tired or frustrated. Show up. That’s where the progress is made.

Having a teacher IRL (or Zoom, skype, or FaceTime) creates accountability. Showing up for them as well as yourself. Consistency is key.

Another incredible aspect of online learning is that you can study with a teacher anywhere in the world! You don’t have to be in the same city as your teacher. Even in the same city, online lessons work great. Sometimes traffic is just too much to handle!

We are all in different places, and great teachers meet us where we are. They see our potential and bring it out of us.

Learn more about me here.

Are you learning to sing or play guitar online? I have a gift for You!

Whether you’re learning to sing or to play, I have a video for you! Click below.

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