Music Lessons at Guitar Center for Kids

The Duty: Guitar Lessons at Guitar Center

As you recall, I few weeks ago, I shared the fact that we (I mean Leila) were starting guitar lessons at Guitar Center. We had an interesting time choosing the right music instrument to learn, but ultimately, she was pretty excited about guitar and willing to put in the work and effort into learning to play. Effort was a big deal for us because, like a lot of kids, she starts to get a little impatient with a challenge and starts to lose interest after a while.

The Guitar Center Difference

We tried to tackle this a few ways. First, I believe our decision to have her start these guitar lessons at Guitar Center was a critical one. Guitar Center has a few key differences that stand out when it comes to kids music lessons, including:

Custom Curriculum that focuses on teaching theory through contemporary music. They tailor the curriculum to your child’s goals and interests and have a database of thousands of songs to learn. Note: All curriculum programs are approved by the National Association for Music Education.
Professional and Passionate Instructors who are paired with your child based on their needs and wants. They also have weekly office hours so they are all highly accessible.
A wide range of Instruments to choose from since they know the struggle of finding the right instrument and understand that learning is much more enjoyable when they are doing what they love.
They have over 200 locations nationally, brand-new facilities that offer everything from lessons to retail to instrument repairs to supplemental learning materials to cover any aspiring student’s needs.
Finally, their Achievement Program helps students monitor their progress with a 6 tiered program – taking your little musician from Opening Act to Headliner in as much or as little time as they need.

Diligence and Flexible Music Lesson Schedules

Additionally, we set her up on 30 minute lessons just once a week. Although Guitar Center does give you the option of increasing the frequency and/or doubling up on lessons, we thought this would be the best option so we wouldn’t overwhelm her with lessons. I’m so happy we made this decision!

Another consideration we made was to make sure the guitar lessons at Guitar Center wouldn’t conflict with other things she loved, like birthday parties for example. Luckily, another plus about Guitar Center was the flexibility when it comes to rescheduling when needed.

Other than those concessions, we’ve been enforcing the idea that she has made a commitment to learn something and give it her time and best effort. What’s awesome about it is the fact that she’s actually pretty good at it. No, I’m not just saying that because she’s my daughter, but her instructor has given me the feedback on the fact that even by the 3rd lesson, she’d already grasped many of the basics and he’d been able to move forward easily with her instruction. If you follow me on Instagram, I’ve shared some of her sound and technique progression in my Instastories.

And the Doubt that rears its ugly head…

Well, not surprisingly, we hit that inevitable snag that tends to plague my daughter “the perfectionist” sometimes – DOUBT! That’s always such a tough stage in the parenting journey -when your child doubts whether they are good enough, smart enough, talented enough, etc. And how do you combat that besides praise and encouragement? I mean, the truth of the matter is that all children taking music lessons won’t become professional-level musicians. As much as they’d like to, they won’t all get to be on stage someday at Madison Square Garden in Beyonce’s band. Yes, that was a real conversation.

So, in knowing that, we’ve added one more concession to make this process more enjoyable for her – Expectations! I had to remind her of what we expected of her. Not to become a musical genius (although it’s not out of the realm of possibilities), but to truly give it her all, take it all one lesson at a time, and most importantly have fun and seize the opportunity she has been given to learn.

Next steps in the process

As far as next steps, we’re going to continue the lessons and prepare her for the next recital. Guitar Center offers multiple recitals throughout the year that are a great opportunity for students to get support from peers. They are also totally optional to take part in.

Also, we’re going to look into purchasing a guitar for her. Not anything that will break the bank. Just a reliable, sensible and cute guitar that will help her feel like her own inner musician. We’ve found such a great variety of affordable guitars – new and used – to choose from at Guitar Center. In fact, she already fell in love with this Coco-inspired guitar.

Finally, we’ll more than likely soon make this a family affair. My 6 y/o Samara has been joining me during the lesson times. While Leila is practicing, we’ve started exploring the store a bit. I’m pretty sure she’s channeling her inner musician as well.