Occasionally, I will see an advertisement or internet post for guitar lessons promoting the well known benefits of taking music lessons on any instrument (language development, mathmatics, increased IQ, spatial-temporal skill, etc...). However, many of these benefits can only be gained if music reading and interpretation are a large part of the lessons. While shopping for guitar lessons the buyer should beware. Guitarists are notoriously bad music readers and many times don't incorporate music reading into their students lessons at all. Many guitar instructors teach by rote, 'tabs', and 'chord charts'. This results in students taking lessons for many years not understanding anything about the nuts and bolts of music. It is true that many guitar styles do not require music reading. However, these styles are, in general, very simplistic and only consist of a handful of the same chords and simple melodies (most pop/rock songs you hear fall into this category). Music reading is not used to play this music. Since the guitar is an important part of much of this music, many pop/rock players become guitar teachers without being able to read music at all. This problem is largely unique to guitar education. Other instruments have an established pedagogical route extremely sound in the rudiments of musicianship and instrumental technique. With 'School of Rock' style music schools becoming the norm in guitar education, the race to the bottom in guitar education will continue unless consumers become informed of the lack of substantial music education happening in these establishments. At the Guitar Academy, music fundamentals will always be at the core your child's lesson. Our commitment to quality guitar education will continue to be the cornerstone of our school.  

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