I teach class guitar in Nashville, at the most culturally diverse high school in the state of Tennessee. You may not think of Nashville as a diverse city, but kids at my school speak 42 languages. About 83 percent live in poverty, and the drop-out rate is around 40 percent. Many public school “Title 1” (high poverty) classroom teachers have a similar story. Each day holds new challenges and taxes your emotions in new ways. It’s not uncommon for a student to be unprepared for class because he or she slept on the street, or to have students whose parents are in jail, overseas, or otherwise absent. It’s a tough environment, but triumphs do come—often in tiny doses.

Teachers who are passionate about what they do are always in demand at a school like this. To qualify for the job, you’ll need a music or music education degree and a teaching certification (from passing the Praxis). Your experiences and skills from studio work, arranging, and performing will help as well. You’ll need to demonstrate an ability to manage a classroom. In my school each class has around 30 students, which obviously means a lot more juggling than in a single-student private lesson. I’ve learned a little Spanish and Arabic, which shows the students I’m taking an interest in them and their native cultures. These efforts are very well received and necessary to teach at a school.

Becoming an effective classroom guitar teacher requires patience, transparency, and warmth. Building your classroom into a community of proficient guitarists will challenge your repertoire and knowledge of the instrument. It’s easy to fall into the pattern of teaching songs, rather than teaching how to play the guitar, but the rewards of perseverance are extremely gratifying. Keep your eyes on the goal of inspiring lifelong learners.

Know Your Students

Before you begin teaching, you must first assess your students’ musical backgrounds and knowledge. It’s a good bet you’ll have some students who love guitar, but never assume anything. Find out what kind of music they like, what movies they’ve seen, and which community groups they belong to. In my classes, musical preferences are all over the map. Despite being in Nashville, very few students like country music. Most enjoy rock and its subgenres, while others enjoy the music of their native cultures. I’ve discovered some fantastic music while getting to know my students, from the Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela and Iranian classical guitarist Lily Afshar to obscure artists like Finnish metal band Kiuas.

If you present music with a historical and cultural connection, students will be more likely to become emotionally vested and thus want to learn. I start each class by having the students actively listen to music. To open one class, for instance, we listened to “Minor Swing” by Django Reinhardt. We talked about how he injured his fingers in a caravan fire and about his community’s beliefs and history. The students were hooked. I then recommended Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing by Michael Dregni and made my copy available for them to borrow.

You’ll quickly find that you will also need to vary your teaching methods to reach a diverse group of students. Use the technology in your classroom (if you have it). Finale or Sibelius are fantastic tools in combination with PowerPoint for presenting the music in standard notation and tablature for your visual learners. Of course, the hands-on approach is the cornerstone for guitarists, but auditory learning is often overlooked. Ear training will help students who learn through listening. Walk through all the details pertaining to posture, hand position, tone, technique, and musicality. Take it slow and be prepared to repeat yourself often.

Once you’ve begun to teach students how to read music and practice it through playing arrangements of songs, be prepared to adjust and rearrange the music to make it easier or more difficult by placing it in a different position or key. Revoicing chords will come in handy on many levels. You can use the “C-A-G-E-D” chord method, for instance, to help advanced students see the various ways of playing the same chord. For your beginning students you’ll need to understand chord structure well enough to know which notes you can remove without compromising the chord.

At my school one major hurdle for guitar students is that most kids don’t have their own guitars ³/₄ they only have access to the ones the school owns and lets them play during class. Thankfully, organizations have donated guitars to the school over the years. Outside private lessons are highly recommended but are often difficult for students to afford or travel to. In Nashville, a wonderful nonprofit origination called the W.O. Smith School (wosmith.org) offers free private lessons for students who can’t pay.

Be Positive . . . and Real

When you’re teaching, be as transparent as possible about how your students are developing. Above all else, remain positive and constructive, and put yourself in the place of the student. The worst advice you can give is simply to say, “You’re doing great.” Be precise—tell them how they’re doing great. Is it their tone? Technique? Rhythm? Remember: always start with something positive before moving forward.

Performing, in many ways, is a leap of faith. It is delicate to critique students of any age when they play for the group and allow themselves to be vulnerable. However, you have a chance to show them that mistakes happen. When you’re playing for the class, make a small mistake on purpose. Finish your performance and acknowledge your mistake. Students will often make a mistake, stop dead in their tracks, and start over. If they see you move forward from a mistake, they will too. Let the students know they will never play as well for their teacher as they do by themselves. It’s important for them to feel comfortable. Once you set the bar for your students, they will rise to the occasion.

Pull the Threads Together

One common mistake to make as a classroom guitar teacher is moving forward without a sense of closure. Frame together the materials covered and use various forms of assessment to observe their progress and understanding. A practice journal is an easy way to help them reflect on their frustrations, progress, and triumphs.

In talking with your students, you can draw from your personal experiences as a musician. For instance, share how your lack of understanding diminished your playing in the past, how you overcame it, and how you’re better off as a result. Very often I’ll tell my students stories about music school, gigs, and studio work.

As a classroom guitar teacher, you hope to inspire the next generation of songwriters, string dusters, and slayers. You won’t get through to everyone, but you can get through to most. It’s a great feeling to see a student succeed and an even better feeling to know that you contributed to their success. I have had multiple students who have formed bands, many of which cross genres with a melting pot of cultural influence. Seeing their enthusiasm and private pursuit outside the classroom is extremely rewarding. Playing the guitar is a skill they’ll have for the rest of their lives and will hopefully provide countless hours of pleasure for them as it does for us—the teachers who are lifelong students.