What Are the Prices of Guitar Lessons in the UK?

 With the possible exception of the piano, the guitar is perhaps the most flexible of all instruments. While it can be played professionally in a wide range of genres, it's also ideal to play for pleasure, especially for accompanying singing. And, unlike the piano, the guitar can put it in a case and carry it around with you. This makes guitar lessons extremely popular, creating a high demand for tutors. If you're an expert guitarist, you might want to increase your income by offering guitar lessons — but what should you charge for them?

What Range of Prices Can You Charge?

 As with any other subject, guitar lessons can vary considerably in price. In general, the average price is around £25 per hour. However, there are lessons available for as little as £15, while the top prices can go as high as £60. Several factors affect this:

·  Your location

·  You level of experience and expertise

·  How versatile you are

·  How your lessons are arranged

What's Your Location?

 As with most lessons, prices vary considerably depending on where you are. In general, major cities attract higher prices than small towns and, as usual, the highest prices are found in London. At the moment, of course, many lessons are being conducted online via Zoom or other video conferencing platforms. This means that the tutor and the student may be in completely different locations. Prices are likely to reflect the tutor's location, though if expenses are lower, that might be reflected in lower prices.

How Expert and Experienced Are You?

 Guitar tutors come at all levels of expertise and experience, and this will have a strong effect on the price you can charge. If you have little teaching experience, for instance, or you're only a few levels above your students, you're unlikely to be able to charge more than the bare minimum.

Aspects of your experience and expertise you should consider when setting your prices include:

·  Do you have teaching experience, or do you just teach by example?

·  Can you teach more complex guitar techniques (e.g. barred chords)?

·  Can you also teach musical notation?

·  Do you have performing experience that might attract pupils?

How Versatile Are You?

There are many different styles of guitar-playing — classical, folk, rock, jazz and many more — while the guitars used for them may be nylon or steel strung or be electric. Most guitar tutors specialise in one style, which is fine. However, if you're able to teach a variety of styles, you can potentially attract more students, while you might be able to charge a little more for students who want to learn various styles.

How Are Your Lessons Arranged?

 Guitar lessons are typically an hour, but if you offer shorter lessons for any reason, this should obviously be reflected in the price. It's also reasonable to offer a slight discount for students who buy multiple lessons at once (e.g. bundles of ten). Most guitar lessons are offered on a one-to-one basis, but some tutors will offer group lessons. This can be effective if handled in the right way, but you obviously wouldn't expect students to pay the same for an hour shared with others as for an hour devoted solely to them. Whatever your approach to being a guitar tutor, why not register with TutorExtra for more resources?