Are you ready for your first virtual guitar lesson? It can be as simple as grabbing your cellphone and your acoustic guitar. But in case you’re worried, or you just want your zoom guitar lesson to go as smoothly as possible, follow these tips for making sure you have a GREAT zoom guitar lesson!
Tip #1 – Adjust the following settings inside your zoom application!
(for mac users open zoom and using the menu bar go to zoom.us)
a. Go to audio. Deselect ‘Automatically adjust microphone volume’
b. Change ‘suppress backgroud noise’ to ‘Low’
Tip #2 – Use a laptop.
Why? The camera on a laptop is way up high and it will give you the best angle, and it can be tilted downward. This is ideal for guitar lessons. iPads almost always lean backwards, and therefore need to be set low and that just makes it more difficult for your teacher to see. Hot Tip: If you HAVE to use a cellphone, you can actually stick it on your laptop and use that as a cellphone stand. A laptop is also great for pulling up materials from your teacher like charts, songs, drum machines, metronomes, and it gives you the ability to do this with a single device.
If you aren’t using a laptop, you might want to have a second device handy. Why? A second device is great for calling up drum machines, backing drums, and your favorite songs. I’m often sharing files or links with my guitar students via the zoom chat or via email. But again, I’m a minimalist and this is just on a case by case basis.
Tip #3 – Don’t waste money on gear!
Don’t invest in cameras, complicated audio interfaces with crazy routing, and bluetooth speakers. These typically create more problems than they solve. Apple laptops now have 1080p cameras and great speakers. Invest in one of those lol.
Tip #4 – Check your lighting.
Make sure there isn’t a bright light or window behind you, and that you and your guitar are well lit. Making sure that you are well lit will ensure that your virtual guitar teacher can see you. A bright light in the background will automatically change your cameras ISO making the image very dark. An intermittent bright light will also make the camera go from light to dark etc.
Tip #5 – Tune your guitar!
You want to be in tune! So Tune your guitar! There are many guitar tuning tutorials online. Doing this simple first step will save you a lot of time. You will learn the name of the strings, and you will save money but not wasting time in your first lesson on something you can learn on your own. If your guitar is super out of tune, your teacher will have wait on teaching you other things while he/she helps you tune!
Tip #6 – Check your connection
Doube check your wifi or internet connection. This problem is actually very rare nowadays, but sometimes there is just a bad room in a house where the wifi or cell signal isn’t great. It wouldn’t hurt to call a friend for 10 seconds to make sure they can hear you properly and vice versa before starting a virtual guitar lesson. This will also help remind you to check your battery, camera, audio, and anything else that might not be 100%. (You can always restart your device as a precaution).
Tip #7 - Watch and learn!
Don’t try to copy your teacher while he is demonstrating something. Instead, let them quickly demonstrate the lick, or chord, and just watch. Then try to copy. This one is just a general music lesson tip, but it seems worse for some reason on zoom calls. A good teacher will occasionally need to show you something by demonstrating. If you look away from him while he is demonstrating (especially in order to play your guitar), then the sound of your guitar will not only cancel out the sound of his/her playing, but it will distract you from absorbing. If you need a note by note demonstrate, then the same thing holds true. Let your teacher call out the note while demonstrating, as you watch and then copy. This will is a huge tip!
Tip #8 – Hire a GREAT guitar teacher.
The most important thing in selecting a guitar teacher is the quality of the teacher, and the quality of the instruction. Don't let the fact that teacher is available via zoom or in-person determine who you choose. It's better to have a great guitar teacher over zoom than it is to have a mediocre teacher in person. What happens in a guitar lesson is a transfer of information.
““Travis Raab first off is a great guitar player and a guy that I could just listen to play some kick ass lead guitar. Which is why I take lessons from him. He doesn’t get over complicated and will have you playing guitar like we all dream we can. Check out his site and decide for yourself but trust me you won’t go wrong..” -Bill Engvall (Comedian)”