Classical guitar lessons for adults in Montreal

An adult does not learn like a child

An adult understands quickly, wants to know why an exercise exists, and has far less time. The teaching adapts to those three facts: the mechanism gets explained, exercises without immediate use get dropped, and everything is built around short daily practice rather than long sessions that never actually happen. At home in Montreal or online, no musical background needed.

The first three months, week by week

What discourages adults is not the instrument, it is the lack of landmarks: six weeks in, you cannot tell whether you are moving. Here is what the first three months really look like for an adult beginner who practises fifteen to twenty minutes a day, five days out of seven.

• ✓ Weeks 1 and 2: position (a chair without armrests, footstool or support, neck height) and the right hand on open strings. Thumb and index first, then middle and ring finger and the index-middle alternation. A full sound before any speed, tuning with a tuner every session, and the first notes on the first string from week two.
• ✓ Weeks 3 and 4: first notes on two strings and a first short melody, read from the staff, played slowly from beginning to end. At the end of week 4, you record thirty seconds.
• ✓ Weeks 5 to 8: the slump. The novelty is gone, the fluency is not there yet, and this is where most adults learning on their own give up. We work on a left hand that holds a shape without buzzing, the change from one shape to the next, and rhythm that stops drifting.
• ✓ Weeks 9 to 12: the first piece that sounds like music to someone in the next room. Nobody else will be impressed. You will be.

How to measure your progress

The first six weeks build things that make no sound: right-hand finger independence, a thumb that stays behind the neck, a shoulder that stays down. None of it can be heard in a piece, all of it decides what you will hear in six months. What I measure instead:

• ✓ Can you tune on your own, by ear and with a tuner, without fighting it?
• ✓ Can the left hand hold a shape for ten seconds without buzzing, even if the change to the next one is slow?
• ✓ Can you play the first piece from beginning to end, slowly, without stopping?
• ✓ The week 4 recording against the week 12 one: it is very hard to listen to both and still believe nothing happened.

Two cases where you should worry: pain that comes back every session (not sore fingertips, real pain in the wrist, neck or shoulder), and practising without a plan, playing random things for an hour and getting better at none of them. Both are fixed in one lesson.

Do I need to read music?

Not to begin. Reading is learned alongside the instrument, gradually. In classical guitar it eventually becomes essential, because the repertoire is written down, but it is not an entry requirement.

Which guitar to buy

A nylon-string classical guitar, full size for an adult. A steel-string acoustic, however good, is not suitable: the neck is narrower, the strings are harder on the fingers, and the right-hand technique is different. A decent entry-level instrument is plenty for the first few years. Write to me before buying if you are unsure.

How much practice

Fifteen to twenty minutes a day beats two hours on Sunday, and that is not a question of motivation: finger coordination is built through closely spaced repetitions. An adult student who practises five days out of seven improves visibly from one lesson to the next.