Teaching Clients The Way I Learned Music

Aug 25

I remember scrolling through YouTube one day, trying to find an answer to a camera question.

I watched one video.

Then another.

And after a while, I started noticing something interesting.

Some videos had millions of views and thousands of comments, while others barely got any attention — even though the person making them was a photographer with years of experience, an impressive portfolio and a pretty big reputation.

And I started to realise why.

They talk too much.

They share too much.

And honestly, they make me sleepy.

It reminded me of something my guitar teacher once told me.

He was actually the person who inspired me to become a guitar teacher myself. One thing he said has stuck with me all these years:

“Whatever you teach has to be relatable, relevant and simple. It should grow your student’s interest and take them from ‘I don’t get it’ to ‘I can do this.’”

Looking back, I think that's exactly what he did with me.

He made complicated things simple

There were plenty of things about guitar that I had absolutely no patience for.

Theory was one of them.

If someone had sat me down and started explaining the technical definition of a major chord, I probably would have zoned out pretty quickly.

Instead, my teacher would say something like:

Major chord = happy.

That's it.

Obviously, that's not the complete explanation of what a major chord is. But I understood it immediately.

And once I understood what a major chord felt like and how it could be used in music, I became curious enough to learn the theory behind it later.

He didn't dump all the information on me at once.

He gave me just enough to make me go:

“Ohhh, I get it.”

And then I wanted to know more.

He gave me something I could actually do

The same thing happened when he taught me scales.

He could have started by showing me how to play a major scale across the entire guitar.

Instead, he taught me how to play it on one string.

Once I got that, he turned on a backing track and said, essentially, “Now try it.”

Suddenly, I wasn't learning a scale anymore.

I was playing music.

I could hear how the notes worked with the backing track. I could experiment. I could make mistakes. I could start imagining myself actually playing a solo.

Then, once I was comfortable, we'd move on.

Two strings.

Then three.

Then more.

Looking back, it was such a simple way of teaching, but it worked because I could always see what I was supposed to do next.

I never felt like I had to swallow an entire textbook before I was allowed to play.

Every lesson felt like progress

I think this is probably the biggest thing I remember.

Every lesson gave me a little win.

Maybe I learned something new.

Maybe I could finally play something I'd been struggling with.

Maybe I understood something that didn't make sense the week before.

There was always a feeling of:

“Hey, I can do this.”

And that feeling kept me interested.

Eventually, I became a full-time performer and teacher myself.

Which is kind of funny when I think about it.

The guy who had very little patience for complicated explanations eventually became the guy standing in front of students trying to explain complicated things.

And that's probably why his lesson has stayed with me for so long.

I think we forget this when we're teaching our clients

We do this all the time.

A client asks us a question about something we're good at and suddenly our brain goes:

Finally. My time to shine.

We want to show them everything we know.

So we explain the process.

Then the theory.

Then the history.

Then the exceptions.

Then the five things they didn't ask about.

And before we know it, we've given them a 20-minute explanation when all they really wanted was an answer to one simple question.

The problem is that we forget what it feels like not to know something.

We've spent years learning our craft.

Our clients haven't.

They don't necessarily understand our industry, our terminology, our process or even what our product or service is capable of.

So when we give them everything we know, what feels useful to us can actually feel overwhelming to them.

Maybe we should teach like we're teaching beginners

Not because our clients are stupid.

Quite the opposite.

It's because we're the experts.

We should be able to take something complicated and make it easy to understand.

Give them the simple version first.

Show them how it applies to their situation.

Let them experience a small win.

Then, if they're interested, go deeper.

That's what my guitar teacher did with me.

He didn't hide the complicated stuff.

He simply waited until I was ready for it.

And I think there's a lesson there for anyone trying to educate their audience.

Don't try to prove how much you know.

Try to make someone understand.

Try to take them from:

“I don't get it.”

to:

“Oh, I see.”

and eventually:

“I can do this.”

Sometimes, that's all the teaching someone needs.

And ironically, simplifying something forces us to understand it better ourselves.

We have to go back to the fundamentals.

We have to figure out what actually matters.

We have to find a better way to explain something we've probably taken for granted for years.

Maybe that's why my guitar teacher's advice has stayed with me.

He wasn't just teaching me guitar.

He was teaching me how to teach.

Thanks for reading!
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Alfred Twj