About Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons are taught all throughout the year for children and kids as young as 7 as well as adult students from beginning to advanced levels. Guitar students at the Altadena Music Academy can choose from a variety of musical styles such as pop, jazz, rock, blues, or classical guitar.
Beginner guitar students are advised to start with 30 minute once per week private lessons with their guitar instructor. During their lesson, beginner guitar students will learn how to properly play the guitar as well as how to care for their instrument. Guitar students at our Music Academy will learn how to read music, build a solid understanding of rhythm, and enjoy creative exploration through composition, improvisation, and performance. Although optional, students are encouraged to participate in the Academy's recitals, featuring both children and adults and showcasing their journey with guitar lessons!
Acoustic guitars are a great instrument for children to start their musical journey with since they are found in smaller sizes for young learners. In addition to acoustic guitar lessons, our Academy offers Electric Guitar lessons and Bass Guitar Lessons, which are very popular among teenagers and adults for their power and versatility. Despite that, all of these types of guitars are played by young learners and advanced adult students alike!
New students enrolling in guitar lessons receive a welcome package as well as an Altadena Academy of Music Practice tote bag. For more information regarding guitar lessons at the Altadena Academy of Music, please contact our office by calling us at (626) 296-0799 or registering for lessons by clicking the button below. The Academy proudly offers guitar lessons to students in Altadena, Pasadena, La Cañada, Glendale, Burbank, Monrovia, San Gabriel, Alhambra, San Marino and surrounding areas.
Guitar Lessons Tuition
The prices listed here are for private guitar lessons taking place at the Academy once a week, as well as virtual and online guitar lessons.
30 Minutes
$154
Per Month
45 Minutes
$235
Per Month
60 Minutes
$295
Per Month
Levels of Guitar Lessons
No matter the level at which you currently are - whether a complete beginner or an advanced student who has been taking guitar lessons for a decade - the Altadena Academy of Music is here to help you get the most out of guitar lessons. Since we specialize in private lessons which we have been delivering since 2003, we ensure that your experience with guitar lessons is tailored to your current level, the pace at which you are comfortable to work at, as well as your goals and ambitions within music - no matter which style of guitar you are interested in becoming a pro at!
Beginner
Our beginner guitar lessons are perfect for students who have no previous background in music and are looking to learn to play an instrument. Our private beginner guitar lessons will focus on fostering the basic knowledge of the guitar as well as learning how to name the different strings. Students who participate in beginner guitar lessons will learn basic fingerpicking patterns and techniques to apply during their musical career.
Intermediate
Intermediate guitar lessons will teach students how to proficiently transition between chords as well as how to play more challenging musical pieces. Intermediate guitar students will learn advanced strumming patterns and various rhythmic sequences.
Advanced
Our advanced guitar lessons are for students who are looking to take their musical skills and apply them in the real world through competitions and various teaching roles. Advanced guitar students are proficient in advanced fingerpicking techniques and can play difficult solo pieces. These students are able to easily express their style and expand their musical creativity by composing their own pieces.
Why Choose Our Academy for Guitar Lessons in Altadena, CA
Our Guitar Teachers
Our teachers are truly the core of our institution. As mentioned previously, we receive hundreds of teaching applications every year, and every guitar teacher on our team is a proven professional with a great personality (and their educational, performance, and teaching background speaks for themselves too!).
Our Facility
We pride ourselves on teaching students on the finest equipment, including the best-in-class upright and grand pianos, including a large array of Yamaha U-1s and U-3s, as well as Steinway & Sons Grand Pianos.
We feature a comfortable lounge for parents with high-speed WiFi, an area for little kids to play and check out Lego magazines and coloring books, as well as plenty of free parking. The Academy, located on the border of Pasadena and Altadena, is central to grocery stores, even allowing you to make a quick grocery run while your child is in class.
Our Experience
We have been part of the Pasadena, Altadena, and La Cañada communities since 2003. Delivering guitar lessons to thousands of students (both children and adults) over the years has allowed us to foster the best possible environment for learning music.
Our Policies
We provide students with month-to-month lessons with no long-term commitments. Switching gears away from music? Simply give us a 30-day heads up and you are good to go! Need to change your lesson time? Let us know and we'll be glad to look at other options. And of course - need to miss a lesson? Let us know in advance and you can always receive a private make up credit, rather than lose your lesson or do a group make up.
Our Accolades
We genuinely hate to brag - but we have been chosen as the Best Music School by Expertise Magazine for several years in a row. We are also a Pasadena Weekly Reader Recommended Music School (every year since 2015). Lastly, we are a Steinway & Sons Teaching and Educational Partner, an extremely rare designation for private music schools, as well as members of the Music Teachers' Association of California. The list of the Academy's accolades, including students' competition wins, goes on, and we really hope it speaks for itself!
Meet Some of Our Guitar Teachers in Altadena
As Pasadena and Altadena's top-rated music school and academy for acoustic, electric, and bass guitar lessons, we generally attract over fifty top guitar teachers' resumes for a single guitar teacher opening at our school located on the border of Altadena and Pasadena. As you can imagine, the selection process to teach guitar at the Altadena Academy of Music is extremely rigorous and includes not only technical and behavioral interviews, but also sample lessons and feedback collection from students.
Due to this rigorous interview process for guitar teachers, we pride ourselves in having the most dedicated and prestigious faculty of any school in the Altadena and Pasadena area. Guitar teachers on our team have received degrees from the world's best music programs, including the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, USC Thornton School of Music, Juilliard, Peabody Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, Columbia University, and the Curtis Institute of Music.
All of our private guitar teachers possess not only excellent teaching ability, but also hands-on performance experience which allows them to share unparalleled real-world expertise during each and every guitar lesson.
Mr. Marc
Mr. Sam
Mr. Drew
Mr. Mike
Our Guitar Lesson and Student Gallery in Altadena and Pasadena
Frequently Asked Questions About Guitar Lessons
The time it takes to master guitar varies for each individual. At our Music Academy, our professional instructors strive to meet the individual needs of each of our students. Personalized lessons taught by our teachers, along with diligent practice, will help students reach their full potential in whatever time is necessary for them.
Our Music Academy takes practice very seriously, and encourages parents to oversee that beginner guitar students practice for at least 15-30 minutes every day.
Consistency is the most important factor when it comes to practicing, we recommend practicing as often as possible to help retain what your child has learned.
As the old saying goes (pun intended), you are never too old to pursue a new hobby. Adults make up about one-third of the Academy's students, and adult guitar lessons specifically are a very popular choice. Adults choosing to pick up music usually do so to engage in a new hobby, meet friends , and hone their musical abilities.
Additionally, students looking into improving their memory, as well as controlling certain conditions, such as Parkinson's tremors, are actually encouraged to begin guitar and music lessons, as playing music is scientifically proven to stimulate the brain and allow you to strengthen and improve your hand coordination.
All of our guitar lessons here at the Altadena Academy of Music include sight reading and music theory, unless that is something you are not interested in due to time constraints or personal preference. Unlike many teachers and schools, we include music theory into all of our lessons by default, as it's crucial for long-term success.
Learning music and taking lessons without learning how to sight read and understand the "behind the scenes" is akin to learning a foreign language without learning the alphabet. You may be able to recite a few phrases extremely well, but once faced with a phrase that may not be exactly what you have learned, you will not be able to make any progress.
For beginner guitar students, some finger pain may be present at first. As you develop your fingers and hand positioning, as well as the proper amount of pressure to be applied on the strings, finger pain will gradually fade away. Slowly increasing practice time will also alleviate finger pain! Remember - this is a normal occurrence and every guitar player goes through it when starting with guitar lessons!
Consistent practice is the most important item that will help improve a student’s guitar playing speed.
While practicing, we recommend that students perform the various exercises that were demonstrated in class by their guitar teachers in order to further progress their technique and skills. With time, practicing will become second nature!