How Much do you Charge for Steel lessons?

[Stuart Legg]

I don't recall when I was growing up ever at any time my father had to call up a Steel player in a emergence.
I remember plumbers, electricians, doctors, a taxi, lawyers, a roofer, the trash guy etc, mechanics etc. but never a steel player.
So unless you are a steel player that's going to fix the plumbing or the roof you ain't gettin' nutin' like $75 an hour.

[Tony Prior]

Interesting question...so, how much should a Steel guitar teacher charge for lessons to share and offer multiple years of learning, wisdom and experience ? How much should a student pay to get an immediate boost to his or her own knowledge that they can apply immediately ? How much is it worth to a student to bypass a decades worth of struggling ?

[Jeff Scott Brown]

So unless you are a steel player that's going to fix the plumbing or the roof you ain't gettin' nutin' like $75 an hour.

That is a peculiar assertion. There are steel players who don't fix roofs or plumbing that do get something like $75 an hour.

[Tony Prior]

so then, A Steel player who can fix pipes, perform electrical repairs and fix roofs etc, now they are worth $75 for a Steel lesson ?

[Herb Steiner]

Interesting question...so, how much should a Steel guitar teacher charge for lessons to share and offer multiple years of learning, wisdom and experience ? How much should a student pay to get an immediate boost to his or her own knowledge that they can apply immediately ? How much is it worth to a student to bypass a decades worth of struggling ?

Tony
Stuart's post is basically autobiographical; it says more about himself than it does about the value of steel lessons to a player hungry for knowledge and technique. He only speaks to what a steel teacher doesn't do for him, and ignores the value to others that you speak to in your reply.

Apparently his father has been playing long enough to where lessons for him are unnecessary. Fair enough, and Stuart doesn't even play the instrument at all, much less professionally gig, so why would spending $75 for an hour of an experienced teacher's time be worth anything to him? Lessons for him would be a total waste of his money.

There are plenty of great players who teach steel guitar effectively and value their time and the years they spent acquiring their knowledge and skill level. And fortunately there's plenty of students who want that information and for whom $$ are not a deal breaker. Many want to get into the game and maybe start making some money themselves. Others just want to learn for their own enjoyment and are comfortable enough in their lives to where the 75 bucks for lessons isn't extravagant. I doubt that Stuart's post would dissuade any serious student from seeking the information they value.

[Richard Sinkler]

$75 for 90 minutes here.

[Tony Prior]

Interesting question...so, how much should a Steel guitar teacher charge for lessons to share and offer multiple years of learning, wisdom and experience ? How much should a student pay to get an immediate boost to his or her own knowledge that they can apply immediately ? How much is it worth to a student to bypass a decades worth of struggling ?

Tony
Stuart's post is basically autobiographical

Ok, thats kool but it was an open ended conversation which maybe should have been qualified. I understood it to read that a plumber is worth his skill set but a Steel Guitar teacher is not !

no harm done..

I used to charge $60 and that can be for up to 2 hrs ..I'm now gonna charge $75! But I'm worth $100 or more because I can fix a roof, do plumbing ,some electrical work and work on a Jeep !

[Herb Steiner]

The original post was basically trolling anyway, and it finally succeeded to get some attention after a long period of inactivity, which I'm sure was dismaying to the OP.

Kind of like the somewhat ineffectual "Flippers" thread, it won't change anything or anyone's behavior. No reseller will stop seeking bargains, and no teacher will lose a student because Stuart Legg says he's charging too much.

I do know a couple tradesmen that would say "good luck getting me out to a job for 75 bucks. This ain't the 80's!"

[Jerry Berger]

My mom paid my lap steel teacher $2.00 for a half hour lesson. Oh yeah, that was in 1955!

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

$40 per lesson. These are usually an hour but it varies.

[Jack Aldrich]

The going rate for steel, guitar, banjo, mandolin, piano and fiddle lessons here in Seattle is $50/hr.

[Wally Moyers]

Like everything else in pricing, it comes down to supply and demand… If there is a strong demand you can charge more for whatever service you supply… The supplier can limit the number of students (in this case) by charging more or less depending on his inventory (time to teach)… Personally as a steel teacher, I think 50.00 would be the minimum I would charge for a one hour lesson, I was charging that 20 years ago.. $75.00 - $100.00 would be more like it when you consider the actual time involved… If your doing a good job you will have to spend almost as much time preparing for a lesson as doing it.. At this point in my life, I have little time to teach so I usually only teach when I see a young player that is on fire for the instrument. In those cases I usually don't even charge them and just try to mentor them… Teachers like Herb Steiner, Larry Toliver, Buck Reed and many other professional players should get top dollar just for the experience and career advice they will give in addition to teaching how to play the instrument… I have several students that are out there doing it in a big way. There is nothing more satisfying than that except being able to pay the bills… When I played music full time, teaching private lessons as well as instructional videos made a big difference in my ability to make a living playing steel guitar… Stuart, I never had to be a plumber, electrician, doctor, taxi driver, lawyer or roofer.. I will admit that I was the trash guy until my boys got old enough to do it:)

[Bob Carlucci]

It depends on where you live,,, I charge $30 for a 2 hour lesson, and encourage students to tape the lesson, take copious notes, and I show them a LOT of stuff concerning tuning, blocking, maintenance, PLUS I do free adjustments, on the steels themselves before or after the lesson..
Can't even get a few students st that low price.. Simple reason is there just aren't enough people around here that want to learn.. Last student I had was 3 hours away, and just last week I had a guy inquire that was over 2 hours away..I am one of VERY few pedal steel players that gives lessons within a 100 mile radius, but still VERY few takers.. I get maybe 1 student every 2 years.. Most simply lose interest, or won't practice... I have had one young man that worked hard, and became a very good player.. Within a very short time it got to the point I could no longer show him anything, and he started showing ME stuff!...
I would like to give lessons, but man there is NO one that wants to learn pedal steel around here.... Thats really the bottom line.. bob

[Wally Moyers]

It depends on where you live,,, I charge $30 for a 2 hour lesson, and encourage students to tape the lesson, take copious notes, and I show them a LOT of stuff concerning tuning, blocking, maintenance, PLUS I do free adjustments, on the steels themselves before or after the lesson..
Can't even get a few students st that low price.. Simple reason is there just aren't enough people around here that want to learn.. Last student I had was 3 hours away, and just last week I had a guy inquire that was over 2 hours away..I am one of VERY few pedal steel players that gives lessons within a 100 mile radius, but still VERY few takers.. I get maybe 1 student every 2 years.. Most simply lose interest, or won't practice... I have had one young man that worked hard, and became a very good player.. Within a very short time it got to the point I could no longer show him anything, and he started showing ME stuff!...
I would like to give lessons, but man there is NO one that wants to learn pedal steel around here.... Thats really the bottom line.. bob

Bob I got most of my students from them hearing me play and wanting to learn.. I would always get them up and let them set in on a song with my band as soon as they could get through a song.. That was always the hook that made them really want it… Like I said in the other post, demand is a factor in what you can charge…

[Steve Hitsman]

I get $45/hour at my place $55 at theirs... and they usually get more than an hour.

[Steve Spitz]

I think most lessons , regardless of price, are a bargain. If you consider you're learning from someone whose playing you truly admire, and your lesson is a " onesy" , as in "hey, I'm passing through town, can I take one lesson?

Consider this:

Most teachers allow / expect you to record the lesson. What you get may keep you busy for a long time, you may never master what a great player shows you in one hour. Many great teachers feel that more than an hour is stretching your attention span, and your ability to retain all that is being taught. The fact that they realize this shouldn't be at their expense. It does no good to teach you for two hours, if that's more than you can retain.

If they don't teach full time, as a primary source of income ( and who does ?) , the block of time they set aside for you, even if it's 45 minutes, may keep them from being available for a last minute gig, paid rehearsal, session, straight job, etc....I've had audience members who appeared very sincere, were dying to learn steel, and asked if I would give lessons. I couldn't give up a large chunk of free time to teach one lesson. It's just not worth it for me. I politely declined.



It's also likely to factor in some set up, break down, and chat time. Your taking more time than the actual lesson. I say for what they charge , it's a great deal.

[Richard Sinkler]

One thing that seems to be universal among us is, we charge 'x' amount for one hour. But, when we get going, it's almost impossible to end. The lessons usually go overtime. I basically charge $50/hr, but choose to go $75 for an hour and a half. That covers the extra with no surprise additionalcharge to the student.

[Mark van Allen]

While I'm in agreement with Herb's postings here, I'll take the bait, in hopes this feeds into teacher/student relations and questions.

I adapt my time and charges to student needs and resources, but generally for an introductory lesson, it's $125 for 4-6 Hours. That may sound crazy in the context of "trying to hook a new player"… but I have found that almost every new student requires setup/ tweezing/ basic adjustment of his Pedal Steel, or in-depth exploration of various tuning possibilities for Lap Steel and Dobro. My teaching method includes ear training from the start, and I instigate an intro to the number system and awareness of how to "hear" numbers in the music we play with or jam to, so it's a fairly involved process and takes an initial investment of time. I also include my Audio Music Theory course as a take-home with the lesson.

My system tends to weed out the people who want an immediate easy "teach me a song" return on study, although I'll do that… but I'm not really about satisfying a desire to "play at" being a steel player- I want to help those folks who want to really express themselves through steel guitar to find their way. It requires a deep commitment of time and energy, and, like anything worthwhile, takes TIME and dedication. My "mentoring" position is that I'm here for anyone who wants an introduction to the steel guitar, and REALLY here for anyone who wants to pursue the study.
As in former decades or "eras" in the steel guitar world, dedication and study, discipline and practice are the only ways to make real progress. Which, as we've often heard, is it's own reward.

[Charlie McDonald]

I do know a couple tradesmen that would say "good luck getting me out to a job for 75 bucks. This ain't the 80's!"

For comparison $40 was the rate for piano tuning in the 80's (don't know about the plumber then). The equivalent rate is now $100.
(For an emergency? I wore a pager for a while; there were zero piano tuning emergencies,
but one guy liked to call me up and say 'Beam me up, Scotty!')

I think I like Richard Sinkler's approach; an hour gets short, and a fair rate for another half-hour.

It would take a serious student, someone on fire, to be able to go four hours with Mark;
like Wally, he seems to be looking for that one student who can go the distance, and that makes sense to me.
I think that separates the music teacher from the plumber. There is so much difference between a toilet and a psg, between butt cracks and music.

Hey, we're all fishing here, looking for some parity in pricing and value.

[Mark van Allen]

I may be shooting myself in the foot, as I don't get many folks coming once a week, once a month maybe!
But I've settled on my current approach after years of teaching and seeing frustration and little progress from short lessons and a few licks or a song to work on 'till next time. I taught the standard half-hour lessons in a music store years ago and while it worked with the short attention span of the younger kids, serious students rarely had enough to work on after review of last lesson progress.

With a new steel student, just the mechanics of instrument adjustment to play well and fit the individual, right and left hand technique, volume pedal and pedal/lever operation takes some time, and I believe a new student needs to get off on the right foot with all of that so as not to develop unproductive habits.

In my case, I've found that understanding and internalizing the number system is the key to faster "ownership" of ear training and being able to create parts on the fly, which is just about everyone's eventual goal, so I take some time on that as well. Students leave with my two-CD theory course, and really enough to study for a month or two, so while shooting myself in the foot as far as repeat business, feedback tells me it's given people who want to play a real jump-start.

After the initial long one, 2 hour lessons are the norm for me, but they often become… longer...

[Larry Behm]

I charge $30 for a 3 hr session for the first few sessions. After that IF they are really working at learning and doing I do not charge. Soon we begin to hang, slap backs and tell lies, go out to dinner you know.

[Jeff Scott Brown]

...and Stuart doesn't even play the instrument at all...

Is that correct?

[Ron Bigers]

I only WISH I had a teacher close by to teach me for $75 an hour!!!

[Larry Behm]

Ron there is always Skype.

[Stuart Legg]

Most can get a college degree in music for $100/hr or far less with financial aid or get a trade school degree for $3 an hour.

Most can get a music degree from Berklee Online with financial aid for far less than $75hr.

A College Professor wishes he made $75/hr.

What a person is worth in the studio or at a gig has nothing to do with teaching.

Given how long it takes to learn PSG, paying an icon of steel $75 or $100 to waste his time for a few hours does not equate to much in the final results.