Live Video Guitar Lessons?
I'm considering providing private guitar instruction over the internet using a webcam. Does anyone have recommendations as to the best setup to use (ie Skype vs MSN or any other methods)?
Also, I'm trying to find some students who would like to serve as guinea pigs. Is anyone interested in trying this out? I would give you free live video guitar lessons in exchange for your feedback.
I'm an experienced musician and teacher but I don't have any experience with video calls so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian
http://www.MyOnlineGuitar.com
You just might want to post this over in the computer technology category–not a lot of geeks here.
Sounds like you will have a good service there if you can get it up and running. You probably will need the student to have a very high-quality webcam that can be focused for a tight shot on the fingerboard–a built-in 1.3 mpixil webcam for the student probably won't give you enough resolution.
And, of course, the student will need some fairly robust broadband. Frankly, it might be cheaper for them to get face-to-face lessons!
As for software, for that I have no ideas–again, ask the geeks over in that other area of YA.
You just might want to post this over in the computer technology category–not a lot of geeks here.
Sounds like you will have a good service there if you can get it up and running. You probably will need the student to have a very high-quality webcam that can be focused for a tight shot on the fingerboard–a built-in 1.3 mpixil webcam for the student probably won't give you enough resolution.
And, of course, the student will need some fairly robust broadband. Frankly, it might be cheaper for them to get face-to-face lessons!
As for software, for that I have no ideas–again, ask the geeks over in that other area of YA.
References :
Hi Brian.
As you, I'm a guitar teacher who is about to start teaching online.
Well, first of all, the student should have a broadband (dial up won't work well!!) connection and a good webcam. I'm a fan of Logitech and Creative Labs webcams, if you ask me which would I recommend. I would advice the student to get the best webcam he or she can for the budget available.
After doing some research over the net, I think I'll use Skype to offer the lessons. Skype has nice audio-video engine and is compatible with most plataforms – Windows, Mac, and even Linux. That way the student can take the lessons no matter with operating system he/she uses.
I recommend you setup your equipment so that the microphone is far from the speakers. If posible, use headphones. This is to avoid feedback and echo problems.
To get a better audio signal mix from my mic and guitar, I'm using a small line mixer, to which I connect the guitar and the voice mic.
Take payments before giving the lessons. You can use PayPal for that, as the student can pay with his/her PayPal account or using a credit card, if the student does not have a PayPal account.
Another thing that may help is to prepare in advance some material for the student, preferable in pdf format (there are a lot of small programs that can convert any type of document in pdf – I use one called PDFCreator in my PC)
Well, I hope this helps in some way.
References :