Phil Hodges Music, 1479 Ventura Drive, Cumming, GA (2026)

09/04/2026

When Students Ask, “Can You Show Me How to Play This Song?”

I had a student come in the other day and ask how to play “The Final Countdown.”

The song has an instantly recognizable synth intro, and this student especially liked how it sounded with the synth setting on the keyboard.

When students ask me to show them how to play a song they like, I often don’t know it.

I’ll usually pull up the song on my phone and listen to it.

Depending on the student’s level, we might break the song up into sections and layers.

Maybe we’ll just go over the lead melody.

Maybe we’ll only go over the chord progression.

Or we might work on a solo arrangement of the song for a more advanced student.

For the student wanting to learn “The Final Countdown,” he was delighted just to learn the single-note synth melody in the intro.

Seeing how excited he was about it, I knew he was probably going to play it nonstop throughout the week.

It’s songs like that that motivate students to play their instrument.

It might be a song from a video game.
A movie theme.
A pop song.

Anything that particularly piques their interest is good.

It’s good to get out of the method book sometimes.

Good method books offer a variety of songs that teach sight-reading and technical concepts in an incremental way. They’re foundational and practical.

But learning songs outside the book is important too.

If it’s a song without sheet music or tabs, we have an opportunity to work on figuring things out by ear.

If we do have sheet music or tabs, it gives the student an opportunity to read something different from what they normally encounter in their book.

And when it’s a song they really want to learn, they’re often willing to put in the extra effort to figure it out.

Sometimes that one song they can’t stop playing ends up teaching them quite a bit.

What’s been your experience with learning songs outside the book?

Learn more here:
https://philhodgesmusic.com/

09/02/2026

Why Adult Music Students Love Theory

It’s no surprise that adults often learn differently than kids do.

Kids don’t always need the answers to all the “why” questions when they’re learning to play an instrument.

Their understanding of theory can be fairly minimal at first—just enough to understand what they’re seeing on the page to play and learn new songs.

So much of what they learn is through imitation.

They can listen to their teacher demonstrate the difference between quarter notes and eighth notes and learn to recreate it themselves.

But adults learning an instrument for the first time often want something more.

They want answers to all those “why” questions.

From their perspective, there’s an overwhelming number of notes that, when played in a particular sequence, somehow sound good together.

But what are those sequences?

How many are there?

How are you supposed to memorize that many chord shapes and melodic patterns?

What exactly are chords anyway?

Adults tend to approach questions like these analytically.

It’s similar to the way we might learn a foreign language as adults.

We imitate the native speaker as best we can, but we also learn vocabulary and begin understanding the grammar and syntax behind the language.

A small child doesn’t need to understand all the rules of grammar and syntax before learning to speak their native language. That understanding comes later.

Music theory can work much the same way.

It helps explain the grammar and syntax behind the musical language we’re already learning to speak.

I’ve had adult students come to me from other learning environments where they acknowledge that they learned a lot.

Maybe they went through an online guitar program and learned dozens of chords, riffs, pentatonic scale shapes, and songs.

But they eventually realized that no one had ever helped them tie it all together.

And that’s what they’re looking for.

How do all these things they’ve learned over the years relate to each other?

Why do these particular notes work over these particular chords?

Where did those chords come from in the first place?

What’s the big picture?

That’s where a deeper exploration of music theory can become incredibly rewarding.

Because instead of simply collecting more chords, scales, patterns, and songs, they begin to understand how those things are connected.

And once we start down that path, I often get to watch them have one “Aha!” moment after another.

They feel as though they’re unlocking one mystery at a time, with the end goal being fluency on their instrument.

If you’re an adult who’s been playing an instrument perhaps for years but have a bunch of questions about how it all connects together, let’s connect.

Learn more here:

https://philhodgesmusic.com/

08/31/2026

Do You Have to Master a Song Before Moving On to the Next One?

I always admire the students who insist on getting a particular song “perfect” before allowing themselves to start a new one.

But sometimes that can end up being incredibly frustrating.
Waiting for that one song to sound perfect to their ears might take months.

For beginners, building up the necessary muscle memory, finger independence, and coordination can take a long time.

The good news is, a song doesn’t have to be perfect before you move on to the next one.

Songs written for beginners are usually on the simpler side so that students can focus on things like playing the correct notes, understanding the rhythms, and using the right fingerings without requiring a lot of coordination yet.

If they can do those things reasonably well, they’re usually ready to move on.

They might still hit a wrong note here or there.
They might hold a note too long while looking for the next one.
They might accidentally shift their hand and use the wrong finger.

But in general, it’s starting to sound like the song.

We’re not necessarily looking for 100% proficiency.

Maybe 75% is enough.

At that point, I’m fine with a student wanting to run through the song another time or two. But then it’s usually better to move on.

Because the next song gives them another opportunity to work on notes, rhythms, fingerings, and coordination.

And then the next song does the same thing.

The problem with staying on one particular song for a long time and refusing to move on until it’s perfect is that you’re only being exposed to one combination of notes, rhythms, and fingerings.

You need variety.

The songs can all be around the same level of difficulty, but each one presents those same basic skills in a slightly different way.

Here’s what usually happens.

After you’ve learned five or ten songs at that level, you may go back to one of the earlier ones and discover that it’s much easier than it was before.

You got better at that song without spending all your time practicing that song.

Sometimes the fastest way to improve something you’re working on is to put it down for a while, keep learning, and come back to it later.

08/27/2026

The Most Difficult Thing to do When You’re Trying to Learn a Song That’s Too Hard

I’ve had new students show me songs they’ve been working on for months or even years that just aren’t clicking yet.

They painfully get through the first section with starts and stops, missed notes, wrong notes, and long pauses to find the next note.

They’re frustrated. They’ve been practicing this one song for months and months, and it still doesn’t sound like the actual song to them.

They’ll often have two or three more just like this in their practice rotation.

They feel as though they can’t play anything, and that they should be able to after months or years of consistent practice.

The issue is that they didn’t start at the beginning.

I find this is often the case with students who felt that they didn’t need the boring foundational stuff, so they skipped it and went straight to the pieces they wanted to learn.

In those cases, I advise them to be willing to take as many steps back as they need in order for the music to be easy.

If you have to go back to “Book 1,” then do it.

The hardest thing for us as musicians to do is to admit that the songs are simply too advanced for us.

But we’re not going to let these songs “conquer” us.

We’re going to keep working at it until we get it, right?

We can plug away at them for months without really getting anywhere and get increasingly frustrated in the process.

If we’ve been struggling that much with a song for months without seeing much progress, that’s a good indication that we’re not ready for it yet.

Put it on the backburner and work on easier material.

Every couple months, bring it out and try it again.

If you’ve been consistently working on easier material, tightening it up, and learning new (but easier) material, you’ll probably find that your goal song is getting easier too.

But the advice to put their favorite song on hold is usually something a music student does not want to hear.

I certainly don’t want them to give it up. I want to help them get to where they want to be as soon as possible.

And sometimes the fastest way to get there is to stop trying so hard to get there.

Their favorite song can still be something they work toward and get out every now and then to see if it’s any easier.

One of those times, it will feel different.

It won’t feel as difficult.

It’ll feel and sound more connected.

More like the actual song.

So many times, the fastest and easiest way to get to where you want to be is by going back first.

08/25/2026

Adult Students Often Make This One Confession During Their Lesson

And they usually find that they really didn't need to say anything at all.

I have quite a number of students—kids, teens, and adults—who come into their weekly session and tell me upfront that they didn’t get to practice much at all during the week.

Usually, I hear this from adults who feel they need to “own up” to their lack of effort, but also to prepare me for their lack of progress.

I think they expect some sort of reprimand from me.

The thing is, they still sound better that day than they did at the previous lesson.

They still made progress, whether they were able to work at it during the previous seven days or not.

Why is that?

Practice often has a delayed effect.

Yes, there’s a physical component to making progress on an instrument. But there’s also a tremendous amount happening in your brain.

If during one of your weekly sessions you learn new songs, rhythmic patterns, notes, chords, or hand positions, it takes a lot of mental focus to begin executing them.

But if you slow things down and repeat them until they begin to take hold, that’s the beginning of progress.

It may be that a few days later—or even at the next lesson, despite barely touching your instrument during the week—those same things are noticeably easier.

Your brain needs time, repetition, and sleep to process what you're trying to do with your hands.

This is why it’s not uncommon for someone to come into their weekly session and confess that they didn’t get to work on anything during the week, only to discover that they still managed to make progress.

It’s also why I don’t tell busy adult students that they need to put in a certain number of hours of practice every week in order for lessons to be worthwhile.

Of course, practicing more consistently will usually help you progress faster.

But you can still make progress on a limited time budget as a busy, working adult.

There’s no need to stress over practice.

Keep showing up. Enjoy the challenges your teacher gives you.

Give yourself time to absorb what you're learning.

You may be surprised by how much progress you can make.

08/21/2026

When Do You Start Feeling Like a Musician?

You may have taken lessons for a long time but never really felt like a musician.

In your mind, you were always a student.

You may have even believed that you were never going to be a musician.

You didn’t have any “natural talent,” so the idea of becoming a musician was only a dream.

But one thing I like to stress with students I work with is that they’re already musicians.

They may be beginners, intermediate, or even advanced, but they’re all musicians.

That belief about themselves is important to me because, for a very long time, I didn’t even view myself as a musician.

I didn’t think I was qualified to be considered one.

I wasn’t good enough in my mind.

That disbelief can end up holding you back in a lot of ways.

There may be things you could have pursued except that you believed you weren’t good enough to pursue them.

Believing you’re a musician doesn’t mean believing you’re the most advanced musician in the room.

Musicians exist at all different levels.

I eventually found that I was good at a number of particular things, but for years, I focused more on the things I couldn’t do but wanted to be able to do.

Pay close attention to your own progress and recognize the things you’re good at.

It’s fine to see more advanced musicians and want to be able to do what they do.

That’s part of what drives us to practice and improve.

But there will probably always be another musician who can do something you can’t.

That doesn’t disqualify you from being a musician.

If you’re learning, playing, creating, experimenting, and growing through music, you’re already a musician.

The question isn’t really when you become one.

It may simply be when you finally start believing that you are.

08/19/2026

When Do Music Students Stop Needing a Teacher?

One of my main goals as a teacher and coach is to help musicians become independent learners.

Even during our weekly sessions, I want them to feel free to explore, experiment, find out what doesn’t work and what does work, and not be afraid of making mistakes along the way.

As they progress, most of them will naturally begin to learn songs, pieces, arrangements, and concepts on their own, outside our usual weekly sessions.

Maybe they picked up material from a YouTube channel or a friend.

Or perhaps they taught themselves completely with sheet music they downloaded or by listening to a song they liked.

The more they’re able to glean from other sources, the more questions they’ll have for me—and the more constructive feedback I can give them.

As we continue this cycle, they learn more and more how to learn and create on their own.

Will they get to the point where they don’t need a teacher anymore?

On some level, yes.

For most people’s purposes, the years spent with a teacher will be sufficient to develop their understanding and proficiency on an instrument to the point that they can continue learning on their own.

But on another level, if you want to get really good at something as quickly as possible, you spend a lot of time around people who are better than you.

Eventually, you may reach a point where another teacher or coach can take you further in a particular area.

Many professional singers and musicians who perform all over the world continue to have coaches of their own.

Becoming an independent learner doesn’t necessarily mean reaching a point where you have nothing left to learn.

At the professional level, it means that the problems you experience in your craft are nuanced and specific.

The challenge becomes being able to communicate exactly what the issue is, figuring out the right questions to ask, and then finding the right person to help you.

08/17/2026

Why Teaching Teen Musicians is So Much Fun

One thing I’ve noticed from teaching over the years is that as students get older, lessons become more and more unpredictable—and that’s what makes them so much fun!

This is something I notice particularly with my teen students.

Sometimes a student comes in and we spend most of the lesson working through a new song.

Other times, they want to show me something they figured out on their own.

They might have picked out a melody on their instrument by ear.

They might have changed something in a song because they thought it sounded better.

They might have started writing a song of their own.

Or maybe they’ve become curious about why something works and want to understand the theory behind it.

And sometimes those moments are more valuable than getting through another page in a method book.

When a student starts experimenting with an instrument, something important is happening.

They’re no longer just following instructions.

They’re beginning to see the instrument as something they can actually use to make music of their own with, whether it’s their own arrangement of a popular song, or a completely original piece of music.

That’s a big transition.

There’s certainly a place for learning technique, reading music, practicing scales, developing rhythm, and working through increasingly difficult material.

Those things matter.

But as students get older, I also want to give them room to explore the things that interest them.

I want them to wonder:

“What happens if I play this?”
“Why does this chord work here?”
“Can I figure out that song?”
“Can I write something of my own?”

That curiosity is worth encouraging.

Because a student who becomes curious about music will often start learning things without even realizing they’re “practicing.”

They’ll sit down at the piano because they want to figure something out.

They’ll pick up the guitar because a song is stuck in their head.
They’ll experiment with chords, melodies, rhythms, and sounds simply because it’s interesting.

And that kind of exploration can lead naturally into songwriting, improvisation, composition, music theory, or simply developing their own taste and identity as a musician.

Younger students can certainly do these things too. But I find that the teenage years are often when students really begin wanting to venture outside the book and discover what interests them personally about music.

As a teacher, I can teach a student where to put their fingers.

I can teach them how to read music.

I can show them how chords and scales work.

But one of the most important things I can do is help create an environment where they want to explore.

That’s when an instrument starts becoming their own.

And in the long run, that may be one of the best signs that a young musician is really beginning to grow.

08/13/2026

Should You Make Your Child Practice Their Instrument?

Parents often want to know how much their child should be practicing.

When I first started teaching, I would tell them that they needed to be getting at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Over the years, my opinion has changed about whether to make kids practice as if it’s homework.

It is true that the more consistent and frequent your practice is, the faster you’ll make progress.

But the question from parents is usually about making their child do something they don’t really want to do.

If they’re already playing their instrument without being reminded, working on material during the week, and showing genuine interest in the challenge itself, then great. They’ll make steady progress.

But a lot of parents feel as though they need to constantly push and coax their child.

Sometimes it gets to the point of telling them that if they don’t practice during the week, they’re not going to take lessons anymore.

The problem is that those tactics don’t necessarily encourage a child to learn their instrument or to develop a connection to music.

Instead, practice becomes something that’s forced on them.

That constant struggle can lead to frustration for both the child and the parent. Parents begin to feel like they’re wasting their money on something their child isn’t putting any effort into.

Eventually, they may decide to pull their son or daughter out of lessons altogether.

Encouraging and gently nudging them is one thing.

But if it’s gotten to forcing, ultimatums, and withholding privileges, I would say it’s probably gone too far.

Parents and their kids have to find their own balance—one that keeps their child interested in playing their instrument without turning music into another chore.

Some kids might end up practicing only twice a week for ten minutes at a time.

Others will practice 5 days a week for 20 minutes at a time.

The key is consistency.

As long as they’re playing their instrument during the week with some level of consistency, and they seem to enjoy their time with their teacher, I’d say leave it alone.

They’re learning.

And even if you can’t see it day-to-day, they’re making progress.

What’s been your experience with your kids’ practice time?

08/11/2026

Which is Better for Music Lessons: Virtual or In-Person?

The first time I had really tried teaching virtual lessons was right when COVID hit.

My student base was growing.

I had about 3 gigs that were booked near the beginning of 2020 that I was preparing for.

And then suddenly everything stopped.

My gigs got canceled and refunded.

Places were closing.

People weren’t meeting in person anymore.

My students had two choices: either they could quit for the time being until things returned back to normal, or they could continue virtually.

Most of my students chose to stick around and continue virtually.

I didn’t know what to expect as a teacher.

I was afraid the virtual teaching experience would be lacking, and that once my students tried it, they’d want to go back to in-person or quit.

To my surprise, virtual lessons were great.

They were convenient.

As long as you had an internet connection, you could teach anywhere.

The biggest drawback was the delay.

The platforms I was using then were Zoom, FaceTime and Skype.

With all of those, there was a pretty substantial delay, which meant that we couldn’t play in sync with each other.

Playing duets and providing a backing rhythm is one of my favorite things to do during sessions because it allows the student to hear what they’re playing as a song in the context of a chord progression.

Having said that, there are students who don’t need backing rhythms, such as those who are working on solo material.

And even when I was working with beginner and intermediate students, playing along with them wasn’t absolutely necessary.

It just meant that they’re single-note melodies wouldn’t have much context.

If there were no noticeable delay, virtual lessons would be remarkably close to the in-person experience.

Even today, I continue teaching several students online because they live too far away to drive to lessons.

I also offer virtual sessions when students are sick or simply can't make the trip.

If given the choice, I still prefer teaching in person.

But virtual lessons have proven to be a much better option than I ever expected—and they're a great alternative when meeting in person isn't practical.

Have you ever learned something virtually that surprised you by how effective it was?

Phil Hodges Music

09/04/2026

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