Spanish luthiers, who make some of the finest classic guitars in the world, have apprentices whom they are teaching to make guitars.

Sakurai Kohno apprenticed himself to Spanish guitar maker Arcangel Fernandez, then returned to Japan with the knowledge he received from Fernandez, and is now making some of the finest classical guitars in the world—in Japan.

In San Diego, a fellow named Sam Radding, who ran a guitar repair shop, taught a high school student who wanted to make himself a guitar in high school wood shop how to make a guitar. The high school student's name was Bob Taylor. Bob Taylor, with the knowledge he picked up from Sam, went on to start the Taylor guitar company. Sam, in turn, retired from the repair shop and is now building high quality travel guitars.

Incidentally, in addition to his regular model guitars, Taylor also makes travel guitars. Sam taught his own competition.

I have taught literally hundreds of people to play the guitar, taught them folk techniques, how to work out good, appropriate accompaniments, where to find songs, research them, and sing them well. Some of my former students wound up singing in some of the same coffeehouses where I often sang.

I taught my own competition.

A few years after she took her first guitar lessons from me, a young woman and I began singing concerts together. And she also sang solo concerts. She married and move out of state many years ago, but last I heard, she was still singing. And she was doing some teaching. Many of my former students went on to singing professionally. And many of them are teaching.

Professionals ARE passing their knowledge and expertise on to beginners all the time, whether it be in instrument making or music making.

ALREADY BEING DONE. AND HAS BEEN FOR A VERY LONG TIME.

So, Conrad—what are you beefing about?

Don Firth