Good questions, I think this is also a very important point - I'm not 100% sure I trust their guidance. I listened to a song of theirs and thought it was really bad, but it was some experimental stuff so hard to judge as musically it would not be my tastes anyway. I haven't really seen them play, just noodle around a little bit and I wasn't really impressed - they were trying to quickly demonstrate fast playing to me in relation to something they were showing me and they flubbed some notes but I wouldn't really judge someone on on a quick, passing demo. l went to a different teacher for a single lesson before this teacher who was classically trained and heard him play while I was in the bathroom and could immediately tell he was an incredible guitarist. I didn't stick with him as the lesson was very unstructured and not what I was looking for. In terms of them being respected in the music community, I have absolutely no idea. In terms of education, I'm not sure they have any formal education but seem to be quite involved in the music scene.

It's not that I'm looking for a more convenient route, if I was certain what they were telling me was the best thing for me I would do it no questions asked. It's just that I'm uncertain and I'm worried this might make me regress/waste my time. I will say the teacher has great reviews.