Guitar Two-Step

There’s an old saying you’ve probably heard before: Those who can’t do, teach. Well, that’s total BS. If you’ve ever tried to teach someone anything — how to play a guitar chord, how to dance a two-step, how to do just about anything — you know that saying has it exactly backwards.

Teaching is hard. Being good at something and being able to teach it are two completely different skills. When it comes to traditional crafts, teaching is maybe the more vital skillset. If we’re going to preserve what we do for generations to come, we need folks skilled at passing it on.

Sometimes, when there’s no one around to turn to, you need to be an autodidact, like Garret Rosen, owner of Rosen Guitars.

Garrett Rosen, luthier and music teacher at the eponymous Rosen Guitars, says you need a teacher, because "It can be really hard when you're looking through 17,000 YouTube videos to know where you want to grow."

Garrett Rosen, luthier and music teacher at Rosen Guitars, says you need a teacher, because “It can be really hard when you’re looking through 17,000 YouTube videos to know where you want to grow.”

Garret is a Lafayette native whose path to guitar building and teaching took a few interesting turns — including degrees in English literature, music theory, and a master’s from Oxford University in philosophy, politics and economics.

After years teaching history, Garret opened Rosen Guitars in 2025 — a shop where every instrument is handmade by him. The business combines custom guitar building, original inventory, and lessons for players from beginners to professionals. His goal isn’t to be a big-box music store. It’s something much more personal — the person who builds the instrument is the one who teaches you how to play it.

Harold Bernard, Owner of Glide Studios, has been teaching people across the country and around Acadiana to dance since the 1970’s. “You get 4 or 6 people who want to learn how to dance and they come to my studio, they’re going to be dancing within the first five minutes.”

Harold Bernard is the owner of Glide Dance Studios in downtown Lafayette. Harold has been teaching dance since 1985, but his relationship with dance goes back even further: his mother was dancing the jitterbug while pregnant with him. He grew up in the golden era of Cajun dance halls, later touring across the U.S. and Canada teaching dance alongside bands like Balfa Toujours and Steve Riley.

Today, at Glide Studios, Harold teaches Cajun, Zydeco, jitterbug, waltz — and even wedding choreography. He teaches almost every night of the week, often working with couples or small groups, and relies almost entirely on word of mouth.