No one is born ordained to be a bartender–despite popular belief. Mastering this craft is a lot easier than most people tend to believe though; many people overpay bartending schools to receive throwaway degrees presented as “official” bartending credentials. The idea of needing school is a deterrent for most people to be genuinely interested in bartending. Most experienced bartenders will tell you honestly, it is not necessary to pay a lot of money or attend to school to become a bartender.
Most bartending schools mainly just use short guides or books to train the aspiring students. If you find the right bartender textbook, you can learn all the techniques you need to know to be a successful bartender. There are many textbooks to teach the different aspects of bartending an barkeep needs to know. Committing to learning the book is just as effective as paying an instructor hundreds of dollars to read the book to you.
Bartending is not rocket science, the concepts are basic customer service; the hardest part is probably remembering the different drinks. A bartending guide or textbook will help almost anyone learn the techniques and basic needed to be a bartender and you can rent textbooks online to save money. A guide can teach you the laws to protect yourself as you work, how to deal with customer and how to poor drinks. A textbook can also teach anyone the most common drinks that ordered on the average night in the bar.
A bartender only needs to know the most basic and standard drinks available in most bars. Many patrons will not mind if the bartender does not know the drink or needs to ask for the ingredients. Bartending is a very lackadaisical and independent profession; in most places, bartenders spend most of the shift improvising throughout the night.