teaching guitar

I'm a tutor for one of my best friends and i stared her off with Open G chord... cause that's the hardest that open chords are gonna get (Biggest and uses all 4 fingers and covers all 6 stringS)... once she got her head round that, i taught her A and C then got her alternating between them.


I also gave her a side note on Chromatics just to keep her fingers agile and strong. Not nessiscary but she wants to take her playing seriously and chromatics are a bit to get your head round if you've become used to playing with 3 fingers, so i have her alternate picking 1-2-3-4 with each finger.


Another thing i did early on, is got her trying to tune by ear.. (playing an E in gp4, detuning a string then saying, tune it as best you can) cause frankly if you can't tune a guitar to a reasonable standard, you CANNOT practise when there is not someone who can tune nearby.




Just my 2 cents, it seems to be working and she's happy.



Also... i started her off by giving her my acoustic for a while, if she can play clean on an acoustic( i mean with no buzzing or noises) then she can do electric.


It's a long process, just think about what you use really often and find a way to make it accessible to a beginner.
 
I'm doing that soon.

I'm getting the most used open chords out of the way.... once she has some stuff under her belt, i'm teaching her how to apply it in real life situations.
 
My recommendations:

Beginners
Finger exercises, fretboard roadmap, cowboy chords, a few easy songs, very basic theory

Intermediate
More theory, advanced finger exercises, modes, chord extensions, basics of soloing, basic arpeggios, triads, harmonizing scales, songwriting

Advanced
Jazz theory (chord substitutions, I-iv-ii-V7 and ii-V7-I progressions), harmonic and melodic minor scales, extended arpeggios

I agree with NeedledWarheart - ear development is very key to music and should be developed as well as possible. Being one who lacks in this area, I cannot echo his sentiments any louder.
 
I thought about this a little more. I think the first thing you need to find out from each student is what they want to get out of your lessons and what they want to do with the guitar. I would imagine you will be seeing quite a range of desires and styles. Teaching can only improve your own mastery of the instrument and may be one of the most beneficial learning experiences you will have on the instrument. But, to get each prospective student started off on the right foot, ask them what they know, what they want to know, why they are playing the guitar, how much time they are willing to put into the lessons, whether they are open-minded to learn different styles, etc. By asking these questions, you will begin to develop a teaching style for each "type" of guitar student that comes your way - if they are dead set on learning Linkin Park riffs to impress Girl X at school, you'll know that you don't need to put too much time into teaching that student (though you may make a difference in their learning and open their minds to the power of the instrument). But, if somebody comes in with their act together and wants to learn every facet of music, you'll know where to start them off and maybe realize that you too still have plenty to learn on the instrument.
 
I asked her what she wanted to do with the guitar, and she replied "I don't wanna jump the gun, i wanna learn the basics first".... Which i thought was very cool
 
ha...nah just haven't seen this thread yet :)

First thing you have to understand about being a teacher...you are going to encounter all sorts of students...and I guarantee you MOST (as in 97% of them) just want to learn how to play their favorite songs and thats it. So, don't go into teaching thinking that you're going to try to turn every one of them into the next Michael Romeo...its not gonna happen ;)

Start out with some basic open position chords...give them a chromatic exercise to do, as well as getting them into powerchords and starting to memorize the low two strings of the guitar (so they know where all their powerchords are).

Oh also...make sure you teach them something stupid and simple like Smoke on the Water or Sunshine of YOur Love right away just so they feel like they can play something right away.
 
I'm teaching her acoustic for the first few weeks to build finger strength, and i'm writing small pieces of music using the open chords she's learned so she can, as you said matt, feel like she's learning something... then i'm switching her to electric guitar soon where i will teach her powerchords and them subsequently some easy nightwish stuff (She loves NW), which is like full bar powerchords with some muting and stuff (crimson tide/deep blue sea, chord section)....
 
dargormudshark said:
Stop teaching people Smoke on the Water, they play it like crap and alot of people don't even teach it right...it's disrespect to the master
Click to expand...

Seriously dude? Grow the fuck up. The point is that this is an "easy" riff that someone just starting out can pick up and feel like they can play a song. Of course they probably don't play it that well right away, they're just starting out. I'm sure you and I probably sounded like utter shit when we first picked up. Besides, you should be thankful a kid would be playing a song by a band like Deep Purple instead of the shit thats on MTV these days.

I do however show my students the "correct" way to play it though :p
 
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