Lesson Plan

Read Mikespe thread about where he is after 3 months.
When you get to a certain point and have the basics down there are many paths to choose.
It would be impossible to say what any guitar player should know beyond the beginner stage.
There are too many variables and it all depends on what goals and styles the individual guitarist has.

I tell you I read the title of this thread and was in shock...that LAST thing I need at home is more LESSON PLANS! AAARRGGG!! (For those that don't know I am a teacher! :twisted: :twisted: :lol: :lol:

Guess it was a bad idea then :P I frequent a magician forum (card and coin tricks etc) and there are some basic moves that most everyone learns in a certain order before moving on posted. Thought it would be a good idea. The list is just basic, as there are a lot of paths in magic. More I think of it, guitar and magic are somewhat alike.

Oh well :lol:

Guess it was a bad idea then :P I frequent a magician (card and coin tricks etc) and there are some basic moves that most everyone learns in a certain order before moving on. The list is just basic, as there are a lot of paths in magic. More I think of it, guitar and magic is somewhat alike.

Oh well :lol:

Naa.. dont get discouraged. Its not a bad idea. Everyone has to learn the basics no matter what style or interests that they end up developing. I am a newbie enough to remember that I really didnt care while I wanted to learn, I wanted to know what I SHOULD be learning.

Too tired to post on tonight but I'll try to find my list of 15 chords my teacher insisted I know. Also, finding a basic song or two to learn is a good idea because its alot easier to practice when you are playing real music (atleast I think so)

Geoo

I think this is a good idea too, i have been playing for about 9 months and recently stoopped seeing my teacher (unemployed :() and i dont no where to go now, i try practicing excersises and scales but its sooooo boring so i try and learn songs and get frustrated when i cant play them. Anyway an i dea of where to go from where you are would be a very good idea i think

I like the sound of the magician's forum. :D

A beginners list is not a bad idea at all, but even right at the start the paths can be different. Some beginners books do a lot of work on single notes and reading music to begin with, and others go straight to learning a few chords.

Before you put a lot of work in (which might go to waste if the post doesn't get "stickied" ) have a look at the lesson sections already here:

Beginner's Lessons at Guitarnoise

There might already be something there that will help.

I found that the exact order wasn't quite as important as just making sure that I could keep motivated, and not let the practice drift. Sometimes that meant hammering away at something until I got the satisfaction of being good at it, and sometimes it meant changing to something fresh for a while. :D

Keep an eye out for links in people's sigs here too. I think Mikespe has some exercises on his guitar page, I believe Greybeard has some advice on a site, and I know that Nils has some great stuff on his. I'm sure there are others too.

Cheers, Chris.

This is a stupid question but, what are "the basics?" I'm guessing the basics are, holding the guitar (assuming you play while sitting), strumming, holding a pick, fretting and etc.

I think this is a good idea too, i have been playing for about 9 months and recently stoopped seeing my teacher (unemployed :() and i dont no where to go now, i try practicing excersises and scales but its sooooo boring so i try and learn songs and get frustrated when i cant play them. Anyway an i dea of where to go from where you are would be a very good idea i think
You are a pefect example of what I am talking about.
at 9 months you probably have the basics down, where you go from here can't be answered with a generic response.
We would have to know what you know, and where you are headed(or want to be headed)
Yes a list of basics for beginner and some early intermediate for everyone is good but an example: most intermediate studies have at one point fingerstyle as a basic. Well fingerstyle is useless to someone that dosen't play or want to play fingerstyle.
Here is my partial list of basics.
Open chords, C,A,G,E,D, partial F as well as all their minors and 7th chords. D and A suspended chords both sus2 and sus4 (understand what a suspended chord is and how to form one as well as basic chord structure period) understand key signatures (circle of fifths helps)
All major scales (helps with fretboard knowledge,finger dexterity and accuracy)(learning any other scales is useless unless you want to play lead or solo or want to get heavy into theory)
Hammer on
Pull off
Slide
Bend
Undertand time signatures and note time values.
Have at least a basic knowledge of standard notation.
Basic barre chord shapes A, Am, E, Em (not 100% neccesary for all but recommended)
There are others but some tend to specialize.
Example pick control and string skipping (nice to know but of no practicle use to a classical guitarist or fingrstyle guitarist that never use a pick)

That is just a rough correct? I mean you could get by without knowing some of that stuff right?

I'm lost on the barre chords. Are there voicings of Em that require you to barre the strings?

Yes you can get by without barre chords, Nice to be able to play them but some people never do.
There are even some movable open chord shapes, D is one.
There are alternative chords for some barre chords like B for example,
You can play a B7 X21202 instead or a partial chord XX4442 as susbstitutes.
I can play hundreds of songs without playing a barre chord but I am stuck on one song right now because I can't play that particular barre shape cleanly enough (it is a fingerstyle song so I can't substitute another chord and every single note counts and has to be played clean)
Weither you need or should be playing barre chords depends on where you want to go with your guitar playing ie.. style of playing and genre of music.
Edit: Em barre chord is a shape (fret the A and D strings 2 frets ahead of your barre finger) not an Em chord. If you barre the 1st fret for example and play an Em shape on the 3rd fret you are playing a barred Fm move the whole shape up 2 frets and you are playing a barred Gm

That is just a rough correct? I mean you could get by without knowing some of that stuff right?

If you look through the range of different styles and players you could probably find people who get by without at least some items on any list of recommendations.

You could probably just about say that the basics were "to learn to tune the guitar, and have fun". After that it's up to you.

Some people only ever use a pick, some never do. Some play nearly all chords, some prefer lead breaks or note by note melody lines, and so on. Many never play barre chords. Some never get good at playing in time with others, but only play on their own anyway. If you looked around you could probably find an exception to just about any rule or list you made up.

The first books I bought were all about note by note playing and reading music. Chords didn't arrive until a fair way down the track. Other books begin with chords.

Even some well known performers had a very small bag of tricks (particularly when they started out). You'd see the same four or five chords over and over in their songs, and if they did change key it was often not with barres, but by using a capo and playing the same old shapes they'd used in the open position.

I'd agree with Missileman's list, and am trying to follow a pretty similar path. But I wouldn't be too bothered if some of it got sidelined, or less emphasized, in favour of something else. Just enjoy the journey. :)

Cheers, Chris

That makes a lot of sense. Mentioning that some performers use the same chords over and over reminded me of how I learned to play keyboard too. I never used sheet music, learn chords or anything like that. I simply broke the song up into the patterns of notes/chords and mixed them together to form a song. I didn't know what chords or notes I was playing. I basically went by sound. I wonder if I can apply the same ideas to the guitar.

I'm not really into strumming a few chords around the campfire. I am into playing rock/metal, play solos and being in a band. Most of the songs I have come across, can't be played by strumming a few chords, though some songs are made of chord formations. So I am kinda confused on how important it is for me to know this kind of stuff, and if not, what should I be learning?

You have seen in this thread a fair list of basics. Probably some stuff still missing.
If I am right, based on other threads you have posted, you desire to be lead guitar player in a band.
Well, In my opinion, you will need to be pretty comfortable with pretty much all of the basics to pull that off.
Lead guitar, as you know, has alot of parts built around chord shapes (all chord shapes) as well as scales. You would have to be comfortable with rhythm to play lead (again my opinion)
Strumming a pattern and staying in tempo and nailing chord changes may be a starting place, I say this because it is basic and if you haven't got that down how will you play more intricate stuff and stay in time with the rest of the band?

Sound advice. I figured at the least I would have to know to stay in time. I can change between chords, C, Em, G and D fairly fast but this has yet to help me play a song. I actually do know a lot more chords but don't know their names, just what they sound like and how to play them. I think the next thing for me to do is get a metronome, and polish the songs I already know with it.