He's 14 and wants to learn. I have him signed up for lessons, and he has been doing so for a few months. He is practicing his lessons, but is growing tired of the "Charlie the Choo-choo" style homework assigned by his teacher. I have to agree. Back when I was learning, my teacher taught me the fundamentals using contemporary music that was on the radio at the time.
Herein lies the issue. I have been trying to teach him about tabs, since it is easier to find current material that way. So we went online and I asked him about the bands he likes and would like to emulate. Well, almost every damn one of them play in Drop "C" tuning. Y'know........
So, if he wants to learn with the recording - retune then work on the tune. Then retune to get on board for his regular lessons. What a pain!
Any suggestions?
Find another teacher. Even let him go without lessons if you can't find another teaher or have paid for X amount of lessons because he might lose his motivation to play as it becomes another school task and not fun
So, if he wants to learn with the recording - retune then work on the tune. Then retune to get on board for his regular lessons. What a pain!
Buy him a capo. Then when he goes to his lessons with his guitar in drop-C tuning, he can put the capo on the 2nd fret, tune the low E string up a bit, and hey-presto! Regular tuning. I do this a lot with my electric - leave it in Drop C, then put a capo on 2nd fret to play songs in regular tuning with open chords (there are other ways around such as using barres, but thats too much for a beginner).
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
Find another teacher. Even let him go without lessons if you can't find another teaher or have paid for X amount of lessons because he might lose his motivation to play as it becomes another school task and not fun
Amen to that.
Find another teacher. Even let him go without lessons if you can't find another teaher or have paid for X amount of lessons because he might lose his motivation to play as it becomes another school task and not fun
Amen to that.
+1
I have the same problem with a teacher and his method... 25 years ago. It did I had an hiatus of 25 years...
Err, well, I guess I'm in the minority here.
I'm not sure what "Charlie the choo choo" is, but my teacher didn't teach me the kinds of songs I liked either. We did a lot of jazz stuff, which I wasn't in to, and it's made me a much better player, as well as broadened the scope of music I listen to.
If the material is too easy for your son, he should tell the teacher that, and then the teacher should challenge him.
The teacher is paid to make the student better at guitar. My teacher would sometimes refuse to teach me stuff that he didn't think was relevant. He wouldn't feel comfortable teaching me stuff that wouldn't improve my abilities, he felt it was a waste of my money. That was his attitude of it - he's there to teach me to be a better player, not to play songs from some band and doing otherwise he felt was unethical.
Really, the responses to these types of threads are usually "talk to the teacher about it". The communication is essential to a succesful relationship between student and teacher.
After discussing this with my son and the local guitar guru (he doesn't do lessons, he's more on the technical end), we have found another teacher. This new guy has got musical degrees and has written instruction books himself, along with having released his own stuff on a local label.
Even better, we are getting a longer session for the same money! :D
Err, well, I guess I'm in the minority here.
I'm not sure what "Charlie the choo choo" is, but my teacher didn't teach me the kinds of songs I liked either. We did a lot of jazz stuff, which I wasn't in to, and it's made me a much better player, as well as broadened the scope of music I listen to.
If the material is too easy for your son, he should tell the teacher that, and then the teacher should challenge him.
The teacher is paid to make the student better at guitar. My teacher would sometimes refuse to teach me stuff that he didn't think was relevant. He wouldn't feel comfortable teaching me stuff that wouldn't improve my abilities, he felt it was a waste of my money. That was his attitude of it - he's there to teach me to be a better player, not to play songs from some band and doing otherwise he felt was unethical.
Really, the responses to these types of threads are usually "talk to the teacher about it". The communication is essential to a succesful relationship between student and teacher.
+1
Perhaps two guitars are in order as well... He could keep one tuned standard and one in drop-C... Just a thought.
(:
Author of "Survivor" - http://www.vaughnripley.com
win-win! Don't forget to keep the teacher in the loop when your son gets bored or discouraged. He can adjust his instruction to meet your son's needs.
Good luck!
-Rip
After discussing this with my son and the local guitar guru (he doesn't do lessons, he's more on the technical end), we have found another teacher. This new guy has got musical degrees and has written instruction books himself, along with having released his own stuff on a local label.
Even better, we are getting a longer session for the same money! :D
Author of "Survivor" - http://www.vaughnripley.com
That's a tough one, if he's got a proven track record with other students then I'd say stick it out with him. Your son can always learn other things besides what the teacher is giving him.
If that's just his style of teaching then you might want to find someone that will teach him music he wants to learn, although I doubt if most teachers are going to want to start teaching a beginner alternate tuninga at such an early stage.
I had a teacher similar to that although he did you use somewhat more modern music, but he told me right from the start I would be following his agenda and he wasn't going to tab out songs that I brought in to play. He came highly recommended by a local university music director and although the music wasn't always to my liking I thought his method worked well. In some ways I think teaching everyone the same music/exercises at least at first is a good way to understand/hear if the student is progressing adequately as compared to other students.
On the other hand I have a teacher now who again comes highly recommended and he does thinga a little differently. With him the lesson is basically two parts, the first is technical exercise that he will give me to wotk on and then to start the next lesson he'll have me play that and then give me another one.
Then the second part is that he will work on a song of my choice. Songs usually take 2-3 lessons to tab out/learn.
I'm not sure if either is better or not because the limiting factor is me.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
As a practical matter, teaching songs in altered tunings is a pain. I teach from three locations, and one of them simply doesn't have large enough studio rooms for me to bring in two guitars - the rooms are about 6x8, and when you add two chairs, a music stand, a couple small amps, a CD player, and room for storing my guitar case... it means I have to re-tune. My lessons run back-to-back, so somebody isn't getting any instruction while I tune down and then back up. (The other two locations are large enough for me to bring two guitars, but that's more stuff for me to cart around!)
What I try to do is teach the same techniques using other songs the student may like. Sometimes I'll try to juggle students around - if two students both like Nickelback, maybe I'll get them scheduled back-to-back so I can do two in a row in dropped C to work on "Savin' Me" or something...
As far as teaching styles go, there are basically three approaches I see among all the guitar teachers I've ever known:
1. "By the book". You get the fundamentals of music, which transfer across all genres. But you usually won't do music you like, and some of the stuff you learn may not apply to your style - if you play Green Day for fun, knowing altered ninth chords and diminished scales don't exactly fit in.
2. "By the song". You learn the songs you want, and you get the fundamentals that apply. The downside is you won't get any fundamentals that are outside that style, so if your musical tastes change, you may not have the tools to cope.
3. "By jamming". These lessons focus on improvisation. You'll learn scales and chords, but may not spend time on other fundamentals like theory. On top of that, some percentage of teachers who teach by jamming don't even know the musical fundamentals - they're teaching to mark time until they make it big!
The majority of teachers I know teach the majority of their lessons one way. A few of us use any or all of the three, depending on the student.
In my experience, by-the-book is best for children (who haven't developed a strong musical 'taste' preference yet), and dedicated guitarists who want to develop strong fundamental skills. By-jamming is best for guitarists who are pursuing "lead guitar" for fun, or who want to focus on improvisational skills... but the important part is finding a teacher with a playing style in line with your goals. By-the-song is best for many recreational guitarists, especially those with a strong preference for one style... but the important part is that the music must get progressively 'harder' so you actually develop skills rather than just repertoire.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Note,
I will second that description. I forgot about a guy I took lessons from for a couple months down south. All he really wanted to do was jam.
I didn't feel at the time that it was what I needed plus I moved away so I stopped taking lessons from him. I think in the long run I wouldn't have progressed to far. He did have one thing that I liked.
He would have kind of like a rectical twice a year and where he woul dput students of like ability together for a band or they could play with other people. everyone got to do like three songs. I never participated but I watched a couple and they were pretty neat.
Your descriptions are right on for the teachers I've had, but I'd like to find one somewhere between By the book and By the song. I always worry that the songs I bring to learn aren't necessarily challenging me. I try every few songs to make him pick a song which hopefully he will be picking songs that will challenge me. I'm not always sure though.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Err, well, I guess I'm in the minority here.
I'm not sure what "Charlie the choo choo" is, but my teacher didn't teach me the kinds of songs I liked either. We did a lot of jazz stuff, which I wasn't in to, and it's made me a much better player, as well as broadened the scope of music I listen to.
If the material is too easy for your son, he should tell the teacher that, and then the teacher should challenge him.
The teacher is paid to make the student better at guitar. My teacher would sometimes refuse to teach me stuff that he didn't think was relevant. He wouldn't feel comfortable teaching me stuff that wouldn't improve my abilities, he felt it was a waste of my money. That was his attitude of it - he's there to teach me to be a better player, not to play songs from some band and doing otherwise he felt was unethical.
Really, the responses to these types of threads are usually "talk to the teacher about it". The communication is essential to a succesful relationship between student and teacher.
By context the teacher is using childrenLs songs, the kinds used to teach an infant to speak. Using that for a more mature audience would only serve to turn off the reciepiant.
You know, I've never taught anyone how to play anything. But from what I read here, I'd probably be better than most.
I'd teach scales and runs, and then ask the student "What song do you want to play?" If I didn't know it, I would ask for a recording of the song and show the student how to figure it out. I don't enjoy stories of teachers that teach the songs they think the student should know. If the student want's to learn Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, or songs from High School Musical, it's their nickle.
Brain-cleansing music for brain-numbing times in a brain dead world
http://www.oenyaw.com
I'm not sure what "Charlie the choo choo" is, but my teacher didn't teach me the kinds of songs I liked either. We did a lot of jazz stuff, which I wasn't in to, and it's made me a much better player, as well as broadened the scope of music I listen to.
I was around 18 months with a the teacher. During that period I played exercises over the first string using my thumb, the fingers and pick were forbidden. I also learnt around a half dozen of open chords. We played a few (3) of three chords songs: boleros or rancheras. Amazing for a teenager.
If I were with some of our teachers... currently I'd play guitar.
