Was wondering your opinions on how I am teaching my 6 year old the notes on the fretboard. She has a bazillion little round dot stickers with pictures of bugs on them. As she is working on a new note/or chord, I stick the stickers on the fret board and have her "squish" the bugs to get a clear note. I also have her say the names of said notes so that she will know them by name as well, and eventually we take the stickers off and she remembers where they were..if not we work on them longer.
I guess it works for her and her ??? 3/4 sized acoustic...no name that I can see, but its old and sounds decent.
What do ya think? (kind of Roy Clark set up in the 70's..but hey..it's workin!)
OK? No? ok...thanks!
Love is a little thing that feels like a lizard.... It runs from your heart right down to your gizzard!
That's a pretty inventive way of teaching.
Unless she doesn't like it, in which case it's a little Earl Woods-ish.
The sticker method works well for learning the notes. But musically, it doesnt really accomplish much. She may get bored of that method soon. Try teaching her the major scale. That way, you kill two birds with one stone. Scales are a great way to learn the notes and as an added, she will be able to start making some music.
At this time I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT...IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY -- A LOVE SUPREME --. John Coltrane
That's a cool way to do it.
If you can, try to stick with the same bug for "said note". That way she can see where they all are.
Have a good one.
Mike
The really great thing about teaching young kids is they have no expectations of how it 'should' go. They'll eat up what you show them.
I teach kids by standard notation. At 6, a kid is at (or just passed) associating letters with sounds; putting notes with sounds is just another aural trick. I find kids that start reading at 5 or 6 can sight read reasonably well in less than a year; kids who start reading at 13 or 14 take at least twice as long. (Disclaimer: there are lots of other factors. I gave a first lesson to an older kid tonight, and we got through 10 pages of the Berklee book 1 in 30 minutes - a record for a beginner! But he also plays piano and oboe - so although guitar is new, notes and chords aren't)
The only problem I see with the sticker method is how to transition associations. Since most of us don't play in the keys of cockroaches and pillbugs, you'll need a plan to put things together later on - turn bugs into scales and chords. Other than that, whatever works works, and it sounds like fun!
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
i am using stickers on the keys also. i write the note on the sticker as well. now my little girl is writing songs by using the letter names of the notes.
#4491....
squishing bugs...what a great idea.
next is to have her do a melody. and then sing along with it.
This has a secondary benefit too, she will grow up and not be afraid of bugs, and won't go screaming to the nearest male whenever she sees one.
