So imagine this scenario: I (a self-taught guitar player) decide to step my game up, and expand on my musicianship in general. I started taking voice lessons!. I've learned a lot more about reading sheet music, more about theory and dynamics, and it's been good for me.
In addition to teaching voice lessons, 5-7 days a week for a wide range of skills, my instructor is a choir-leading, piano-playing university student (studying music & music education). So she's good, but very much classically trained in music, voice and piano. Now, she wants to learn guitar!
I offered to teach her, having taught several friends & family members some of the basics of guitar, and I have an extensive background in part-time teaching of various skills & topics. However, I learned guitar through GuitarNoise and mucking around the Internet. How can I best teach her? What should I focus on? What can I skim over?
My lessons usually run about 30 minutes, and each lesson will usually deal with a scale (finger dexterity, learning the fret board, alternate picking), one or two chords and some strum patterns. My usual "basic theory" stuff will probably be omitted for her. The first lesson is mostly going to be parts of the guitar, holding a pick, picking & strumming, etc. But where should I go after that?
I understand I'll have to adjust where to go once we've started, but I really feel I lack an overall direction for us to start towards! And that's something I've never tried to teach without (or, when I did, poor lessons resulted!)
"I'm done with school and being a boy scout, and too smart to take up smoking. Gimme a guitar and a motorcycle!"
-Washburn D10S
-Fender Nashville Telecaster
-Gibson Les Paul Studio
Go for it! Good...and smart...idea.
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
It's always a slightly different approach when you teach a musician guitar vs. teaching a non-musician. When you teach a complete beginner, you're covering basics like note names, counting time, developing a sense of phrasing, etc. that you can skip when you teach a musician.
I focus on two things: first, what aspects of music does the guitar do that their instrument can't? Second, what aspects of guitar playing basics are going to be completely foreign to them?
For a pianist, the big difference is pretty straightforward: we can get a note in more than one place. The E above middle C on the piano is in one place - we can play it in five.
And for a pianist, the aspects that are completely foreign are: 1. coordinating the hands - pianists get sounds from both hands independently; we have them working together. 2. the upstroke - getting a sound when you're moving in the 'wrong' direction. 3. The idea of patterns - our scales are moveable with exactly the same fingering; theirs aren't.
The design of a lesson plan depends on a lot of things, but knowing what's going to be completely new to them prevents you from glossing over something you take for granted. Spend a bit of extra time drilling the basics unique to the instrument (like strumming patterns). After she's got the basic groundwork under her belt, then I'd start looking at techniques.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
@NoteBoat: thanks! Exactly what I was hoping for!
If anyone else has advice or tips, would love to hear them! Thanks again!
"I'm done with school and being a boy scout, and too smart to take up smoking. Gimme a guitar and a motorcycle!"
-Washburn D10S
-Fender Nashville Telecaster
-Gibson Les Paul Studio
And, with an experienced musician you can use material they know and like - more Wonderwall, less Good King Wenceslas!
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Hi,
When a student has that level of prior expertise I wouldn't spend too much time pre-planning or second guessing the path until I'd had a good talk with them first to see how much of an idea they already had about what they wanted to know. She's clearly able to pick up a book and learn the technical information about where to put your fingers, how the neck is laid out and tuned etc. So I'd be interested in knowing what sort of guidance she would most like to get.
When I've had music teachers, by far the most useful thing they've done for me is give me the motivation to keep going - mostly by their enthusiasm, interest, tips and insights. The raw information is already out there for anybody to grab if they want to.
I'd ask her if there's any particular style she's interested in learning about, and what attracts her to guitar in general. I enjoy most instruments, but if I had to say why I'd pick up a guitar I'd think of things like the portability of a guitar (hard to drag a piano out to the beach or on a picnic) and all the neat things that you can do on a guitar like slides, bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs, tapping, vibrato, use capos, alternate tunings, effects pedals, and ... oh I don't know ... it's a long list if you look into it! It's a very versatile instrument that can handle a very big range of noises.
I'd want to get a handle on what might float her boat before getting too far ahead with the navigation charts. In my experience, the biggest hurdle with any instrument isn't so much getting the technical information it's knowing how to get little pay-offs all along the way while you work on the inevitable long haul of getting the necessary hand/eye/brain coordination working for a new instrument.
Good luck, it sounds like it could be fun for both of you.
Chris
