Should I introduce piano accompaniment to this guitar student?

[PhilGould]

I'm trying to arrange it so the single student I'm now teaching gets a varied range of different practice techniques and one of them is to practice an exercise with them accompanying me on the piano (or keyboard depending on what's available in the room we use). I'm now aiming within the next few weeks to teach them a complete song with backing.

My major concern is that this student isn't particularly experienced. They've only been playing 6 weeks and although we've gotten past the basic chords (E,A,D,G,C, and their minors) as well as basic playing techniques such as up/downstrumming, I'm wondering if throwing them into the deep end of asking for what is quite a difficult thing to do, accompanying another musician, may actually hinder them rather than help. At the same time, I'm hoping that if I can teach this student some basic band skills now whilst they're still a beginner, it will make band playing when they are more advanced a lot easier.

Anyone care to advise? I've never formally used a keyboard to provide accompaniment like this before, only to provide examples of notes or chords, or to play a short exercise.

[ednakayama]

I say yes. The earlier they are exposed to the fact that music is a collaborative exercise and is played in a huge variety of combinations and contexts the better. Plus, he might find this particularly inspiring, hearing himself participating in a piece of music whose realization is hopefully greater than the sum of its parts.

I don't really see any downsides. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work - no harm done. You'd know your own student better, but mine have been pretty resilient and happy to take risks. Just make it clear that this is a stretch.

[JonR]

I think as long as you don't expect him/her to contribute anything original or improvised, it's a good idea.
The basic point is to be able to play along in time with someone else - eg both of you playing chords. Don't treat it as an "accompaniment" exercise to start with; you're just playing the same thing together.

IOW, it begins as (1) both together doing the same thing (so you can check they're OK keeping in sync); then (2) you improvising while they continue just strumming chords (they are then effectively accompanying); then maybe (3) you move to playing a bass line; they can still just keep strumming, but then it's more like you're accompanying them.

IMO, at this stage I think it's asking too much to expect them to listen and respond to you, the way an accompanist might. Ie, whatever you think makes accompaniment "difficult", don't try getting them to do that. To begin with, it's just about the experience of playing with another musician. At the moment they're probably still struggling to get their chords right and get their changes in time; to have to listen out for what another musician is doing (just to stay in sync) is a big new step.
In fact (if you're not already doing this) start by strumming guitar with them, seeing how well they keep in time with you (or whether you're always having to adjust to their time...). Moving to keyboard is a step beyond that.