Help! with giving lessons.

[teleman55]

:eek:Help please. I've been bugged about giving lessons until I broke and said yes. The extra $$ wouldn't hurt either. Thing is, I've never given or taken a guitar lesson. I can play, know music, and have experienced music lessons in brass instruments. But not guitar. I've got some definite ideas but think some formula lesson plan might be good too. Either book or DVD or online or... One group will be kids. The other adults who want to learn how to play. Any recommendations?

[Dio666]

Bump. I'm in the exact same boat. I learned all about music playing the trumpet for nine years and then taught myself electric guitar. A friend can't find a single available music teacher in town for his son and asked me if I could give him some lessons. I've told him "no" for now because I wouldn't know where to start, but maybe some good advice would give me the confidence to give it a shot. Just for a while until he can find a proper teacher.

[bdemon]

The easy answer is to simply teach what you know. Beyond that, I MIGHT recommend pushing them to find a proper teacher. I've gotten students who started with friends and other well-meaning folks who had no idea how to structure lessons and things were a bit confusing.

Then again, if you want to teach you gotta start learning somewhere, so just go for it, make mistakes and learn from them.

And maybe look at a few method books to see how they structure the lessons.

[sixgunner455]

This happened to me. I resisted for two years. I'd play in somebody's living room, or they could come over, but real lessons? Nah, I don't feel qualified to do that.

But they kept asking me, so I started thinking about it. Why wouldn't I be qualified?

I learned piano and brass instruments in private lessons, so I know how to run lessons. And I know a good bit about music. And I have a degree in teaching.

So I finally gave in. Teach two nights a week now. I surveyed a bunch of different method books, and decided on the Mel Bay Mastering the Guitar series for my students. It's been pretty good. Got some decent students, couple of lazy ones, but most of them like it and really want to work hard.

If you're going to do it, pick a method book. Follow the book, but make sure that they don't get bored just doing exercises. They have to learn some kind of song, or have one to work on. That makes them feel like they're actually accomplishing something.

For example, the 8 year old I teach picks out simple melodies that I assign him for songs he already knows from Sunday School or whatever, besides his chords and other exercises. The 10 year old who brought a super strat package and wants to play rock music gets blues rhythms. He asked me the other week, "when do I get to learn some leads?"

I pointed at the exercise he was about to play for me, a simple three-note progression with variable timing and pick patterns. "Can you play that flawlessly?" "No." "Well, look at this solo."

I showed him one, and in the middle of it, switched to his exercise. The pick patterns were similar. Then he got it, and works on those exercises much more diligently.

So show them what they want to be able to do, pick apart what they have to do to get there, and start teaching it to them. But, do pick a good method book and follow it. They'll progress much more quickly.

You'll make mistakes. Everybody does. Own the mistakes, and move on. I insist that my students practice. One kid wasn't at all, and I gave him a bit of a lecture. "You know why you're going to practice this stuff?" "so I can get better." "Well, yes, but that's not all. You're mom is paying me a lot of money to teach you. If you don't practice, she's wasting her money, and I'm wasting your time and mine. We're not going to do that. If you like taking your lessons, you're going to practice, because I'm not going to take your mother's money anymore if you don't practice."

He practices more now.

Good luck. More teachers is a good thing.

[roadweiry]

Im in the lessons boat too.... I need the extra money so thats a no brainer. I have been tossing around the idea of lesson plan consisting of a book/theory and teaching the students the music they want to play. Figuring that students will be more apt to learn music playing songs that they like and are familiar.

[gennation]

I have a canned response that'll get you headed in the right direction...

 

Start students out by teaching them the note names of the open string (Low to High E A D G B E).

 

Then show them the open chords (cowboy chords) based on the open strings...E, A, D, G. Then show them C and F.

 

Once he's practiced the open chords, give him a slow 12-bar blues/shuffle/I-IV-V/rhythm in the Keys of G, A, and D

 

That way he'll cover moving around through G C D, A D E, and D G A. SO, he'll be using all those chords you showed him, he'll be practicing moving from one chord to the next on time and comfortablly.

 

If he can't move through chords there's not much more he's going to be able to do, so take a few lessons and work out the "logics" of moving his fingers from one chord to the next.

 

Then maybe show him a few more tunes, like basic ways of playing Chuck Berry, Beatles, Gloria, Buddy Holly tunes, etc...as many I-IV-V as you can think of.

 

Now move on to Open Minor Chords, and follow the same routine..show him the open Minor chords based on the open string names...Em, Am, Dm, then Fm.

 

Now show him a few tunes or progressions using all minor chords and a mix of major and minor chords. For example: i-iv-v, i-iv-V, ii-V-I, etc...

 

Again, stay the corse with him until he has the "logistics" of moving from chord to chord. He doesn't have to be super effiecient yet, that will come with time, but he's got to show the mechanics, and some improvments.

 

Once he's acclimated to open chords show him Major and Minor barre chords in reference to their open chord beginnings. Then have him work on a few of the progressions moving barre chords around, then give him all of those same previous progressions to now play with barre chords.

 

Now you should have him playing across the neck more...he should also know the names of the notes on the Low E and A strings due to the barre chord Roots.

 

After that repeat the whole process using the Blues scale, etc...

 

That method should get him off the ground in about a month. If he's not showing some basic skills by then, and the ability to practice the stuff on his own...you are going to need to step back again and rehash it, or tell him he might want to look for a different teacher.

[jonfinn]

If you can get your students to do these things, they will be beating your door down:

1 - Play something fairly quickly and easily that sounds good.

2 - Understand that music is a blast.

From there, the students that get really turned on will be curious about how to learn more/get better. Typically, most will get discouraged when the learn that it's much harder than they first thought (...after more than 40 years, you'd think I'd know by now that it doesn't get easier with time but noooo...).


If most of the beginners fall away and a few serious students remain, you've done your job!

[adamgram]

These are great replies. I'm in a similar situation as the guy who started this thread: My plan is to go back to school for music next year and a) will need all the money I can get going back to being a broke college kid, and b) want to teach music once I get the degree, thus need experience. I took Sax lessons from the band director through high school and that was it. Learned guitar and piano from my dad, that's not really formal training. I'm also learning the cello on my own now, and I'm starting to think taking lessons on the cello would make me more comfortable giving lessons on the guitar.

Anyway, can we talk a little more about lesson books? I want to pick a book to take my students through. Mel Bay was mentioned. What other good ones are out there? What are the different teaching styles offered in different books?

[-MBro-]

If you can get your students to do these things, they will be beating your door down: 1 - Play something fairly quickly and easily that sounds good. 2 - Understand that music is a blast. From there, the students that get really turned on will be curious about how to learn more/get better. Typically, most will get discouraged when the learn that it's much harder than they first thought (...after more than 40 years, you'd think I'd know by now that it doesn't get easier with time but noooo...). If most of the beginners fall away and a few serious students remain, you've done your job!

 

 

Yes,this is first priority. With younger student I always concentrate on playing easy/fun stuff as soon as possible just to get them loving the guitar.

[WilliamWilson]

Teach them some chords, a few easy songs to get going, and then move on to a good method book. I always try to let students pick other songs they want to learn to keep them inspired. Also don't neglect to teach them to read music, find the notes on the guitar, a little theory, and ear training. In the long run they are more likely to stay with it if they understand what they are playing. The comment about practicing is right on. I've been teaching guitar full time for eight years, the greatest challenge is getting them motivated but at the same time giving them the tools to develop as a guitarist.
One last piece of advice don't teach because you have to. Find a way to get excited about teaching. As a guitar teacher you are doing a lot more than showing someone how to play an instrument, you are teaching them perseverance, humility, patience, dedication, and delayed gratification. All good things in this fast paced, impatient world we live in!
--
William Wilson
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