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Volunteer Guitar Teachers Needed
Have you ever thought about teaching guitar?
About a year ago I was looking for volunteer opportunities to keep me busy and give back to the community and saw a notice not unlike this one about an organization called Guitars4Vets (G4V) and decided to give it a try. I’ve found the experience worthwhile and rewarding. G4V is a non-profit organization helping U.S. military veterans through the power of music. G4V has chapters throughout the country giving in-person group guitar lessons. But many veterans are not located near one of these chapters and for those veterans G4V has cyber chapters to teach veterans on-line using a virtual platform. I’m one of those cyber instructors. The number of veterans wishing to learn to play far exceeds the number of cyber instructors we have on hand to teach them. We could help many more veterans if we had more volunteer cyber instructors. Over the past year we’ve lost a few instructors so the need is greater than ever. While I am a crusty old veteran myself most of our volunteer instructors are not. Most are just guys and gals of all ages and ability, from all walks of life who want to express their appreciation to our veterans by teaching them to play beginning guitar. You don’t have to be a particularly gifted guitar player nor have any formal teaching background. G4V provides abundant resources for your use including teaching tools and lesson plans. And we’re not talking about turning students into Jimmy Page or Tommy Emmanuel as most of our veteran students have little to no experience. The foundation of our instruction is teaching the basics, predominantly through chords, enough to play simple songs and enjoy the guitar. Below are a few words from Paul Lilley, G4V’s Director of Online Learning. If this sounds like something you might be interested in pursuing please reach out to Paul and get more information. If you’d like a first hand account of what it’s like to be a G4V cyber instructor feel free to PM me directly. ================ Volunteer as a virtual guitar instructor for the Guitars4Vets Cyber Chapter! Want to improve your guitar playing skills and give back to veterans? Share the power of music with them! G4V is looking for volunteers who are over 18 and have a flexible, patient approach to teaching the guitar. Volunteers would commit to teach at least one veteran individually for one hour each week for 10 weeks. Volunteers must be comfortable using the technology (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.) and for those who are new to teaching, we provide many resources, including a comprehensive lesson plan and video/pdf resources for instructors. Finally, volunteers must pass a background check and participate in an interview with the Director of OnLine Learning. For more information about Guitars for vets: https://guitars4vets.org If you have questions or want to learn more about volunteering with the cyber chapter, and teach guitar online, please email Paul Lilley, the Director of OnLine Learning at [email protected]
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Alvin Tostig ____________ Martin HD-35 Martin D-18 Taylor 814ce TSB Taylor 522e 12-fret Taylor 514ce Taylor 355 12-string Alvarez ABT610e Baritone 6 Yamaha C-40 Fishman Loudbox Mini Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge G4V Cyber Instructor |
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How good do you have to be to teach? And what type of music are you teaching, is it country, blues, pop? Do they use tab or music notation?
thanks, Debbie
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Martin D-28 2017 Martin D-18 2020 VTS Martin 0000-18 Sinker Gruhn 2018 Martin J-40 Adi custom 2018 Martin OM-28 Adi Gruhn Special McPherson Sable Fender American Professional II Telecaster Fender American Professional II Stratocaster Northfield Big Mon Engleman top Northfield Big Mon Adirondack top Companion custom woody banjo Fender '68 custom Vibro Champ Reverb amp |
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Thank you for posting, Alvin. Prior to covid in 2019, i was providing lessons and facilitating jams at our local homeless shelter - which also runs a veteran's housing program. I think most of my participants were vets. I kept a cart with a bunch of my extra instruments so i could provide lessons on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo.. I may get back into it online - thanks again for the prompt.
To answer Debbie's question above: yes, most everything folks were interested in was in that country, folk, rock/pop vein. |
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Part of being an instructor is that while G4V has a wealth of tools and canned lesson plans at your disposal, you can ad lib as you see fit. There's also a G4V Facebook group and a Learning Center in which you can ask, share, or just bounce around ideas. As to your other question, we don't teach any particular music genre. The student usually already knows what type of music they'd like to learn and we do our best to get them there. During the sign-up process students are asked to provide two songs they'd like to learn and when we reach the point where we've covered the chords in that song it's a joint effort to get to a point where we can strum and sing the song. I've taught everything from Rihanna to Simon and Garfunkel to Luke Bryan. Some instructors teach, or at least expose students, to tablature. Similarly, some instructors will include some basic music theory while others won't. I prefer to concentrate on rhythm guitar, learning the chord shapes, and then applying them to playing songs using sites like Chordie, Chordify, and Ultimate Guitar. But again, as an instructor that would be your choice. Hope this provides a little more insight. Thanks for the interest. Al
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Alvin Tostig ____________ Martin HD-35 Martin D-18 Taylor 814ce TSB Taylor 522e 12-fret Taylor 514ce Taylor 355 12-string Alvarez ABT610e Baritone 6 Yamaha C-40 Fishman Loudbox Mini Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge G4V Cyber Instructor |
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I am currently 6 lessons in on my journey with Guitars 4 Vets. I am fortunate enough to be in a place that has a chapter and instructors, so my lessons are in person.
I’d suppose that the lesson quality will be predicated by your instructor’s enthusiasm, and your own (student) enthusiasm. I’m getting a lot out of it so far. I knew all the open chords prior to starting. We are currently working on barre chards and alternate bass picking, with a pretty good dose of music theory (circle of 5ths, etc). We have our lessons at the local veteran center, and there is also a jam session there every Saturday morning that we attend immediately following the lesson. If anyone has questions from a student perspective, I’ll try my best to answer them. It’s a free program, including a guitar upon graduation. Last edited by Sarhog; 03-07-2024 at 02:10 PM. Reason: Grammar |
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I am in Charleston, SC. I don't see a local chapter. I am considering starting a chapter and instruction but want to know the expected frequency of lessons. Once a week, twice a month, as requested? How long does it take from starting a chapter to giving lessons? Thanks for posting this. I am recently retired and have been playing for decades. I just recently started lessons for the first time and am getting a lot out of it. I might like to share what I know with people getting started.
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Rainsong OM Black Ice VAOM-1c (Voyage Air) Taylor 614ce Taylor 110 Martin DX Epiphone Texan 12 string Sigma Mandolin SCGC VJ Alvarez Nashville tuning https://soundcloud.com/gideon-besson...social_sharing |
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Looks like it operates out of the Charleston Vet Center at: 3625 West Montague Avenue North Charleston, South Carolina 29418 EM: [email protected] Phone: (843) 789-7000 Give them a call, email, or stop by and see what's what. IF this listing is no longer current or Mr. Burns is no longer participating it looks like the chapter infrastructure is already in place and you could apply to step in and take over responsibilities. And if it is still active, I'm sure they would welcome another instructor.
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Alvin Tostig ____________ Martin HD-35 Martin D-18 Taylor 814ce TSB Taylor 522e 12-fret Taylor 514ce Taylor 355 12-string Alvarez ABT610e Baritone 6 Yamaha C-40 Fishman Loudbox Mini Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge G4V Cyber Instructor |
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Thanks for the info.
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Rainsong OM Black Ice VAOM-1c (Voyage Air) Taylor 614ce Taylor 110 Martin DX Epiphone Texan 12 string Sigma Mandolin SCGC VJ Alvarez Nashville tuning https://soundcloud.com/gideon-besson...social_sharing |