How to start out a beginner??

[nhsmitty]

I was asked to help a friend with learning the guitar but seem to have trouble motivating the person to what I think is the simplest and best building block learning process. So tell me if I am wrong, and please offer suggestions. My process would be to first learn some chords with the end result of then to strum some songs. Basic major chords like G, C, D, A, E, F to begin with. Isn't that the way to start??

He took a few lessons from a (paid) teacher a couple of years ago but the teacher did not reinforce the need for chords and proceeded to teach a few simple ear candy licks and such. I think this may have stunned the learning process within my friend so how do I get him to come over to the chord side? I've stated that learning licks along with chord practice is fine but chords need to be learned first.

I don't wanna give up on trying to pass on some guitar knowledge but I am on my last nerve with it. This is my third "student" but the most difficult to explain to that you need chords. Learn chords, Learn chords, Learn chords!!!

[jazzinthebox]

Perhaps you should start with simple songs with one note melodies played on only a few strings. Chords are good, but unless you get into more difficult fingerings and positions (which a beginner wouldn't be able to do anyway) it's hard to play a song that actually SOUNDS like a song. I think the biggest setback for beginners is that they want to play the songs they have heard on the radio and CD immediately after they begin. Once they see that they are not progressing as quickly as they assumed - or at a NORMAL pace - they get frusterated and quit. Maybe you should try having the student choose a song they would like to learn, teach them to pick out the melody of that song, and then progressively make that song harder and harder (the meldoy + simple chords) and so on.

[GIBBY]

Learning chords IS the best thing to do first. But teach them within the context of a song. Pick out some simple tunes with a
I-IV-V progression and have them learn to play the songs. In the process of learning to play the songs, they will learn their chords. After about 3 months your student should have a lot of chords under their belt. Then it will be time to understand the basic WHY'S (theory) of what they are doing -- meaning why chords progress from one to the other and why a chord is a chord etc. Then after a few months of moving into tougher chords and understanding the theory they will be ready for some basic note reading. All in all, after about a year they will have a lot of good stuff under their belt if they are serious about learning and then they can actually begin to tell you what direction they want to go and what they want to learn to play. Good luck and don't forget to have fun.

[jazzinthebox]

Chords are important, but playing 3+ notes at the same time rather than one is a huge difference for a beginning guitarist. If they learn extremely basic note-reading from the beginning, they can gradually build up to playing chords. I also think learning chords as a foundation limits potential since it treats the guitar as a background instrument (this is not true theory-wise about what chords are, but typically chord progressions in guitar are only played to accompany singing). I suppose that is fine if you want to strum the same 5 basic chords for every 200 songs you learn, but I think it is more helpful to learn basic note reading first, and then build up to chords which can be incoporated in the music.

Above all, do you NEED theory to play guitar? No. Theory is the grammar of music. A person with extremely poor grammar could very well read a classic novel with educated fluency, but without knowing grammar, they would never be able to write a brilliant novel. But if they have no need to write a novel, they technically do not need to know any grammar. The same applies with music. Do you want to some day be able to write your own music and improvise with other musicians? Then treat theory as importantly as you would treat your improving technique. If, on the other hand, you want to learn only how to play the music from notation and tab, then theory is not your first priority.

I do believe theory bores beginning guitarists. I mean, how many of us were thrilled to circle all the adjectives in the example sentences during school? Teach them to PLAY guitar first, and as they improve, you can explain to them how theory has been a part of their simple performances from the very beginning. Once they decide where they want to go, you can figure out whether or not to concentrate more on playing technique or on theory. And above all, DON'T limit the guitar to background music. Expose them to classical; expose them to fingerstyle; expose them to bluegrass flatpicking; expose them to jazz and rock and roll. The guitar is a much too powerful instrument to be used for teaching a new guitarist only how to strum a few chords.

[GIBBY]

Agree with jazz but disagree on the order.

Some open chords first (while learning a song at the same time) offers a lot of advantages to a beginner.

1. Less to learn. 2 or 3 hand positions as opposed to many notes on the fret board is easier to handle. Granted, a chord is made up of 3+ notes but since you are not getting into theory at this point a chord is nothing more than a hand position.

2. Timing is more easily developed. 3 or 4 strums per measure is easy to understand and tap your foot to.

3. Right hand precision is not necessary. Strumming is easier to do than picking out individual notes.

4. Ear development begins more quickly because of your having to make conscious chord changes.

You will have to sing, though, as jazz points out. This could be a MAJOR disadvantage depending on who is singing

Anyway, just my .02. I'm interested to hear what others have to say.