Stuff to teach to two novice students.

[lacatedral]

Greetings, so someone contacted me to schedule a group class (2 persons, both new to the guitar).

For the first class I was thinking in teaching a two chord song, maybe three, max., no rhythmic pattern for the strumming hand, all played in whole notes, and those chords should be simple ones like E, A, D, Em, Am, etc...
And in addition a melody or riff from the same song.

So basically I would teach the chords to each one, separately, and then the riff.
After playing the chords and riff with me, one student at the time (the other could practice meanwhile, quietly), they could play in duet.

I was wondering if anyone had any song of those characteristics in mind, or any other method to apply to a group class.

[TerryC]

A Horse With No Name and Knockin' on Heaven's Door come to mind as very simple, beginner-friendly songs.

[Seagull S6]

I think you might be jumping the gun a little. The first lesson would probably be the basics such as finger nail care, holding the guitar, tuning etc and ending with an assignment for learning to play and change from 2 or 3 chords smoothly. Show them the chords and simple strumming and give them chord diagrams for practicing at home.

Unless there are simple cowboy chords (probably not) I'm not aware of for AHWNO, it would be pretty advanced for a beginner both in the chords and the strumming.

A very old song (1967) that only has 3 easy chords in the verse, Em-A-Em-C is very easy in chording and strumming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhYLz63csS0
https://www.e-chords.com/chords/stra...nd-peppermints

[multimutts]

When I first started, learning one chord at a time seemed like a challenge. I had to get used to holding the guitar, enduring the finger pain, not causing buzzing or dead strings when I tried to make a chord. Changing from one chord to another was something a week or two away, and changing smoothly enough to contemplate a song actually took me a month or so.

I'd say slow down on your teaching goals. The most important thing at the start is to not get discouraged, and feeling overwhelmed with there being so much to learn can be very discouraging.

[Silurian]

That's a lot for a first lesson. I would stick with E, A and D and changing between them.

[jaybones]

I agree with Seagull S6, but in addition teach them how to tune the guitar.

That should make it easy for them to learn the names of the strings and the notes out to the fifth fret.

From my experience students (or their parents if they're kids) want to see immediate results.

What I did was teach them Marley's Redemption Song, complete with the intro.

The intro is a very simple way to introduce the major scale. Redemption Song also teaches some techniques, such as sliding notes, pull offs, simple chord changes of basic chords (G, Em, C- with the walkdown through B to Am, and D/Dsus/D). And its pretty easy to sing, and most people know it.

People want to be able to play a song that people will recognize, and Twinkle Twinkle or Michael Row aren't going to cut it.

Also, I'm pretty focused on theory, and personally once I unlocked the secret of how the major scale is the scale that everything else is based on it really opened up the guitar for me. But that's just me...

[brianhejh]

All important points, and all students will progress and learn at different intervals. I have been teaching my son for the last 7 years predominantly fingerstyle, he is now 12.

To digress slightly I cannot emphasize enough the importance of
a properly set up guitar for students,having been to many qualified guitar techs over the years to have my guitars set up.

This last year fortunately I have had the opportunity to devote most of my time and many many hours to guitar saddle/nut making. fret dressing,applying information re humidity controls,action and set up principals to my guitars- ETC ETC ETC. I have six guitars so I had plenty of projects.

The moral to the story is I have a Gibson J 50 that I have left until this week to set up correctly? action ,Bone nut,Bone saddle, both shaped from blanks,fret dress,correctly applied humidity control.

I can honestly say that this is the best guitar set up I have ever experienced, My son immediately noticed the difference in action, tone /crisp clear notes which in turn allowed him to truly experience the real quality of his playing with a properly set up guitar. (For that I thank many members of this site for the knowledge imparted) My point is when we pass on our knowledge to students in learning the learn guitar, how much emphasis do teachers place on the guitar and proper set up therefore are enthusiastic music teachers without guitar set up experience slightly disadvantaged?

My experience would suggest that if a guitar teacher can introduce a level of knowledge re guitar set up to a lesson it would be invaluable for both the teacher and the student.

Thanks again Guys for the knowledge

Brian

[jessupe]

I think moving right into a song is maybe not the best approach. The number one important element to me is rhythm and the ability to change from one chord that you are strumming, to the next{another} chord without breaking tempo.

Jumping right into songs before the {just like riding a bicycle thing} happens related to "getting" rythm and the ability to change to another chord seems to make things slower and worse by creating a set parameter that someone is not ready to engage.

So what I do is start someone with an E major chord, then with that chord only practice rhythm patterns until a consistent strum pattern of hopefully their choosing can be developed, show them examples of different strums,let them choose one or come up with a variation of their own, as long as it is solid and repetitive, this establishes "groove" without consistent rhythm, music will get lost in translation.

After they have established a good rhythm with an E chord, have them do a simple change to the A minor right below, this one simple change will throw most beginners for a loop in itself, let alone multiple changes with a set rhythm. This should be free form, let them change to the A minor when it "feels" right to them. then throw in one more simple chord, say a D major.

Once they have the ability to 'chug" out a rhythm and change to another chord while keeping time, then, imo they are ready to move into simple songs.

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by Silurian

That's a lot for a first lesson. I would stick with E, A and D and changing between them.

Yup, just add a G and C, that’s the ones I’ve stuck with throughout my career.
Thinking of maybe adding F, or perhaps B, to my repertoire one day.

Seriously, I agree with others not to expect too much from a complete beginner,
it takes some practice and dedication just to place fingers for any one chord correctly and quickly with no buzzing.

Good Luck.

[fd943]

I’ve given guitar lessons many times over the years and had some really great players come from it. I always tell my students “there are a lot of guitar players out there that know a few cords and a couple songs, I’m going to make you a musician an the songs will come on their own” I also make them deal: learn your circle of 5ths, your major keys, and how tune your guitar, and you can pick a song you like and I’ll teach it to you. Gives motivation and goals.

[Puerto Player]

Teach them to pick each string with each of the 4 fingers. Up and down, up and down the strings from E to e. Also, what ever chords you teach them, have them pick the strings individually too for each chord.

[Mystery123]

When I started learning, I wanted to learn songs to begin with.
Forget theory, tuning, circles spheres triangles.

Beginner's mindset "I want to play song now and it must sound good".

So don't bore them to death with theories and stories.
I think I'd be very happy if I knew I could play simple songs by transposing (or using power chords) to make it even simpler as long as it sounded something close.

I like what Rocksmith does.
It down samples chords to easy power chords and then shows full chords as you improve.
This way, I can at least get the gist of the song instead of trying to get all the hard chords right of the bat.

Besides that, I found having callous is the most important thing.
Only after developing callous, I could focus on learning instead of thinking of finger pain all the time.

[island texan]

I continue to be surprised by folks who say they have down the basics of some open chords (maybe even think they're a low-intermediate), but when you watch them in action, it's painful. No feel, all visual focus on the fretting hand with no awareness of their lack of rhythm. Although I love music theory as much as I love the rules of golf, such esoterica is rarely where a beginner wants to begin. And as has been stated, the greatest enemy of the beginner besides callouses is that overwhelming sense of no progress or accomplishment. Ask the student to name 2-3 songs they'd like to sing to. Show how posture and finger positioning makes things easier and stress the need to make chord changes quickly and smoothly (in rhythm) before anything else gets introduced. FWIW, I think D major is the best 3-chord starting point to get that sense of accomplishment going.

[pf400]

I like the idea of "making deals" such as, you learn the notes of each of the 6 open strings, learn and practice the 3-note F chord, Am, and C, and we'll get into your favourite songs. Practically everyone I've taught was aware of , or had, an electronic tuner. I accept its use on condition that they learn manual tuning and that they commit to learning the root notes of every chord I introduce. I do tell them right away, not to expect to play any song for at least a month. I emphasize clean chording, and just enjoying the sound of each chord they learn.

I once had a student who simply couldn't play any songs all the way through. He surprised me by learning the minor pentatonic scale AND jammng decently to the blues in one lesson. You just never know !

[TerryC]

Originally Posted by Seagull S6

Unless there are simple cowboy chords (probably not) I'm not aware of for AHWNO, it would be pretty advanced for a beginner both in the chords and the strumming.

It was actually the first song I ever learned, but yeah, this is definitely a simplified version. Just two very easy chords going back and forth over a simple rhythm, so I stand by it as great to start with.