Guitar teachers…

gybe!

gybe!

Active member
Looking for a bit of help/resource pointing from the real guitar teachers out there with respect to a brand new student…

I am playing teacher for my 13yr old who is very eager, but wasn’t comfortable going with a real teacher yet. While I am honored and love the time with him, I’m also not greatly prepared for new stage curriculum! Any resources/well developed curriculums out there that are a good basis for a total noob? We have started with the real basics, how to place your hands, how to hold and tune…most simple open chords and basic barre shapes, and then a pretty simple single note line from a Coheed and Cambria song he really likes to get some finger movement and goals toward something that will hook him. But, I need to get more structured for this to really work!
 
gybe! said:
Looking for a bit of help/resource pointing from the real guitar teachers out there with respect to a brand new student…

I am playing teacher for my 13yr old who is very eager, but wasn’t comfortable going with a real teacher yet. While I am honored and love the time with him, I’m also not greatly prepared for new stage curriculum! Any resources/well developed curriculums out there that are a good basis for a total noob? We have started with the real basics, how to place your hands, how to hold and tune…most simple open chords and basic barre shapes, and then a pretty simple single note line from a Coheed and Cambria song he really likes to get some finger movement and goals toward something that will hook him. But, I need to get more structured for this to really work!
Click to expand...

I don't know how much you're looking to spend, but I bought that bundle from Rick Beato. It includes very basic lessons for the complete beginner, all the way up into the music theory stuff. It's laid out pretty well and easy to follow, especially so if you'll be there to help along. He's always running some kind of special on it, but you can usually score all four (or five?) of his courses for around $100 or less.
 
I teach a little over 40 students per week, and I have a lot of luck with songs like Green Day's 'When I Come Around', 'I love Rock'n'Roll', 'Blitzkrieg Bop' and 'Seven Nation Army'. Even if your son isn't super jazzed about the songs themselves, they'll sound like rock...and that's pretty cool. What's nice about those songs is that they're fairly simple, they don't have an overly complicated song form and with a little practice, they can turn on the actual recording and play along with them. To them it feels like just playing a fun song, but what they're actually doing is internalizing the tempo, finding the pulse, playing in time, applying rhythmic subdivisions, controlling chord changes/muting/dampening and even beginning some simple solos.

I've found over the years that if I hit the ground running with scales and music theory, I can watch their eyes glaze over with boredom. It never works. If you're sneaky though, you can start showing them melodies of the songs that they're playing and then pepper in some info about how that solo/melody is related to the scale associated with the key you're playing in. Soon enough, they'll want to start improvising. That's your in.

I'm a Berklee guy, but there's a time and place for that stuff, and at 13, it's not the time or place. My biggest piece of advice for right now is to just do whatever it takes to keep it fun. The rest can come later. If you can keep the guitar in his hands and he's enjoying it, he's won.

https://www.songsterr.com/ is a great resource for tablature that he can both see, and hear. If you do a monthly/annual subscription, he can even slow the songs down, turn on a metronome and following along with the tablature as it goes by. The transcriptions aren't always 100% accurate, but they're close enough for early stages and it's a ton of fun.

https://www.all-guitar-chords.com/ is another really helpful resource that's free where he can see just about every conceivable scale/chord.
 
I do FT lessons with techy-def. (@Techdeth). I’ve gotten better without a doubt. I still know my weaknesses but he is working on them as well. I def see the fretboard in a much different light now. The other cool thing is he knows many different styles; not just metalomania.
 
alund said:
I do FT lessons with techy-def. (@Techdeth). I’ve gotten better without a doubt. I still know my weaknesses but he is working on them as well. I def see the fretboard in a much different light now. The other cool thing is he knows many different styles; not just metalomania.
Click to expand...
That's not what we do online....He said he would teach me but so far all he has me do is rub baby oil on myself. He said it's part of his karate kid system....
 
Every "instructor' ive had basically just wanted me to play like him.
I don't have time for "theory" cuz im too busy PLAYIN GUITAR.:m17:
 
JackBootedThug said:
That's not what we do online....He said he would teach me but so far all he has me do is rub baby oil on myself. He said it's part of his karate kid system....
Click to expand...
My gymnastics coach and team doctor have me do the baby oil thing as well, but they often assist. I questioned it at first, but what do i know?
 
The fundamental changes books are quite good. I have the one on pentatonic, legato, sweeping, unlocking the fretboard and maybe another one or two of them. I've taken lessons from several people(most recently Jon Bjork). And these books are really helpful. The best thing you can do is teach him a couple riffs while correcting his picking technique which can be hard to break if he starts with bad habits and a few other mechanics. I would also teach the intervals. All of the pentatonic shapes then all the major scale shapes. That will give all the foundation he will need to sell study.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top