I've been subbing for teachers quite a bit over the past year or so at work. And now finally, as of yesterday, I have my first student of my own! I'm excited about it, subbing I've just tried to give kids little tidbits of information and picked up where their teacher left off the week before. But now I actually take someone through week by week, so it's a different approach to what I've been doing as a sub.

Since this is something new to me, I'm curious to know how those of you who teach (or have taught) guitar usually start your students out. My student is an 11 year old girl. What would be some easy, age appropriate songs that I could teach her? Really any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

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Congrats on being appointed to a full-fledged teaching position,it goes to show that they have faith in you.It's been years since I showed anyone how to play guitar so I don't think that I could offer a whole lot of advice.When teaching someone for the first time I would give them chord charts showing the basic major,minor and 7th chords and also(something that's usually neglected)basic tips and info about guitar care.Find out what type of music they like and their favourite songs and build your lessons around them.Remember to praise your students on their progress as a bit of praise can go a long way in instilling confidence ina young player.Good luck with it and I have every confidence that you'll do well with it.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Congratulations Texas! You are an excellent guitar teacher! Malagueña, originally the sixth movement of the Suite Andalucia by Ernesto Lecuona, written for piano but played by guitarists for as long as I can remember, will be a song that you can work on with your students throughout their sessions with you. When I was taught the song my teacher started me with the single note melody and worked from there. I looked forward to those minutes during lessons whenever it would be, beginning, middle or end of session. I thought he used the song as a reward depending on how well I progressed with each weeks lesson. They will love you for teaching them Malagueña.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I'm an adult student, not a teacher. You’re working with a child, so it’s definitely different. Here are some thoughts, based on my lessons. Maybe you already know this stuff and have your own way of handling it.

First, don’t be a flaky musician. I had a teacher who was a great teacher, but he was a FLAKE, and he would cancel my lesson at the last minute, or forget that we had a lesson scheduled. I stuck with it for a year because the info I was getting was worth it, but I didn’t progress as a player, I quit lessons, and I couldn’t recommend him to anyone.

What I would suggest is to do your best to find out your student's learning style. Some people are frustrated by a heavy emphasis on music theory and are happiest when learning by playing. Other students feel lost if they don't understand the theory stuff, but get so deep in it that they spend entire lessons asking questions and don't actually play. The first case needs you to “sneak” the theory in there, while the second case needs you to make sure they actually PLAY during every lesson. Some people are fine with jumping around a little in what gets covered, other people are very linear, and need things to be presented in a very sequential order (and need it to be organized for them).

By asking for some suggested music, I think you’re headed in the right direction. Having students work only on scales is a sure way to go nowhere fast. Having a song the student likes gives them incentive to practice. What about asking the student to bring a CD or their MP3 player with a few songs they might want to work on? This can also lead to a discussion about the student’s goals for the lessons, and you can come to agreement on what progress and goal achievement look like.

Consider learning a new instrument yourself – this will remind you how hard it is starting out, and how what’s obvious to you know might not have been in the beginning. This will also remind you that students need time and practice to build the strength & coordination they need to play a guitar.

Design a practice log for your students to use. Make sure they write in it each lesson what you want them to work on for the next lesson. Have them write down what they do (maybe not how much time they spend – that could be a major turn off). Some people are very goal oriented and a log helps them see progress.

When you explain something to a student, have them explain it back to you (not just parrot back what you said). If they can’t explain it, they don’t have it.

Most lessons need to have learning going on, but sometimes maybe the session should just be about jamming. Sometimes the student just isn’t going to be able to really learn much. That’s not to say that while jamming there isn’t any learning going on, though. When I whine to my teacher about I’m tired after a long day at work, and I just want to play, what usually happens is 3/4 of the way through the lesson, he’ll point out something about what we’ve been playing that either reinforces something, or is actually something new.

I don’t know what your plan is for payment for lessons, but my current teacher has his students pay for a month in advance, with no refunds. He will work with you if you need to reschedule and you tell him in advance, but he’s made a commitment to be there at a certain time, so it’s your problem if you don’t show up. There’s a sense of commitment on the student’s part, if they’ve paid in advance.

Something to think about is exactly what kind of students do you want to teach? You might decide to not teach beginners; that is a legitimate choice. Or you might only want to work with children, or only with adults. And sometimes, hard as it might be to admit, you might not be the right teacher for a particular student.

Practice finding positive ways to say things. When my teacher had me sing to match the note he was singing, I didn’t hit it. But instead of saying that I was flat, he said, “You’re a fifth below”, then it was, “You’re a third below”, and then I matched it. I still struggle with singing to find the note, and he doesn’t push too hard, but it’s an important technique that I need in order to get where I want to be. So, you’ll need to be sensitive (especially with a young girl), but push a little bit, too – in an encouraging way.

I hope there’s something in this ramble that will be helpful. Good luck, stay positive, and have FUN!

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Shirley Has The Blues

Blacktop P Bass
mim Deluxe P Bass Special
mim P Bass
Ibanez BTB405

Congrats! We all know you're going to do great!

As far as what to teach the kid, ask her what she wants to learn, so she can set a goal to learn a particular song or two. Then as you're teaching her the licks/chord progression, you can sneak some theory in there too.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Lexicon Devil is really easy. First song I taught myself.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Congrats TGS, never had any guitar lessons myself, asking what they'd like sounds a good starting point, how about a simple rhythm they could learn and at the end of the class have a jam session, you could cut loose and give them some inspiration

I've never had any guitar classes either, well a couple over the summer with my mom's friend.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Way to go!

Have patience...it might be hard at times...but don't show any frustration.

Instead of writing what I'd suggest you teach her, here's some things
to try and avoid that I found helpful:

http://tomhess.net/TeachBeginnerGuitarStudents.aspx

Good luck!!!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Congrats on your new gig. Thats a big one, it carries a big responsibility. I Love the reword system that S L B S mentioned. I tried to learn Malaguena on my own and never did get it right.
----Danny,

Not to douse your candle with a cold glass of water but.....Nirvana as Lullabies is a bit of a stretch as well as AC/DC....
What if the student hates Metal and Grunge....

Seriously finding out where the students head is at is going to direct you on how to structure your lessons.
Since it is a Student to Teacher Format, there must be a hierarchy....Sorry to those who disagree but one cannot teach without there being no question as to who is in charge.
When I study with my Classical Teacher, he is the teacher and I am the student, there is an expectation from both parties.
(1) I expect to be challenged, so there is always homework in the form of theory and pedagogy to work on for the next meeting's presentation.
(2) On the other hand my teacher expects me to have worked on the assignment and have it ready for presentation at the next session.
It does not have to be extremely difficult, or rather it should not be. Each phase should be structured as a stepping stone to the next level. Thus it is a reachable goal for the student, but only if there is effort on the students part. It cannot be so easy that it can be done the night before. It has to be an assignment that demands preparation thru the week yet clearly shows progress. That is the challenge for any teacher.

That being said I would suggest the Methodology books by any of the reputable schools, Berkeley Press has quite an extensive catalog.

I truly believe that exercises solely focused on proper technique such as hand finger position, posture will enable your students to merge into various forms of music, be it Classical, Jazz, R/B....... etc......etc...

Yeah I know... Some of the great Blues or Rock guys are excellent at what they do....
But because of their mechanicals, they cannot transition to other forms of music.

For Instance, Eric Johnson, he easily and seamlessly travels between Jazz, Rock, Fusion, Classical progressions in many of his compositions.
Steve Vai equally so.

Let's put it this way....If a student is capable of playing many forms of music, then if that person becomes a professional musician, they will be more likely to be employed by being versatile..
One may prefer to play in a Blues Band at night, but if playing Jazz, or Bluegrass or Classical at a recording session during the day pays the bills then it's a win win situation. Or even being a teacher, I actually cannot thnk of a better compliment than a student that you have taught, he or she eventually becoming a teacher because of your input as a teacher.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Well, as far as logistics go it's fairly simple from my perspective. I'm teaching out of a guitar store, so if I constantly flake out I don't think my boss would take very kindly to it. lol On the other hand, I do know enough guitar teachers that if there were a time when I really couldn't make it I could have one of them sub for me. The front of the shop handles lesson payments, they're by month and I never have to worry about getting paid or not. The catch is that I don't make as much as if I were teaching on my own somewhere, but right now the benefits of teaching from the store far outweigh that.

A lot of the teachers I've subbed for teach beginners out of the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1. There's no tab, it teaches reading music and some (a few) basic chords. I have mixed feeling about using it. On one hand I really feel that at least knowing what a measure is, what a quarter note is, and some basic music reading is very important. Especially since it can apply to any other instruments she may want to play in the future. On the other hand, I never have liked how whenever I tried to start an instrument I had to wade through "hot crossed buns" and "three blind mice" before I could play anything decent. I'll see what she wants to do first before I decide to use the book or not. I may still use it, but with more emphasis on other things that pertain more directly to guitar.

I'll have her burn me a CD of her favorite music so I can get a better idea of what songs to teach her too. I don't think my first guitar teacher even paid any attention to what I liked when I brought her a CD. She was set on teaching beginners chords, and even at 11 I was much more interested in playing face melting rock guitar solos then that. She also forced me off my electric guitar and onto an acoustic... Honestly I think I lost a couple of years when I could've been playing because I became so disillusioned with guitar for a while after that. I'm trying not to make that mistake and teach more like my current teacher does. He showed me what I wanted to learn, and managed to work in what I needed to learn at the same time.

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I knew that you would figure it out pretty quick Texas . As I said before, your students will love you!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

+ 1 TGS, being aware of the situation is what many teachers in all fields miss.
I don't teach guitar and have only showed an occasional youngster a few chords, this and that, pretty much what we just sometimes fall into.

However, I spent a few years coaching 10 to 15 year old juniors alpine ski racing ( tech events SL and GS ) one college team, as well as coaching 15 to 18 juniors in cycling. But the most challenging were teaching adults how to race thru the gates. Because of being adults, 99% were
pre-programed and not very malleable. Kids were on the other spectrum of challenge and piquing their interest and keeping it was the task. Not to mention that adults are there because they want to be, that was not the case with some juniors as the decision had been from parents.
To ski they wanted, but to race...maybee....So fun was the prime objective, not so much in the comical sense ( which was natural ) but more in the keeping them interested and looking forward to being out there...Not so easy when the temperature is below 25F and it's snowing and windy.

To make a long story short, i realized I had succeeded some time later when a father came in, asked to see me, asked me " What have you done to my son.. " I instantly thought the worst but he smiled and explained that his son had never been so eager to go ski....
After leaving and returning a year later for a visit, while in the lift line, behind me was Rye and her friend, as she commented to her friend " He used to be our coach but he ditched us "

Point is that improvising to the daily situation will work, still structured but not to the point that change is impossible. Spending an hour or two hours with a student ( junior ) that is in Total Refusal Mode is a long time and to be avoided at all costs....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Congrats Texasguitarslinger!!

How does one officially become a Music Instructor? Did you have to take a course in Music and get some kind of certificate to teach?

Does it fall into the educational curriculum on passing the CBEST test to show that the potential teacher is competent and knowledgeable in the subject matter?

This goes for someone also going into fitness personal training. Someone who is fit and works out in the gym for many years does not qualify them to be a personal trainer for example.

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