Teaching the guitar

Azrael · #1 03-04-2005, 05:08 PM

Hey everyone. I'm learning someone to play guitar at the moment. He seems to pick it up quite fast and that surprises me happely. Now I wonder....

Are there more people here that teach? How do you do it? I first learned him about the guitar / learned to tune by ear (he's gotta practice that) , some simple tunes / handposition and general guitar position and now I'm learning him some 1-2-3-4 excersises to get more familiair with the guitar. Next week I'm going to learn him powerchords and some open chords. In about 3 weeks I think I will learn him barrechords if all goes well.

So how do you guys do it?

By the way. When I'm teaching I am also constantly learning myself as well.

jrtruesdale · #2 03-30-2005, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azrael

Hey everyone. I'm learning someone to play guitar at the moment. He seems to pick it up quite fast and that surprises me happely. Now I wonder....

Are there more people here that teach? How do you do it? I first learned him about the guitar / learned to tune by ear (he's gotta practice that) , some simple tunes / handposition and general guitar position and now I'm learning him some 1-2-3-4 excersises to get more familiair with the guitar. Next week I'm going to learn him powerchords and some open chords. In about 3 weeks I think I will learn him barrechords if all goes well.

So how do you guys do it?

By the way. When I'm teaching I am also constantly learning myself as well.

Just a little note. Recplace all your I'm "learning" and "learn" with the words teaching and teach.

Seems like a good start. Start having him learn some scales. If you know theory teach him some of that.

lyconxero · #3 03-31-2005, 01:36 AM

See, I think that the way that you teach someone has to be customized to their interests. Case in point: I had a friend who borrowed his girlfriend's guitar and started teaching himself. And all by himself, he started coming up with stuff (little note melodies) which I was quite impressed by. Now in his case, I introduced him to scales because that's obviously what he was already leaning towards but at the same time I gave him an overview of chords.

In another example, I have another friend who just bought his first guitar. He's a very individual learner and seems to be into older rock music. So in his case, I went a little heavier on basic chords and powerchords with just an overview of scales but he's definitely taking more to the chords since they pop up more in the songs he's learning.

Teaching the basics is always important but from that point you should base your teaching on the individual student's wants/needs. Just my opinion.

ibanezrg520kid · #4 04-09-2005, 02:46 AM

LOL yeah i teach some guitar lessons too. I had like four students, but one quit because he didn't have time with sports. One kid moved. Then this one girl i was teaching, she was an 8th grader, quit and went to a guitar store because she didn't like learing theory and just wanted to learn songs even though she had just started guitar. So her mom said she "didn't have time for guitar lessons" then i saw her at the local shop one day comming in with her guitar......LOL! If she didn't want to learn theory i wouldn't have show her the only reason i showed her was what is the differance between a major and minor chord.....because she asked me to explain it to her. Oh well i still have one student who doesn't mind learning theory and scales, but she never practices.......which is sooooo annoying. So i suggest you just teach them what they want to know.

tone_connoisseur · #5 04-19-2005, 07:15 PM

I always dedicated my lessons to about 70% what they should know, and 30% what they want to know. Make it fun for them. See if there's a song that he wants to learn, something basic that he can incorporate basic chords into to keep it interesting and fun for him. Or just pick out a song with 3 or 4 basic chords, G/A/D. I think you'll find it enjoyable for the both of you. Whatever songs he wants to learn, you're going to learn as well, so you'll just have more songs under your belt.

Azrael · #6 04-20-2005, 04:09 AM

Alright so far I've been trying to learn them basic guitar stuff (almost the same for every student) and later I've been explaining technique by means of simple songs. For example...when I wanted to explain hammer-ons/pull-offs I used "The man who sold the world" main riff. Fun for them because they know how it sounds and fun for me because I can explain the technique used. And so far every student likes my lessons

So that must be a good sign.

lyconxero · #7 04-20-2005, 08:01 PM

Sounds like a good plan. That's exactly how I would teach a technique to someone.

Andelusion · #8 04-23-2005, 07:50 PM

Heyups, I'm 17 and have been teaching for about 2 months now.

At the moment i've only got 3 students and they're all beginners but it's going well, they're practising and it's showing

I've got them all started on learning the names of the strings and explaining the fret numbers. I've also showed them how to read guitar TAB since i thought it'd be quite important hehe

I've made sure we're going through a song they want to learn at the same time as doing basics/chords/technique since they're all young i don't want them to get bored and thought if they could learn a song they'd get a sense of achivement (they're all about 12-14).

I'm advertising more now since i've (tonight!) done my last shift at this restaurant i've been working at for ages saving up for a Jem7vwh, now i've finally got enough i'm going to kick up the advertisment some more and hopefully get some more students

Teaching is great.

ibanezrg520kid · #9 05-08-2005, 08:23 PM

yep i try to teach mu students songs but so far every one i have tought was forced to take lessons by their parents. LOL yeah i try to keep it fun for them by teaching them fun songs. for example i have been teach this girl the main riff to the song Amber by 311 its fun and not too hard for someone who well....lets say....could stand to practice abit more than 1hour a week. LOL oh just turned 16 and have been teaching for almost 2 years. yeah i just started advertising more too. My sisters put up signs for me in their middle school. i need more students cause my racing season is here and i need money plus i want to buy a sport bike so i need more students to teach. Plus whats better than making money doing something your good at and enjoy.

what are you guys charging for lesson? At all the guitar shops and stuff here the lowest you can find is $18 for 30min.
i charge...
$10 for 30min. if you come to my house
$18 for 30min. if you want me to come to your house
$20 for 1hour
$25 for 1hour if i have to drive to their house

Globbits · #10 05-08-2005, 08:51 PM

I charge £11 an hour ($24ish).

I always used to find it really difficult to understand why my students were having a problem learning a certain technique/song. But then I came up with a great strategy! Whatever you're trying to teach them, try and learn yourself! Simple?-why certainly, unless you were teaching yourself left-handed! I always flip my guitar over and try to teach myself a scale left-handed, just to see the best method of learning and fretting it for a novice (which is what you right hand is when it comes to a guitar neck). It gives you a student-perspective!

(apologies to all those already left handed! Replace left with right everywhere!)

Azrael · #11 05-09-2005, 09:30 AM

I charge about 8$ an hour.........

krizz · #12 05-09-2005, 01:38 PM

I charge nothing cause it's the first time I'm teaching someone 'the guitar'. I have to get the things about teaching sorted out good enough (IMO) first, and as a return; I learn a lot too by doing so.

IMHO people ask too much too soon.

It's accoustic guitar btw., and I'm trying to teach it the way it was taught me.

Azrael · #13 05-09-2005, 02:12 PM

Yeah but when I charged less their parents said I should ask more......quite odd but very true because they really like the way I teach

Andelusion · #14 05-11-2005, 11:19 AM

Charging not as much as some 'professionals' DEFINATELY works both ways. You shouldn't charge wayy too little (like $8 an hour-lol) as that'll make people wonder why you're charging so little

and obviously you shouldn't charge to much or you'll get no students

Azrael · #15 05-11-2005, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andelusion

Charging not as much as some 'professionals' DEFINATELY works both ways. You shouldn't charge wayy too little (like $8 an hour-lol) as that'll make people wonder why you're charging so little

and obviously you shouldn't charge to much or you'll get no students

Yeah , I charged 11$ for an hour for 2 students at the same time and their parents thought I was nuts......well....16$ per hour then I don't complain :P