Conference napalm::guitar

    
    	I was a guitar instructor for about 6 months at the Sudbury
    	Music Center. The easiest for me were kids between 10 and 14,
    	and adults. The teenage males were a nightmare. They all expected
    	to pick up the guitar and play as well as their favorite players.
    	None of them ever practiced. One kid with a brand new Les Paul
    	argued with me about practicing for about 3 weeks. He then
    announced	he was going to take up the Sax. He honestly thought
    he could learn to play an instrument without practicing at all.
    
    	I'll never teach beginner's again..............................
    
    
    Guy Novello
    

    
    I find age really doesn't have a factor in it.  I mean, I have 
    those students in different age groups who are just `into it'
    and practice a lot and want to learn.  Then there are those 
    people who don't have the concentration or real interest for
    study.
    
    I guess if I had to pick *the* age who learns best, I'd say it would
    be 16-18.  I mean, they are usually mature enough to pay attention,
    and by this time they see how important practice is (they also see
    the whole competition aspect of guitaring). They also are still
    in school and have lots of time for practice.  These people seem
    to progress the quickest.
    
    Adults are cool, but usually they are too busy with job and/or family
    responsibilities to progress as fast as a teenager who doesn't have
    a care in the world, although adults grasp concepts quicker.

    What a convenient topic.
    
    I find myself in the position of taking on two (possibly more) guitar
    students.  Both boys, about 10 years old.
    
    I haven't formally "taught" guitar before, but I have done what I would
    describe as "coach" people, including some younger people.  But these
    people were all very promising and very enthusiastic.  The last person
    I coached was an older teenager who told me he was playing about 3
    hours a day.  
    
    I didn't believe him initially.  At our first coaching session he
    wanted to learn "Dust In the Wind".   He had never before done
    any "Travis picking" - that was evident at the first lesson.
    
    I showed it to him, and he came back a week later with incredibly
    accurate and smooth Travis picking.
    
    That's the kind of student I'm used to.  But these new students are far
    more typical.  One has tried playing sax but quit - he NEVER practiced.
    He gives the typical 10 year-old bullpucky reasons for why THAT didn't
    work out and THIS will.  
    
    I feel that both these boys are thrilled with the idea of playing
    guitar but have no appreciation for what it takes.  My first 
    consultation with his parents were to let him EARN a guitar instead 
    of buying him one.  It should be a good guage as to whether this
    is just a passing fancy, or something he's really serious about.
    
    Anyway, I'm seeking advice on how to turn them into players?
    
    I basically have a few basic ideas:
    
    o Initially, it should all be fun.  INTENSIVE FUN.  In fact, I'm
      thinking of spending the first few lessons doing silly things
      like the duck-walk, how to make noise with the whammy bar, etc.
      
      The idea being is to show them how much fun it can be BEFORE they
      have to know how much WORK it can be.
    
    o My whole approach will be to allow them to have some success at
      every listen with whatever amount of practice they are willing to
      put into it of their own accord (no parental "coaxing").
    
      My hope is that they will want to learn more.
    
    o At some point I wanna introduce the notion that there is fun in
      doing what you previously couldn't do and that's where I'll sorta
      bring in the notion of practice - sorta introduce it as the
      "yellow brick road" to playing music or anything else.
    
    	db

    I've been teaching at the Acton Music Center for the past year or
    so and I'd have to agree with .1.   The teenagers are the toughest.
    Not only do they want to play the most technically difficult material,
    but they want to play it in two weeks.   I always encourage the
    students to bring a tape of some song they want to learn.  Most
    of them bring speed metal.   In all fairness, I have to say that
    some of my most rewarding experiences have been with teens, too.
    If they're really into it, it makes all the difference in the world.
    
    I find the younger kids are easy to teach, but you have to make
    allowances for a shorter attention span.   I find the lesson goes
    much easier if I take a short (1-2 minutes) break after every ten
    minutes.   Also, I find that using any song that the student is
    familiar with will bring better result than the typical Mel Bay
    offering.  There are plenty of simple tunes out there so that no-
    one should have to play twinkle, twinkle....
    
    I think adults are sometimes a little harder to get going because
    they don't have as much free time to sit and get a real "feel" for
    the instrument.   
    
    All in all, teaching has been one of the best things I've ever done
    for myself.  It's really forced me to have a thorough understanding
    of not only what I do on the guitar, but why.   Nothing like trying
    to explain something to someone else to show you what you DON't
    know.     

    I'll preface this by saying that I haven't taught guitar lessons before
    (and probably won't, at least for awhile).  I do, however, take
    lessons. 
                                                  
    I don't know what to say about the age, other than to say that adults
    (I suppose I'm an adult) will, as previously mentioned, have more
    trouble finding quality time to practice, due to job/family
    commitments.  Also, if there are other musical commitments (a band,
    etc), that makes it that much worse (Voice of experience).  I
    continually feel guilty because I didn't have enough time to practice
    the material for my lesson (or the songs for other commitments). 
    
    I took lessons when I was in the 10-11 year range.  I was one of those
    kids who didn't practice much, but still somehow managed to progress
    (slowly).  I believe this was at least partially because the instructor
    I had did not give me material which I was familiar with and liked a
    lot.  He had me practice the chords to Beatles songs and such. Well, if
    you ever played these you'll know that the chords don't sound like much
    without the melody on top.  I was bored stiff. 
    
    One technique which I think is invaluable is to keep a tape recorder
    handy and record examples or a melody/chords for the student to
    practice over (Be sure to put a tuning note on there, tapes
    stretch...)! 
    
    Another thing, if you get someone that IS motivated and progressing
    well, be sure to push them a little.  I know that I need this! 
    My current instructor is very laid back and puts absolutely NO pressure
    on me whatsoever.  I think I'd practice more on my material and
    progress faster if I knew he expected more of me.
    
    gh                                               

    
    as an addendum to .4:
    
    I feel that its great when a student who is just starting out comes
    in with a Malmsteen solo or an upotempo Van Halen number to learn.
    Obviously the kid isn't going to be able to play it, but then you
    can say "well, to play this you'll need to work on finger and picking
    excercizes, as well as starting to memorize a few of these scale
    patterns, and learn a little theory.  After 6 months of this you
    should be able to attempt it.  It's a good incentive for the student
    to shoot for, and gives them the drive to work at it, rather than
    me sitting there saying "man, you gotta shed these finger patterns
    a lot more or your chops will be nowhere"...that's more of a defeatist
    attitude.  Anything that inspires a student I use to their advantage.
    The results speak for themselves...my students have better chops
    then I do
    
    :^(
    
    wjb

    As with most learning experiences, incentives, desire & confidence
    builders are key.  Everyone has brought out great points in here.
    
    Incentives - like it was said, there are songs at any level for
    students to learn.  This is exciting to the student and helps build
    confidence.
    
    Desire - if the student has it, push him/her to success.
    
    Confidence - this can make or break you in anything.  Point out
    the positive aspects the student has picked up in their learning 
    process.  Be careful with how you express yourself in areas they
    need improvement in.
    
    

    I'm at a point in my lessons where I've just become comfortable
    with A and E position bar chords.  I've covered everything from
    basic chords to the above bar chords.
    
    For those of you that teach, what would you give your students as
    the next assignment?  
    
    When, if ever, do you teach your student subjects such as scales,
    basic theory, any other advanced topics?
    
    Thanks,
    Mike

    
    Re: -1
    
    I'm not sure what you mean exactly about A and E position barre
    chords.
    
    I think you are refering to those barre chords with root notes on
    the 6th string (A barre chord?) and 5th string (E barre chord?!?).
    
    One thing I try and make clear early on is knowing where the root note
    is, becuase ALL chords forms are moveable, so once you know where the
    root note is, you open up new doors, and are not limited in vision.
    Even the `open' position chords provide insight to chord inversions and
    such, esp when the open chords are converted to `barre chords'.
    
    Anyway, if you know the A and E barre forms, and you knew the roots,
    I'd then teach a bit of diatonic thoery.  So you would know what keys
    the A and E chords (barre,m or otherwise) appear in.  Also, you'd know
    what the otehr chords in, say the key of E major are, and could play
    them but moving/modifying you known barre chord forms. That would give
    you a string background knowledge in chord theory, useful in
    composition writing, figuring out what key a song is in,
    improvisational purposes, etc.  Once this was mastered (diatonicism),
    I'd teach the student a few major and pentatonic sclae forms...have him
    record a chord progression in a key (say E major again), then improvise
    over the chords with the major and blues scales. 
    
    It all comes together in the end...a full working knowledge of theory,
    chord forms, scale forms, providing the player with the basis for some
    serious playing.
    
    Buck