starting teaching

[adamj]

after a bit of self promo I have managed to secure two potential guitar students this week for their first lessons. I am majorly chuffed, but also very very anxious. I have some background info on the students (both beginners) and im going to be doing some basic acoustic stuff to start off with.

Apart from the obvious such as making sure i take my guitar with me, what other things might i need to do to be fully prepared? As they are beginners Im planning on sarting with the basic chords and warm up exercises, then ask if they want to know any songs in particular which we can build up to.

 Lessons will be an hour long with no strings attached with regards to further lessons. Students are also both over 18. (I dont have a CRB report at the mo but planning on getting one).

Fire away!

[choucas09]

Teaching guitar with "no strings attached" could be tricky.

[Ian Price]

Firstly, well done on doing this - something I would like to do but don't have the talent or patience to!

I think if I were to do this I would find out what stuff they were interested in and then build the basics of chords etc around that rather than do the basics and then ask what they were into i.e. if you can make the basics interesting with a subject matter that is relevant to them they are, in my opinion, far more likely to keep coming back.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[nfe]

Have a definite plan of what you intend to cover in the hour, have it all written down, and have print outs of anything you will be teaching them to leave with them to practice.

Might be worth having a look at some absolute beginner books in a music shop or at some lessons on youtube or that, not to pinch anything completely but just to see what people tackle first of all.

I'd probably try and have a tune or melody that's incredibly easy, or a couple riffs, just so they're trying to do something recognisable. And try and build that first lesson around that. So if you intend to start with a few easy chords, which seems sensible enough, maybe pick a straightforward acoustic tune that uses those, Brown Eyed Girl, an Oasis number, something like that.

[JacksonRR]

One of the first songs I learned was Bush's Comedown. Think the chorus went D, A and then G. Super easy stuff and it was popular.

[Oroficus]

Apart from the obvious such as making sure i take my guitar with me, what other things might i need to do to be fully prepared?

Your probably going to hate me for this, but I just can't resist.

You can teach them how to do the power slide on their knees, then a couple of dozen c@ck pushups, followed up by sending them out on the streets to busk so that they can earn enough money to score Dime Bags for you to smoke.

 :lol:

[MDV]

I split it two ways, in reflection of my general philosophy on playing (which is a bit contradictory, but I try)

I dont bother with a regimented structure unless I believe the pupil needs that; thats how they learn best. Guitars a personal thing and I like to help people play it how they want to play it. So, I find out what sort of thing they're currently aiming to be able to do. First off, if they're going for a style I'm weak at ("I want to be like Tommy Emanuell!") then I send them along to someone who can. If I can teach them then I gear my lessons into two parts:

1: The theory and techniques they're going to need. The physical and musical vocabulary.
2: Learning songs they want to be able to play, selected in advance. Often I have to learn them first, but thats as much of the fun as anything.

I dont think that teaching should be entirely dogmatic, 'this is how you play'. Thats boring and I dont think helps a pupil find their way around the instrument in their own fashion or develop their own voice with it. There obviously has to be a degree of dogma though, in a 'want to play that? then you need to know this, this, this and this' way, and in basic decent technique that no style can (or should at least) escape.

I've found that because it forces you to get off your arse and learn things you otherwise wouldnt, I've learned a hell of a lot about guitar and music from this sort of teaching style. Quite probably more than my pupils :lol:

Also; people learn differently. Some need a clear deliniated structure, some need clever/cheesy memory aids, some find diagrams beneficial, some just need a verbal demstration, some can connect what they're seeing with a sound easily and mimic the motions without trouble, some need motions to be broken down minute detail by minute detail, some just need to hear, etc etc. Experiment with your explanations, descriptions and demostrations and find whats most effective with them.

And have perfect, holy, infinite patience :lol: You get frustrated or impatient, and so will they, and they'll never learn anything. The pedogogic value of keeping good humour is not to be underestimated!

[dave_mc]

i don't teach, but i agree with what mark's saying. i've never had guitar lessons, but i've had piano and drum lessons, and i was happiest when the teacher was basically willing to teach me what i wanted to learn, and in the way i wanted (as long as i wasn't an idiot).

if the pupil wants to learn that's half the battle won before you even start.

[adamj]

great advice so far, making me feel a lot better about it!! Just re strung my trusty guitar and gonna print some stuff of today.

[AndyR]

When I first saw MDV's post I thought "uh-oh, I'm sure I'm not going to agree with all of this... but it's always an interesting read anyway". I was wrong Mark!! I agree with every single word - sorry for doubting you! :lol:

I've never tried teaching guitar formally, I just help nephews etc along every now and then. But I have been a software trainer (and my Mum was a teacher). Pretty much everything I think about it and how I might apply it to guitaring is in Mark's post.

The only thing I can add is an attitude, a frame of mind (I think it's actually behind everything MDV's saying, but I think it's worth spelling it out):

"You don't teach anybody anything, you enable them to learn"

Go into it like that and I find it helps all sorts of things, not least my capacity for being patient :D. It takes some of the internal pressure off me, makes me more relaxed... hopefully that means I can communicate my own interest in the subject more - and that's how most of us learn when we have a "teacher" involved, getting a buzz off the teacher and wanting to do it ourselves.



Good luck, and enjoy it. There's something immensely satisfying about passing on the knowledge and seeing someone else "get it" and realise their potential :D.

[adamj]

Quick update:

Turned up to first lesson, girl literally picking up a guitar for the first time, struggling with chords but managed to get E A and D sorted without too much buzzing! Waiting to hear if she wants another lesson.

2nd lesson: a more experienced singer joining a band and picking up the guitar incase its needed in future, knows a few decent chords. Asked me back again next week.

Got on fine with them both, nervouss on the first one but settled in quick. Got an older guy next week who sounds more experienced and needs strumming help.

overall enjoyed it but realised how much harder this is than say teaching martial arts which i also do! no idea why, maybe its my lack of technical knowledge more than the application side of things?

anyway job done for this week, now i have to go and learn a Pink song......

[dave_mc]

i would find teaching martial arts way harder than teaching guitar.

to be fair, that's probably because i've never been to a single martial arts class and am useless at that type of stuff :lol:

[Johnny Mac]

I'd teach them how to tune it first. Then some basic chords and how to do them. That's an hour for a beginner.
I've been asked to teach a group in 30 minute
Lessons. I'd play it by ear and find out what tunes they like and an ahead with a few in mind.
I'm still not sure if I have time for it though as I may have a new band starting. I would have thought it's a great way to keep your playing sharp and earn a few quid too. Good luck with it.