Now we have arrived at the point where a student can move between the eight beginners chords in time to music our mission is simple....

We need to ensure that they develop in three main areas and for no other reason that I like that kind of thing I'm going to call them.......

1: Music Theory for the Guitarist

2: Improving Guitar Technique

3: The Development Of Repertoire

You can use the resources in the download to develop your students in accordance with the "three pillars"

As a teacher you can use the ideas underpinning the three pillars of guitar teaching wisdom with basic music theory alongside developing a solid technique and a repertoire of songs/riffs etc being given appropriate amounts of attention during and between lessons from this point onwards

Some of our teaching resources

Above you can see some of the guitar teacher's resources' from the download that could be supplied to a student during and following a lesson from around this stage of learning to play

Below those handouts (you may like to zoom in if viewing on a phone?) you can hear a short section of the backing track that they could use to practice the hammer-on and bending techniques highlighted using the A pentatonic minor scale

Backing track for practicing improvisation using the Am Pentatonic Scale

On the right of the graphic above you can see a representation of a "customised" resource that teachers can produce by using the guitar teaching blank necks and handout templates that make up part of the download

Follow the link above to find out more about this important and labour saving material

Introduce new chords when helping students to play stuff that they already know and like/love

I know from experience that you can come a cropper as a teacher if you try to get the folks paying you to learn your favourite songs rather than the stuff that floats their boat They won't normally punch you or shove dog poo through your letter box if you choose all of the songs that they play but the reality is that they either won't practice something that they are indifferent to as much as they will when working on something that they love Worse than that they may just give up or go to the guitar teacher down the road where they will laugh about the old fashioned guitar teacher who they used to give their hard earned money to

This does not mean that you should never use songs that you choose as part of your skillset as a guitar teacher is to identify songs and riffs that they may be familiar with that will help them to improve from where that are now All I'm saying is that it is a good idea to meet a student half way and throw some of their favourite songs/artists into the mix

It is a very simple and well appreciated practice during the weeks that you are using the backing tracks and chord charts to find out who and what your student likes musically

Something that I routinely do is....

1: Find out what artists/songs a student likes

2: Go to a website and find out the chords/tab to some of their music

Put the song into the key of G as by now your student knows all of the important chords (save for Bm) in the key of G

3: Knock up a printable sheet for the song/riff

The download contains a huge range of blank tab/chord/notation sheets that will allow you to do this simply and quickly

Build a library of resources

A good idea is to scan or photocopy the sheets as you produce them so that over time you will develop a library of material that you can use to present to other students who share the same enthusiasms (they tend to be quite impressed by this)

A huge and often underestimated advantage of this for an educator is that it keeps you up to date with what folks are currently listening to

Effective guitar teachers need a way to make sure that their students know what to do between lessons

if you look at the practice plan below (a blank version of this document is included in the download) you should be able to get some idea of how guitar teachers use the teachwombat materials to help ensure that the three important elements of learning to play guitar are properly addressed

When students can comfortably move between the eight chords presented to them to this point is when I normally introduce them to some (very light) music theory for the guitar

To find out more about the "nuts and bolts" of teaching music theory to guitar students you can follow the link above but the important thing to remember is that music theory needs to be useful to our students "RIGHT NOW"

A great way to make theory useful is to use it alongside the next stage of technical development which is to be able to play power chords and bar chords and to move them around the neck of the guitar

Power Chords as a "gateway to music theory"

It is not unusual for a certain breed of guitar player to develop the attitude that they are wise to ignore music theory They trot out the usual gibberish about "not wanting to interfere with their natural feel by restricting themselves to rules"

Music theory is not "rules", it just provides options that you can choose to not follow if that's what floats your boat'

Finding and naming any note on the guitar neck

How to have your student find the root (name) note of any power chord As an introduction to music theory all that you need to do is give your student the "Power Chord Root Finder" shown above

You dont have to do anything more than that to be honest as the next couple of months will be usefully taken up with going back through the backing tracks that you used to help them get used to the eight beginners open chords and simply substituting power (and when they are ready bar) chords for the beginners shapes already learned

It is a good idea to point regularly during this process that if they look at the root finder they will be able to see that relationships between notes remains constant no matter where on the neck of the guitar you are (eg A is always two frets above G and there is no "gap" between the noted of B and C or the notes E and F)

This is enough music theory to start with and prepares the ground for later lessons where scales and harmonic systems (keys) are encountered

When starting to cover power chords it is important that you dont tell them where to play and that they find out (from the handout) where the root notes of each shape are located

If you look at the handout on the right where open chords are specified its just a case of substituting the shapes for power (and eventually bar) chords

Backing Tracks for Power Chords and Bar Chords

The good news is that all of the backing tracks used up until this point work equally well for power and bar chords All you need to do is re-present them and ask your student to use the root finder to locate and play the power chord

When they are comfortable with this they can move on to three note power chords and from there to "full" bar chords

Below you can hear short snippets from two of the backing tracks that are particularly suited to helpingstudents move from open chords to bar chords

A to G Backing Track

C G D A E Backing Track

It has not taken me long to write this page and only a few minutes for you to read it but it should be stressed that the process of adding an ability to play power and bar chords to will normally take weeks and months and after you have paid attention to the basics by using the backing tracks then it is a good idea to move on to existing songs that your student is already familiar with

Guitar Grades

This is where the activities of guitar teachers and students divides into two distinct strands The first is for those who are taking established graded examinations on the instrument and the second is for those who have no need or desire to "get grades" on the guitar

I have no axe to grind here its just horses for courses and I won't waste any time and pixels on trying to persuade anybody (student or teacher) to engage with the graded examination system the truth is that there are advantages and disadvantages that come with guitar grades and that is for another page (that I have not written and may never write yet)

This page will look at what should happen in guitar lessons for those students (the majority) who are not at this point in the process engaging with graded guitar examinations

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