Informal guitar teaching

mellowsun

Chap who did some work on my roof noticed my guitars and we got chatting. He's always wanted to play and now I'm going to be giving him some lessons to get him started.

Only taught informally a few times and not for about 20 years now. 

Interested to hear any tips or advice!

midlifecrisis

Dont give him lessons while hes still on the roof

mart

At least tell him he doesn't need to go up on the roof to reach the high notes.

mellowsun

Lols awarded!

midlifecrisis

unless you teach him violin so he could be a fiddler on the roof

paul_c2

Don't overburden him with a ton of technical stuff, or technique issues. Just focus on the most important aspect and spend a little time on that, while letting him enjoy playing. Then once that's fixed, move on to a more subtle issue, then on again etc.

sawyer

I taught my girfriends son. Gives you a nice warm feeling inside setting someone away on a course of creativity (financial ruin funding a guitar habit) What I did was give him 3 chords at a time. A,D and E for example. Showed him nothing else till he could change between the 3. Also told him to not try and race ahead by looking on internet etc till he had the basics down.Showed him some simple arpeggios to keep it interesting.  Too much imfo just overloads you and that's when people give up. After he learned all the basic open chords ishowed him Barre chords. To a begginer these look horrendous until they realise they are still the basic shaped chords but your first finger takes the place of the nut. Once you show them that it all starts to make sense. 9 months on he's away playing and now on YouTube picking up bits and pieces. Keeps him in his bedroom:)

mellowsun

Thanks @sawyer @paul_c2 . My plan was to start with two chords that a relatively easy for a beginner to change between, e.g. Em and A, and show him the basic clawhammer right hand technique - I find beginners struggle more with a plectrum than they do with thumb and fingers.

photek

I have done this a few times now and the most succesful has been getting them to pick a song they want to learn. They need to be realistic but having something to work to seems to keep the interest up. Also having little gimmicks that get them making cool noises straight away is fun. Pick scrapes, single string runs etc.

Lots of praise keeps the confidence up and if possible getting them to play what they have learnt to their significant others is also really helpful. I get them to film a bit of the lesson on their phone so they have something to work to.

Obviously they have to pick up the teqhniques to actually play the song but they are doing that for a reson so is less of a chore. Subtly drop in alternate picking, 4 fingers over 4 frets and the good old power chord, a couple of simple scales help early on as well.

Have fun and have a laugh, good luck mate.

knuckleberryfinn

I get all my new students to give me a list of ten songs they love/want to learn. That gives me a sense of what they like, and I can pick out the easiest songs to begin with. Songs keep students enthusiastic. 

Sassafras

Make sure you get the money up-front.

Iamnobody

After the first lesson shake your head, stroke your chin a little and explain it's going to be a bigger job than you thought. Then charge him double the amount you originally agreed...

jellyroll

Teaching roofers - you need to pitch it right. 

close2u

Nobody has mentioned this yet ... surprising. https://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php And for songs: https://www.justinguitar.com/en/BS-000-BeginnersSongbook.php

pintspiller

When I taught, my lessons were rather I formal.

I thought of myself more as a "strumming coach" than a "guitar tutor".

57Deluxe

Get him sat down and find something wrong with the intonation on his guitar and proceed to strip it right back and wrap all the bits up in some cling film and then tell him to come back next week

rsvmark

Batten down the hatches. Folks could get slated for these puns. Personally I would be guttered if he didn't offer a discount on the final bill......

paul_c2

You could do what my previous guitar teacher did and go off on a lengthy monologue about some really old musician who he once played with, which I won't have heard of, and has been dead 40 years. That quite effectively filled the hour and I got to play about 5 notes.