A teaching/learning framework or pathway?

imalrightjack

Hello all,

I learned to play and theory basics through a haphazard journey of 35 years. I’ve a few friends and friends’ kids that have over the years asked me to teach them. While I’ve no ambition beyond helping a few people, I’d like to show people a structured approach. 

Can anybody recommend anything? A book series, perhaps? Written music isn’t particularly appealing but isn’t a 100% showstopper. I’d prefer tabs but suspect it’s not ideal. 

Thanks!

kelpbeds

I think you'll struggle to find much. I looked into this a few years and there were was very little out there. I even tried to get a group going (think it was people from this forum) on collaboration to build a curriculum. I put in a load of stuff but no-one else did, so I gave up!

imalrightjack

@kelpbeds At least you tried! What did you personally conclude?

Keefy

Surely there is a curriculum and a set of teachers’ notes to go with the Rock School grades?

kelpbeds

Keefy said:

Surely there is a curriculum and a set of teachers’ notes to go with the Rock School grades?

Not sure about Rock School not looked at it for a while. I teach the Trinity grades and there is very little in the way of guidance.. It's pretty much learn the songs, obviously you get the TAB, and that's about it. 

kelpbeds

imalrightjack said:

@kelpbeds At least you tried! What did you personally conclude?

I guess I concluded that I had to do it on my own so built my own curriculum which I use to teach with. One big problem is that when you start a curriculum for beginners it's fairly easily but then it quickly gets very difficult to manage as there are so many directions to go in. You really need separate curricula for each genre. So I've got a general one for beginners and then a specific blues one. 

Barney

I just tell them to go to www.justinguitar.com it's all on videos for beginners and well structured for learning songs 

Barney

Learn how to play guitar with JustinGuitar.com | JustinGuitar.com https://search.app/jhR58tBAq7vMhR4i6

Lestratcaster

I'm a tutor but I'm not a fan of following books or courses. Everyone has their own path in playing and different goals. So simply following a book isn't the best way to do it. Instead I find out what the learner's music tastes and goals are and work to the individual. Of course, there'll be groups of learners who are wanting to do the same thing so I'll often reuse lesson material with multiple learners. People learn at difference paces though so some are quicker some slower to pick up new material.

Structure-wise though I will sorta go in-line with the graded exams as a measuring stick for songs and playing level. The original RGT syllabus was very good for that til they merged with LCM. Rockschool is also good for performance pieces but the technical development side is a bit too intense.

icu81b4

I’m trying to find out if anyone on here has used getfretwise.com ? 

Teaches an intervals approach 

What he says about CAGED 

“ Patterns are essential to some extent on guitar, after all it is a visual instrument. But the real sauce in what I’m teaching is interval recognition and placement, so that players can play with intent instead of just traversing through scales and common chord shapes “

AntonHunter

Lestratcaster said:

I'm a tutor but I'm not a fan of following books or courses. Everyone has their own path in playing and different goals. So simply following a book isn't the best way to do it. Instead I find out what the learner's music tastes and goals are and work to the individual. Of course, there'll be groups of learners who are wanting to do the same thing so I'll often reuse lesson material with multiple learners. People learn at difference paces though so some are quicker some slower to pick up new material.

Structure-wise though I will sorta go in-line with the graded exams as a measuring stick for songs and playing level. The original RGT syllabus was very good for that til they merged with LCM. Rockschool is also good for performance pieces but the technical development side is a bit too intense.

I didn't realise that, what changed when they merged? I did the RGT grades as a teen, definitely my preferred choice for teaching important skills. Most kids when I taught preferred the Rockschool ones though.

Danny1969

I have a bit of a method that seems to work well, certainly the kids I have taught have been able to progress quite rapidly with it. I don't use any tab, no caged approaches or pentatonic boxes. 

Learn the notes of the open strings. Easter Bunnies Get Drunk At Easter

Remember all notes have sharps except B and E 

The next note on a fretboard is the sharp of the previous note unless the previous note was a B or E

Learn where every note is on the fretboard is 

Learn the intervals to build a major scale  TTSTTTS

Use these intervals to build a chord - Root third and fifth

Learn the intervals to build a minor scale TSTTSTT

Use these intervals to build a chord - Root third and fifth

Teach modes as simple alterations to a major scale first, then show what that results in  ... G mixolydian then has same notes as C major for example
Make a table showing what mode  = what same set of notes in a normal major scale

Teach chord extensions and substitutions 

Teach how to harmonise with fixed intervals then counterpoint and moving interval harmonies etc

Show them  Nashville number system so they can chart a song 


That's it really. It's easy to get to grips with and none of it is guitar biased. It's generic music theory 

The practical side is a lot harder. I have a young girl pupil at the moment who's ability to hear and play the right notes is above her physical ability at the moment but it will come in practice. I have found 13 to 16 to be the best period for learning. Going too soon can be a mistake, as is leaving it too late. 

Lestratcaster

AntonHunter said:

Lestratcaster said:

I'm a tutor but I'm not a fan of following books or courses. Everyone has their own path in playing and different goals. So simply following a book isn't the best way to do it. Instead I find out what the learner's music tastes and goals are and work to the individual. Of course, there'll be groups of learners who are wanting to do the same thing so I'll often reuse lesson material with multiple learners. People learn at difference paces though so some are quicker some slower to pick up new material.

Structure-wise though I will sorta go in-line with the graded exams as a measuring stick for songs and playing level. The original RGT syllabus was very good for that til they merged with LCM. Rockschool is also good for performance pieces but the technical development side is a bit too intense.

I didn't realise that, what changed when they merged? I did the RGT grades as a teen, definitely my preferred choice for teaching important skills. Most kids when I taught preferred the Rockschool ones though.

They got shit haha. Basically LCM took over and is now the official exam board for graded exams for what used to be RGT. The syllabus is the same I think, albeit updated pieces. But I do find the songs on the rock guitar syllabus very outdated (stuff from 70/80's that kids these days have never heard of).

The Rockschool repertoire is updated every 3-4 years so it maintains a freshness with what's new in the charts and stuff.

AntonHunter

Lestratcaster said:

AntonHunter said:

Lestratcaster said:

I'm a tutor but I'm not a fan of following books or courses. Everyone has their own path in playing and different goals. So simply following a book isn't the best way to do it. Instead I find out what the learner's music tastes and goals are and work to the individual. Of course, there'll be groups of learners who are wanting to do the same thing so I'll often reuse lesson material with multiple learners. People learn at difference paces though so some are quicker some slower to pick up new material.

Structure-wise though I will sorta go in-line with the graded exams as a measuring stick for songs and playing level. The original RGT syllabus was very good for that til they merged with LCM. Rockschool is also good for performance pieces but the technical development side is a bit too intense.

I didn't realise that, what changed when they merged? I did the RGT grades as a teen, definitely my preferred choice for teaching important skills. Most kids when I taught preferred the Rockschool ones though.

They got shit haha. Basically LCM took over and is now the official exam board for graded exams for what used to be RGT. The syllabus is the same I think, albeit updated pieces. But I do find the songs on the rock guitar syllabus very outdated (stuff from 70/80's that kids these days have never heard of).

The Rockschool repertoire is updated every 3-4 years so it maintains a freshness with what's new in the charts and stuff.

Weird, the RGT grades I did had no pieces at all, until chosen specialism from grades 6+

Lestratcaster

AntonHunter said:

Lestratcaster said:

AntonHunter said:

Lestratcaster said:

I'm a tutor but I'm not a fan of following books or courses. Everyone has their own path in playing and different goals. So simply following a book isn't the best way to do it. Instead I find out what the learner's music tastes and goals are and work to the individual. Of course, there'll be groups of learners who are wanting to do the same thing so I'll often reuse lesson material with multiple learners. People learn at difference paces though so some are quicker some slower to pick up new material.

Structure-wise though I will sorta go in-line with the graded exams as a measuring stick for songs and playing level. The original RGT syllabus was very good for that til they merged with LCM. Rockschool is also good for performance pieces but the technical development side is a bit too intense.

I didn't realise that, what changed when they merged? I did the RGT grades as a teen, definitely my preferred choice for teaching important skills. Most kids when I taught preferred the Rockschool ones though.

They got shit haha. Basically LCM took over and is now the official exam board for graded exams for what used to be RGT. The syllabus is the same I think, albeit updated pieces. But I do find the songs on the rock guitar syllabus very outdated (stuff from 70/80's that kids these days have never heard of).

The Rockschool repertoire is updated every 3-4 years so it maintains a freshness with what's new in the charts and stuff.

Weird, the RGT grades I did had no pieces at all, until chosen specialism from grades 6+

There's 2 different syllabuses, the main electric guitar one which is purely technical based, so your 6 components - chords, scales, rhythm playing, lead playing, spoken tests and aural assessments. Then you got the Rock Guitar syllabus which is 3 pieces to play plus your improvisation and aural tests.

AntonHunter

Lestratcaster said:

...

There's 2 different syllabuses, the main electric guitar one which is purely technical based, so your 6 components - chords, scales, rhythm playing, lead playing, spoken tests and aural assessments. Then you got the Rock Guitar syllabus which is 3 pieces to play plus your improvisation and aural tests.

Aha, yeah, I never saw the Rock Guitar syllabus. When I was teaching more kids I used to use Rockschool for the bedroom players, and RGT Electric Guitar for the ones who were (like me as a teen) in a band or two, so had plenty of reason and opportunity to learn and perform songs outside of lessons, and then use the grades to provide a framework for advancing the theory and technical side of things. Probably a big part of how I ended up playing jazz, or at least not falling at the first hurdle when trying to play over changes.

Lestratcaster

AntonHunter said:

Lestratcaster said:

...

There's 2 different syllabuses, the main electric guitar one which is purely technical based, so your 6 components - chords, scales, rhythm playing, lead playing, spoken tests and aural assessments. Then you got the Rock Guitar syllabus which is 3 pieces to play plus your improvisation and aural tests.

Aha, yeah, I never saw the Rock Guitar syllabus. When I was teaching more kids I used to use Rockschool for the bedroom players, and RGT Electric Guitar for the ones who were (like me as a teen) in a band or two, so had plenty of reason and opportunity to learn and perform songs outside of lessons, and then use the grades to provide a framework for advancing the theory and technical side of things. Probably a big part of how I ended up playing jazz, or at least not falling at the first hurdle when trying to play over changes.

Only 1 learner over 18 takes grades so definitely more aimed for the younger ones. But it only teaches you to pass an exam, though you can take a few techniques from some of the pieces. There's few that have done grades 7 and 8 and can't play very musically as they're so used to following a script on what to play.

I get there's structure and something to aim for but it doesn't automatically assume you can play guitar well just cos you passed an exam, I have to remind parents this.

greejn

I've got 100 guitar lesson articles on jon green/hubpages.com, might be useful. Over a million views now, based on decades of teaching.

greejn

Strong recommendation: Alex Farran on YouTube, also Guthrie Trapp. Full of good info from top players.