How do I teach someome play guitar?

[Lindsey]

I've been asked to teach my cousin play guitar. It's a one time thing. He has never played before. I figured I could teach him two chord shapes and the pentatonic, but after that I get lost. He probably is going to want to see an example or play a song, my mind will go blanc.

What should I show him as an introduction to guitar? All advice is welcome

 

[idssdi]

I would chose a song the other person likes that uses the basic open chords and try to teach that. One of the most important things in the beginning is to ft someone excited to play guitar and that usually happens because they play something they know and like (let's be honest scales and chords without context aren't particularly interesting when you just started playing, you.probably just want to play your favourite songs)

 

[Chris Johnston]

Hey Lindsey, I've taught loads of beginners over the years so these things could work for him

-String names (You can use Elephants, And, Donkeys, Grow, Big, Ears (EADGBE) to help him remember the string letters) I usually then play a game where I mix up the letters and get the student to find the strings that I say, getting gradually quicker as we go.

- The Spider exercise - Shows him how to use all 4 fingers straight away by matching them to each fret and playing in order - 1234 on every string (This will usually highlight how Important thumb position is if they struggle to reach up to the low E string and it'll allow you to explain that)

- The very start of Metalica's Nothing Else Matters can be cool as a fun way to practice hitting the right strings with his right hand (Low E, G, B, High E, B, G etc)

- The Smoke on The Water Riff (super easy and gets across the idea of using open strings & fretted notes
- The riff from The Man who Sold the world is good for an easy Hammer on/Pull of exercise too

- If he takes to all of the above really quickly then Wild Thing by The Troggs is a great tune to introduce chords: It uses A, D, E & then lifts the A off and on for the breaks, it introduces counting and keeping time in those parts too.

- For the Pentatonics, I usually show Shape 1 and then ask what the student has been listening to recently, stick the tune on Youtube and find the Key that works with that Shape, then you get to explain how you can jam in any key by just moving that Shape to the right fret. That can get him getting a feel for the shape while feeling like he's contributing to a song he loves If he really takes to it, you can challenge him to pick 2 neighbouring strings and try and come up with a simple repeating lick that goes with the song

For those who have never played before, it's useful to give them something that they can make sound like a tune as quickly a possible, to give them that confidence boost & to make them feel like they want to put the work in to keep playing Easy riffs are essential as for many, playing Chords won't be manageable with their first sitting and can put people off if they're not ready to try them.


Hopefully this helps!

 

[Rad Synner]

What Chris Johnston said is pretty solid advice.

But let me chime in with some very bad advice on not how to do it.
It's very similar to the method russian use to teach their children to swim: They throw them into waters full of shark and tell them to figure it out.

Okay so you sit your cousin down and tell him to learn the solo of afterlife. That's about it. That's how I started guitar over 9 years ago... true story!

Or tell him to just learn through fire and flames and call it a day, idk. clearly I am not a good teacher...

 

[Lindsey]

What Chris Johnston said is pretty solid advice.

But let me chime in with some very bad advice on not how to do it.
It's very similar to the method russian use to teach their children to swim: They throw them into waters full of shark and tell them to figure it out.

Okay so you sit your cousin down and tell him to learn the solo of afterlife. That's about it. That's how I started guitar over 9 years ago... true story!

Or tell him to just learn through fire and flames and call it a day, idk. clearly I am not a good teacher...

I guess I could try throwing a guitar at him

 

[William B.]

the campfire chords probably G C Em Am D and play some fun strumming thing with those and the power chord maybe sing for fun it makes an imprression, it did on me

and add the 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 eventually on all strings to get the feel of the guitar, with mute as not to break the strings

 

[Lindsey]

@Ids Schiere @Chris Johnston @Willard D. Veator I know that’s good advice but I’m sure he’s going to name songs I don’t know. What do kids listen to these days?
I’ll look up the songs mentioned to at least give him an example. I don’t think I need to show him any exercises, that may be a bit too much. Unless he’s interested. I’ll only meet with him once.

So for now the plan is that I’ll show him some cowboy chords. I have basic beginner fingerpicking tabs still laying around somewhere, Starting at a Nothing else matter intro level.
I thought of teaching him the pentatonic, or at least giving him a little shape to show what he could do with that. I’ll play the chords and he’ll improvise something of vice versa.

And my backup: yousician

 

[Rad Synner]

I guess I could try throwing a guitar at him

Why didn't I think of this...

See??? You are a natural!!! You've already got this, it seems I have nothing left to teach you.

 

[William B.]

hey also maybe show ultimate-guitar. c o m and explain tabs with the numbers so can explore too
and this site unless want to keep things separate

 

[Lindsey]

hey also maybe show ultimate-guitar. c o m and explain tabs with the numbers so can explore too
and this site unless want to keep things separate

Will do. Thanks!

 

[Muz Malek]

I've been asked to teach my cousin play guitar. It's a one time thing. He has never played before. I figured I could teach him two chord shapes and the pentatonic, but after that I get lost. He probably is going to want to see an example or play a song, my mind will go blanc.

What should I show him as an introduction to guitar? All advice is welcome

For me, I usually have a pre-lesson "interview" or icebreaker, before I usually start teaching, just so that I could teach stuff that are more towards the student's favor, which always takes a big chunk of the "boring" and "dry" stuff, because then once in a while I could refer them to something they're familiar with.

Determine or create a purpose:
-Why is he learning the guitar? By will, or forced to, or inspired by something/someone, aspirations, etc.,

Venturing interest:
-What does he like to listen to? Pop? Rock? What is his favorite song? What is his favorite singer/band?

Setting goals:
-What does he want to achieve? Fingerstyle, tapping, strumming, rhythm, versatality, etc.? Does he want to try play a full song, etc.?

After getting to know them a little, then you could actually follow through and use the lessons here in Synner as a guideline/reference.

It's pretty good tbh. I've only gotten the confidence to teach when I saw the structure of the lessons from here. I've played for 10 years and a lot of people have asked me to teach, but I have no clue how, because being self-taught, everything I know is kinda all over the place.

Stick to the lesson structure here, and rest assured you won't go astray. Try to pick out what you can understand from the explanation by @Brian Haner Sr. , and then translate it to make it easier in case the terms used are still a little too fancy for them.

All the best!

 

[Lindsey]

@Muz Malek
Thanks! It's more an introduction to guitar rather than an actual lesson. I think he just wants to try it out, I'll make sure to ask him if he has a specific goal to at least try to give him a proper first impression.
I followed the advice given here and prepared a few things for someone who never touched a guitar.

 

[Muz Malek]

@Muz Malek
Thanks! It's more an introduction to guitar rather than an actual lesson. I think he just wants to try it out, I'll make sure to ask him if he has a specific goal to at least try to give him a proper first impression.
I followed the advice given here and prepared a few things for someone who never touched a guitar.

Yup2! Trying out is also a purpose/reason, so you'll never know, that spark might just ignite then Seen it happen loads! Very inspiring

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Just link him to the site lol


In all reality id save the site link til the end of your lesson. Remember hell want to play the song too so he wont expect a hard one.

 

[Lindsey]

Lessons update. I've taught them 4 chords, am, em, g, d.and A bluesy song, a random chord combination. 035, can't get no satisfaction, happy birthday, breaking the law intro. He knows seven nation army.
He asked for a full song. I had no response. Help please.

 

[Alicia Willis]

Zombie by The Cranberries is an easy song all the way though !

 

[Lindsey]

Zombie by The Cranberries is an easy song all the way though !

Thanks. I’ll look at it

 

[Lindsey]

@Chris Johnston

Easy riffs are essential as for many, playing Chords won't be manageable with their first sitting and can put people off if they're not ready to try them.

Update: they learned 5 chords and powerchords in 2/3 days I think I already taught some the first day. A few easy riffs, one line songs, and 3 songs the third time. That was their 4th day of playing.

I may be a bit jealous of them

I took all the advice but found a few easier songs to teach them. I didn't show them the spider exercise, instead I gave them a one line song that could be used as an exercise and warmup. Told them to play that on all strings as a warm up too.

 

[Chris Johnston]

@Chris Johnston

Update: they learned 5 chords and powerchords in 2/3 days I think I already taught some the first day. A few easy riffs, one line songs, and 3 songs the third time. That was their 4th day of playing.

I may be a bit jealous of them

I took all the advice but found a few easier songs to teach them. I didn't show them the spider exercise, instead I gave them a one line song that could be used as an exercise and warmup. Told them to play that on all strings as a warm up too.

Amazing job! That sounds like they're going to pick the instrument up really well It's great that they got a good variety of chords/songs aswell

 

[William B.]

The C chord is important I'm not sure why
Keyboards start on C, not sure how it's relevant but yeah
a formula is C-E-G?
i don't have my glasses on and i'm stepping out