teaching guitar

LMO

LMO

Fractal Fanatic
My wife and I are both musicians, so it's not surprising that my oldest son rejected music as an adolescent. He's 26 now and out of the blue asked if I would teach him some guitar. Money is an issue or I would pass him along to a good teacher, but for now I need to get him started. I've already taught him some basic technique and introduced some easy chords and scales. Does anyone have suggestions on what teaching materials might be useful? I'd like to keep his interest up until he can afford to pay for lessons.
 
Try doug seven hot licks series , he does a lot of free teaching vid's and dvd courses , mainly
for nashville style but hey this boy is GOOOOOD' and will give lots of invaluable tips.
 
Thank you for that link to justinguitar.com. I just learned that my bending technique is completely wrong as I was bending using my fingers instead of my wrist. I do a lot of bending and I'm in tune and such, but I always had a problem with the strings I'm bending into being fretted. Grabbed my guitar and did a little analysis and it's because if you bend from your fingers, your fingertips roll a little allowing the strings to slip under to the fret. Over the years I've developed other bad habits to combat this, like muting the strings with my picking hand. I'm going to need to sit down and work on that...
 
Sidivan said:
Thank you for that link to justinguitar.com. I just learned that my bending technique is completely wrong as I was bending using my fingers instead of my wrist.
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I do not believe that finger bending is 'wrong' (let alone completely wrong) just because a website says so.
 
steadystate said:
Sidivan said:
Thank you for that link to justinguitar.com. I just learned that my bending technique is completely wrong as I was bending using my fingers instead of my wrist.
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I do not believe that finger bending is 'wrong' (let alone completely wrong) just because a website says so.
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I will say this: I picked up my guitar and tried it and it solves the issue I had of occasionally fretting extra strings. So, for me, my previous technique was wrong. But yes, I agree that there's usually no universal "right" or "Wrong" when it comes to instruments. You have to pick the technique that fits your style.

That being said, there are some things that really are right or wrong. Like fretting single notes in the middle of the frets using the flat part of your finger instead of your tips. That's flat out the wrong approach. Will it work for basic stuff? Sure. Will it be a roadblock in the future? Yes.
 
Thanks for the responses! The justinguitar site looks good, and I haven't had a chance to check the doug seven hot lick series yet.
 
steadystate said:
Sidivan said:
Thank you for that link to justinguitar.com. I just learned that my bending technique is completely wrong as I was bending using my fingers instead of my wrist.
Click to expand...
I do not believe that finger bending is 'wrong' (let alone completely wrong) just because a website says so.
Click to expand...
Imagine if the web was around in the 60's, maybe Jimi would have played a left-handed guitar :) .
+1 to Justin
If you learn by reading instruction books, I recommend the Fretboard Logic series, there is one book that includes the first two of the series. The DVD is OK, not exceptional. He explains the fretboard and the CAGED system in an easily-understood way.
http://www.billedwards.com/
 
Another vote for the Fretboard Logic books. I've looked through them, I learned what's in them elsewhere through tons of books, but they are a good starting point.

The best Chord book out there is Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene. It doesn't use any open strings so that you can uniformly re-use the chords on any fret, which is a big plus in my opinion.

I would recommend that you start him on electric guitar and make sure it has low action. And use light guage strings (9's) if he likes lead guitar at all. If I had started on an acoustic, I think I would have quit soon after. Acoustics are very discouraging with how thick the strings are (painful) and how high the action is. Classical acoustics are an exception to this though.
 
jerotas said:
I would recommend that you start him on electric guitar and make sure it has low action. And use light guage strings (9's) if he likes lead guitar at all. If I had started on an acoustic, I think I would have quit soon after. Acoustics are very discouraging with how thick the strings are (painful) and how high the action is. Classical acoustics are an exception to this though.
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He's stuck with my D28 at the moment. Did you just give me a rationale for buying a new guitar? :cool: Now tell me why it has to be a Suhr...
 
LMO said:
jerotas said:
I would recommend that you start him on electric guitar and make sure it has low action. And use light guage strings (9's) if he likes lead guitar at all. If I had started on an acoustic, I think I would have quit soon after. Acoustics are very discouraging with how thick the strings are (painful) and how high the action is. Classical acoustics are an exception to this though.
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He's stuck with my D28 at the moment. Did you just give me a rationale for buying a new guitar? :cool: Now tell me why it has to be a Suhr...
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Well sure a Suhr would be great...but make sure he's worthy first haha. A first guitar should not be terrible, but not godly either. Mine was worse than I was have liked, but I didn't know better at the time.
What's a D28, pictures?
 
Okay, going to suggest an alternate track.

Check out YouTube for basic chordal videos and how they work together (I, IV, V, etc). Then I would have him find songs he likes that are relatively simple. Have him learn those, and practice that way for a few months.

Here's my reasoning:

-If he's *sort* of interested now, that may not continue. He's more likely to stick with it if he's playing something he likes.
-Technique is fine, but I think being comfortable with the guitar, and just playing is a good start.
-Buying lots of DVD's and/or investing in a teacher is all fine and good, but I get the feeling he's doesn't have an eye on being a professional, so no need to go big until he's had a year or 2 underneath his belt.

IMO.

Ron
 
mark_melling said:
This guy is by far the best teacher i have ever come across. He works on the basis if you can afford it contribute if you can't the lessons are free. He has had over 70 million youtube hits..steve vai, brian may have endorsed his website.
He's a completely top top bloke, down to earth and a great teacher and person.

http://www.justinguitar.com/


http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-B ... Course.php
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+100 on this one, I could not believe that somebody would put so much effort in a website to provide everything for free. And he is incredible at explaining the stuff. Helps me a lot to develop a teaching style.
 
LMO said:
jerotas said:
He's stuck with my D28 at the moment.
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i believe you're referring to a Martin D28 acoustic. that's probably the first time I've ever heard of anyone being "stuck" with a D28 :)

+1 for the idea of incorporating some songs he likes into his learning program. scales and diatonic triads on their own are a bit lackluster when you're just getting started...
 
mhd1970 said:
LMO said:
jerotas said:
He's stuck with my D28 at the moment.
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i believe you're referring to a Martin D28 acoustic. that's probably the first time I've ever heard of anyone being "stuck" with a D28 :)

+1 for the idea of incorporating some songs he likes into his learning program. scales and diatonic triads on their own are a bit lackluster when you're just getting started...
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You know, I played a real nice Martin acoustic many years ago. I quite liked it (and I generally dislike acoustics), so that is probably an ok thing!

Agreed about putting some simple songs in the curriculum, that will help him notice the progress and like to make progress.
 
I talked to my son about possibly getting an electric for Xmas, and he said he's doing fine on the acoustic--no finger soreness. Nothing at all like my experience on the old Harmony archtop I learned on!

I agree with the comments on incorporating songs early; my problem here is that he won't specify a preference for a type of music. The next time we meet we're going to take a look at the justinguitar stuff.
 
LMO said:
I talked to my son about possibly getting an electric for Xmas, and he said he's doing fine on the acoustic--no finger soreness. Nothing at all like my experience on the old Harmony archtop I learned on!

I agree with the comments on incorporating songs early; my problem here is that he won't specify a preference for a type of music. The next time we meet we're going to take a look at the justinguitar stuff.
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For the Justin course I would recommend taking a look at buying the two dvd courses the beginner course then intermediate course..maybe a $120 for the two courses, he will have a couple of years worth of material to work through. Or if he's really broke the lessons are all free on the website..great community forum as well!
 
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