Desopolis Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 I just moved back to Texas and I've been staying with my folks for a few weeks and my little brother has obsessively been following me around whenever I play my guitar.. He dragged out a squire strat that I forgot my step-Dad bought YEARS ago and never touched. Since then hes been hounding me to teach him stuff. So I took the guitar completely apart and explained how everything worked, and why, and then quized him. We then went and picked up strings for both guitars and I taught him how to restring and tune the guitar. Then I taught him the first few bars of the star spangled banner, and how to read tab. 2 days later he has it memorized and can play it halfway decent. He still needs to learn pitch a bit but its freaking me out how fast he learns. Now I learned on my own using the internet and tab when I was 16, and frankly I did it the wrong way. I took lessons at 20 to help me get over the hump I was having and I will probably be taking them again to keep expanding. But for him I want him to start learning correctly, that way he never has to take that step backwards. Im thinking of starting him off with basic chords, E, A, C, D, G, Am, and a basic power chord. Then with a simple pentatonic scale and a exercise that I still use today. What else? Alternate picking? strum patterns? I know all of is going to take time and tons of practice, but Id kinda like to get a lesson plan down.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Get a book. I took lessons over 35 years ago and my teacher used this method, but any book will do. I'd basically just use it as a guide, and tailor the lessons to what's interesting to him. Teach him to read music too. It's in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JET240Z Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Im going through that blasted Mel Bay book with my guitar teacher It sucks but I can sight-read kinda...but painfully slow for a 10 year old. I say you teach the boy something to keep him interested and encourage him to get a teacher..... Smoke on the Water, Iron Man, Born to be Wild Something that will keep the drive to get better going. I think getting him used to common chords like G,D,A is great, as millions of songs use them. Definitely teach him the the Blues scale and/or pentatonic.... 5th fret A pentatonic is a great basic chops builder, running through it slow and then speeding up.... even throwing in alternate picking eventually My little brother is 6 and has a short attention span...i'll give him a year or two.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted January 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 ha! will do.. I want him to take lessons, Im a terrible teacher sometimes, but Im trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 ha! will do.. I want him to take lessons, Im a terrible teacher sometimes, but Im trying. If he's really into it, then yeah, he should take lessons. You can help him find a good teacher too-- since you know how to play, you'll know what questions to ask. My folks didn't know anything about music, so they set me up with this fat ol' chain-smoking jazz guy...he was a great guitarist, but a lousy teacher, and I hated to play jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 yeah..the worst thing you can do is try to force a playing style down his throat....proper technique...yeah...how to play jazz when what he wants is to rock?hell no... guitarists tend to learn what they love first...then they get lessons a little later and start learning obscure styles to broaden their horizons... but there is no use trying to broaden what doesn't exist yet...teach what he wants to play first...expand later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 I say you teach the boy something to keep him interested and encourage him to get a teacher..... Smoke on the Water, Iron Man, Born to be Wild Something that will keep the drive to get better going. +1 to that, the first few songs I learnt were Black Sabbath songs, Black Sabbath Iron Man then The Wizzard as I remember. Teach him something he wants to learn though, its the best way to keep him interested Once you've taught him some scales you might want to do some jam sessions with him (get him to play a simple rythm and solo over it to show him some new techniques then swap and get him to do some improvisation) my guitar teacher did that with me and it really does help you get the hang of the scales and techniques quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I say you teach the boy something to keep him interested and encourage him to get a teacher..... Smoke on the Water, Iron Man, Born to be Wild Something that will keep the drive to get better going. +1 to that, the first few songs I learnt were Black Sabbath songs, Black Sabbath Iron Man then The Wizzard as I remember. Teach him something he wants to learn though, its the best way to keep him interested Once you've taught him some scales you might want to do some jam sessions with him (get him to play a simple rythm and solo over it to show him some new techniques then swap and get him to do some improvisation) my guitar teacher did that with me and it really does help you get the hang of the scales and techniques quickly. yeah thats how I learned improvisation as well. I had him playing some chord changes to a basic harmony, something super simple, basic switching, and he kinda felt like is was a waste of time to keep repeating when he already learned it, So I picked up my guitar, told him to keep going, copied him and then did some lead stuff off of it.. was a good model to master the basics... still freaky to see kids absorb so much so fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 First and For MOST, Teach him how to properly tune the guitar, drill it into his head about the tuning process (tones and smie tones, cents, etc...) Then, start teachin him stuff like Iron Man, Smoke on the Water, you get the idea. I agree on getting him to play a simple rythm and you solo/improv over it, i used to do that when i jammed with my buddy, i would play a rythm, and he would solo over it, and just watchin him on how he played, and what he did and when he did it, really helped open my eyes how a "good" solo is composed over a rythm, Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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