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This may sound obvious, but the first thing that has to happen
before learning can occur is CONTACT of some kind with the
subject. The more direct the contact the better.
We are focusing on the subject of learning to play the guitar
so the most obvious thing that the student needs to contact
is the instrument itself. For this reason, at the beginning
of the very first lesson my first instruction to the student
is usually:
"Pick up your guitar"
I observe how they do this and right away I discover a whole
lot of things about the student. Some will immediately pick
it up with confidence, hold it the right way up and may even
play a note or two on it. Others will pick it up very gingerly
- as if they're afraid to break it or as if it might bite
them! These students are going to need a much gentler introduction
to the instrument than the first kind because they are not
yet remotely in contact with the instrument.
Here are a set of instructions and questions I might give
to students right at the beginning of lesson 1 purely to get
them into contact with the instrument.
1. Pick up the guitar
2. Look at the strings how many are there?
3. Play the strings one at a time and listen to their sound
4. Which string is the highest sounding?
5. Which is the lowest sounding?
6. These are called frets
7. Stop a string at the first fret like this (show) and play
it
8. What has happened to the sound?
9. Stop it at this (higher) fret - what has happened to the
sound now?
For those students who really haven't contacted the instrument
before, this approach works wonders. It immediately builds
confidence and removes mystery - two things that you should
be concentrating on all the time you teach.
Notice how I immediately involve the student in this process
- it is they who have to make the contact! Its not
much use lecturing or explaining all this stuff - real learning
requires contact with the subject by the student!
What about the more conceptual part of the subject - how
do you get someone to contact the relationship between a chord
and a scale? I use three methods:
1. Piano Keyboard
2. Pen and Paper
3. Guitar Fretboard
Most musical concepts are easier understood on the piano
keyboard than they are on the fretboard. Getting your student
to write out a scale on paper ensures that they really have
developed a true understanding of what you teach and are not
just relying on mechanical memory. Finally, as it is the guitar
that you are teaching - being able to relate the theory to
the guitar fretboard is obviously vital.
So lets assume a student with no prior knowledge of music
needs to learn the notes of the chromatic scale. I get them
to sit at the keyboard and say:
"Look at the pattern of black and white notes and
describe it to me"
They might make any number of observations, but the one you
want them to make is that the black notes are grouped in twos
and threes. Once they have spotted this you get them to play
the note C and say:
"Notice where that note is in relation to the grouping
of black notes. Ok so that note is just to the left of the
group of TWO black notes. Now play all the other Cs on the
piano"
They usually get the idea pretty rapidly and, once again,
you are creating confidence and removing mystery.
You would go on to get them to realise that the pattern of
black notes provides a unique reference system to find each
of the white notes anywhere on the keyboard ie:
C is just to the left of
the group of TWO black notes
D is between the TWO black notes
E comes just after the group of TWO black notes
F comes just before the group of THREE black notes
G is between the first two of the group of THREE black notes
A is between the second two of the group of THREE black notes
B comes just after the group of THREE black notes
Now you get them to play the BLACK NOTE that is one step
higher than C:
"We call this note C sharp" And we write the '#'
symbol on a piece of paper "But it can also be called D flat"
And we write the 'b' symbol on a piece of paper "Play the
next black note up. We call that D# or Eb - get the idea?"
Finally we get them to play the chromatic scale in C using
sharp (#) names on the way up and flat (b) names on the way
down. Once they can do that with little or no hesitation,
then you have completed a very useful step in their music
theory education. And you have done it by getting the student
to contact the subject.
A minimum amount of explanation and a maximum amount of hands-on
contact for the student.
Next lesson you do a quick review of the keyboard exercise
above to check that it has taken a firm hold then get them
to write out the names of the notes of the chromatic scale
on paper:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C (ascending) and
C B Bb A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db C (descending).
This exercise promotes the knowledge gained from the keyboard
exercise into pure conceptual knowledge. If they can't do
this step they should be taken back over the keyboard exercise
a few times more.
Finally we get them to contact the guitar fretboard and play
a chromatic scale up the bottom string naming the notes (#s
on the way up, bs on the way down). At each stage it's the
student who is being brought into contact with the subject.
So cut the waffle, minimise the explanations and demonstrations
and GET THE STUDENT TO DO THE WORK!
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