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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ I'm Teaching A 10 Year Old Kid

Posted by: erik Feb 11 2008, 12:20 AM

Hey, I have started to teach a 10 year old kid to play guitar. He have only played for a couple of weeks, and I have had one lesson with him so far where I taught him some basic chords and stuff.

Now, I'm not quite sure what to teach him next. Can anybody give me some tips and pointers? =)
I know there was a topic about this a while back, but I couldn't find it..

Btw, he plays electrical guitar, not aucustic.

Posted by: Zephyr Feb 11 2008, 12:24 AM

Tell him about the instrument, first of all. Make sure he knows what the different parts of the guitar are, the string names, etc.

Posted by: Bogdan Feb 11 2008, 12:26 AM

Start with notes on fretboard , how are they distributed there (half steps etc)...Show him the chords, and maybe some basic scales..Also proper hand positioning techniques etc.. wink.gif

Posted by: Robwylde Feb 11 2008, 12:28 AM

If possible a simple three chord song to keep interest going. Also introduce them to GuitarMasterClass.net. That way they can see where they are going to on this guitar quest.

Posted by: Nighthawk Feb 11 2008, 12:36 AM

Teach him how to play some heavy sounding power chord progressions...

Posted by: erik Feb 11 2008, 12:42 AM

thanks for all the replies! this is good stuff


QUOTE (Robwylde @ Feb 11 2008, 12:28 AM) *
If possible a simple three chord song to keep interest going.


Can you recomend a spesific song?

Posted by: Bogdan Feb 11 2008, 12:55 AM

Knocking on a heavens door wink.gif hhehehe

Posted by: FretDancer69 Feb 11 2008, 12:59 AM

Some stuff to teach:



QUOTE (Robwylde @ Feb 10 2008, 05:28 PM) *
If possible a simple three chord song to keep interest going. Also introduce them to GuitarMasterClass.net. That way they can see where they are going to on this guitar quest.


agreed!!!

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 11 2008, 03:24 AM

Don't give him boring stuff right away, give him something interesting, like easy songs or something. When you see him asking questions about theory THEN explain some basic concepts, starting with pentatonics and Cmajor scale. This is the most common way for absolute beginners to get and hold their interest in guitar.

Posted by: Robin Feb 11 2008, 07:40 AM

The one and only Smoke on the water intro.

Posted by: Jorbazz Feb 11 2008, 02:13 PM

Ikke lær han for mye klassiske sanger wink.gif da kan det bli veldig kjedelig for han, da kan han miste interessen for å lære å spill gitar.
Da jeg va som ca 7 år så begynte jeg å gå på gitarkurs, da lære jeg å spille Pål Sine Høner osv. og siden broren min spilte masse rockelåter for meg når jeg kom på kurset blei jeg veldig lei av alt den skiten jeg lærte av gitarlæreren,
der etter mistet jeg lysten til å holde på med musikk, så ikke lær han kjedelige låter som Pål Sine Høner og Lisa Gikk Til Skolen x)
Du burde lære han litt akkorder og lære han litt om gitaren, deretter burde du lære han et par enkle rockelåter.


Hvis han liker rockelåter så har jeg et par sanger du kan lære han:
Erotomania - Dream Theater(intro, vers) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-MoL1ON2hM] | [http://ultimate-guitar.com/guitar/d/dream_theater/erotomania.gp4?t=248997]
Glass Prison - Dream Theater(gitar intro) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7o8mEbgBCc] | [http://ultimate-guitar.com/guitar/d/dream_theater/the_glass_prison.gp4?t=248998]
Sweet Child'o Mine - Guns N Roses [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI] | [http://ultimate-guitar.com/guitar/g/guns_n_roses/sweet_child_o_mine.gp4?t=220689]
Always On The Run - Lenny Kravitz(Det som Slash spiller wink.gif)

Posted by: DeepRoots Feb 11 2008, 02:16 PM

im 18 and im going to teach my 32 year old driving instructor next week tongue.gif

Should be fun- i've never taught before and he's new to guitar.

Thanks ill take some advice from here too wink.gif

Posted by: Jorbazz Feb 11 2008, 02:17 PM

QUOTE (Milenkovic Ivan @ Feb 11 2008, 03:24 AM) *
Don't give him boring stuff right away, give him something interesting, like easy songs or something. When you see him asking questions about theory THEN explain some basic concepts, starting with pentatonics and Cmajor scale. This is the most common way for absolute beginners to get and hold their interest in guitar.

I don't think he should learn scales right away, I think he should get into the guitar playing first of all.
he should learn scales whene he is really intrested in guitar and music.

Posted by: Henkka Feb 11 2008, 05:13 PM

QUOTE (Jorbazz @ Feb 11 2008, 03:17 PM) *
I don't think he should learn scales right away, I think he should get into the guitar playing first of all.
he should learn scales whene he is really intrested in guitar and music.


I second that.

Theory can be really boring and unintresting, and I think there needs to be a sort of a enthusiasm and motivation which drives you to learn about the technical stuff.

Though I'm sure that if you incorporate small theory bits inside the playing lessons, it will work out nicely.

Even a pentatonic scale can be overwhelming if you know nothing about music. smile.gif

Posted by: seagull Feb 11 2008, 05:26 PM

When I started, my sister taught me the basic chords. I took pictures of her fingerings and memorized the chords. Then when I had practiced the fingerings A LOT (to make actual sounds from them) I started playing my favorite songs. I found tabs that didn't fit with the original versions, but they were easier and kept my motivation high.
If he likes to sing, tell him to sing along with the songs he is playing, that way he will see results faster and become even more motivated. Thats what I did back then at least, and here I am, some 120 billion notes later and still loving it. smile.gif

Posted by: blindwillie Feb 11 2008, 05:46 PM

It has to be fun!
That's the most important thing.

Posted by: jammer91 Feb 11 2008, 05:56 PM

I think start off with tabs and chords. I hated learning chords, it made me put down the guitar for a long time. Teach him some easy popular songs. How about:
-Wake me up when September ends by green day
-The happy Birthday song

Thats all i can think of. He's ten so i guess he probably has small fingers so it may be hard for him. Who knows, he may be the next Hendrix or Slash since hed have so much time to practice.

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 11 2008, 08:43 PM

I agree with you guys. Learning should be fun. As I stated in caps, when he is ready then show him the pentatonic, but as you say slowly.

Posted by: erik Feb 11 2008, 10:40 PM

I had a lesson with him today..
We repeted the most important chords, and I taught him Knocking on Heavens Door. I also taught him:

- String names
- parts of the guitar
- basic powerchords (smoke on water)
- reading tabs
- the first pentatonic box

I also taught him the james bond theme (he wanted to learn it tongue.gif ) and the intro on highway to hell by ac/dc.
Since he is 10 he doesn't really listen to that much music.. He just listens to pop (I'm trying to get him into blues and rock smile.gif )


Any recomandations for further teaching?


btw thanks for all the replies!

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 11 2008, 10:44 PM

Give him some stevie ray vaughan and the doors man!! smile.gif

Posted by: Jerry Arcidiacono Feb 11 2008, 10:51 PM

QUOTE (Milenkovic Ivan @ Feb 11 2008, 10:44 PM) *
Give him some stevie ray vaughan and the doors man!! smile.gif


biggrin.gif

A simple melody that I teach to the children sometimes is "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.

Posted by: Wallimann Feb 11 2008, 10:53 PM

QUOTE (erik @ Feb 10 2008, 06:20 PM) *
Hey, I have started to teach a 10 year old kid to play guitar. He have only played for a couple of weeks, and I have had one lesson with him so far where I taught him some basic chords and stuff.

Now, I'm not quite sure what to teach him next. Can anybody give me some tips and pointers? =)
I know there was a topic about this a while back, but I couldn't find it..

Btw, he plays electrical guitar, not aucustic.



I'd start with basic pentatonic shapes...

Posted by: JCJXXL Feb 15 2008, 02:08 PM

Just a suggestion... don't get too anxious about teaching him new things every visit. I think you should keep things interesting but somewhat slow as many here have suggested.

Don't fall into the trap of overwhelming him by teaching him too many things at once. Sometimes it's best to review the previous lesson and maybe throw in one new thing that somehow ties into the review. And for some people it may be just working on one or two things at a time.

Not just in guitar, but in many things I see teachers who think because they have covered several topics that means they are teaching and the student is learning. That's not true. Teaching is only part of the equation. The student actually understanding is the other half. The number of topics covered does transfer over to an equal level of understanding for most people.

I hope that made sense. Just my thoughts.




Posted by: Trond Vold Feb 17 2008, 01:12 AM

I've taught my 14 year old newphew to play for some time now.
At first i tried to teach him basic chords and theory, but noticed quickly that the level of interest faded fast.

So i decided to drop that for the time being, and simply try to learn him a song or two that he loves. He's got a thing for Metallica, so then the intro to Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, One etc. came automatically to mind.

Once he nailed those, some interest suddenly came on how he could play the rest. Then explaining chords and such became much more interesting to him.

So i would say the trick is to find a song thats easy and cool for the student to play, preferably a song he/she really likes which will inspire to learn more, and as the above poster says; dont stress about finding new stuff each time.
Do some repetitions of the same song, and then slowly move on to cover the rest of the song.

You can learn alot of various and nessessary basics from just one good song.

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