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Posted by: Jim S. May 9 2015, 03:52 PM

Hey guys I volunteered to play for around an hour at my sons preschool. Being between 3-5 years old I am unsure of what to play and I could use some suggestions. Since my strengths are NOT singing acoustic guitar I feel a little strange.

My thoughts are to bring my acoustic and electric and a looper. I have not picked songs yet but the idea is to interact with them and build songs from the ground up. Say "humpty dumpty," I could start playing a beat on the acoustic then add chords, then switch guitars and play the melody. Offer a prize to who ever guesses the song?

Since I will have an hour it would be nice to show how music can have different moods by playing chord progressions and melodies using a looper.

If you were in my position what do you think you would play?

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 10 2015, 08:26 PM

Hi Jim - I think that your idea with the looper sounds cool and original. I would go for children songs that everyone knows and which are interactive. Songs like London Bridge, If You're Happy and you know it, Wheels on the bus and similar songs like that. Maybe also look up which TV shows are popular with kids at that age and play some theme songs.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 10 2015, 09:12 PM

This can be a very cool experience. I would contact the teachers there and ask what are the songs that the students usually sing, and learn at school. Using the looper is a great idea since it will allow you to build a complete song from nothing and it will be very attractive for the kids, even more if they know the songs.

Another thing that can be very cool for kids would be to be able to play some riffs or main melodies from the songs that they usually listen and sing. The ones that have more inclination to music will see it as "magic". Or if you feel that most of them are too young to play a melody on guitar, maybe you could incentive them to add some percussive ideas while you are playing their favorite songs. Taking a small keyboard can also be a cool idea.

Posted by: Jim S. May 11 2015, 03:41 PM

Gab and Bogdan thanks for pushing me toward playing songs they know. I called the school today and they said that they would get a list together of songs they like. This seems like it should be a fun time. I hope that some of the kids take to it and possibly see a different side of music.

The funny thing is, as involved in music as I am, my son sees absolutely no interest in music. Everyone likes what they like I guess....

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 11 2015, 04:08 PM

Bingo! That list that they will provide will assure success.

Posted by: Darius Wave May 11 2015, 06:24 PM

I would bring only acoustic. You will not have enough hands to defend yourself from all those kids. There's a huge risk some gear issues might happen If so...you could at least finish a song on the natural guitar sound without a P.A

I would go for cartoons theme songs ))

Posted by: Jim S. May 12 2015, 07:32 PM

Darius I think you may be a good fortune teller and I will certainly (hopefully lol) get the songs down enough to just entertain these kids with an acoustic. But.... I have to try my ideas first. Last night I did a some practice and it worked pretty well.

Since it's not easy for me to sing and play naturally, I need to find a way to show them my approach. Figuring everything goes ok and no tech problems then this is my plan. Play a simple beat that fits the song on the acoustic and start the loop going. Ill lay down the chords and loop them too. Ill ask them if they know what song it is and if they do then we will all sing together. If not which they wont then Ill play the melody on my guitar. Then we will all sing together. After the singing I may take a small break and just play some comfy blues and lead in between the singing songs.

The director of the school told me that they will be video taping it too....

Posted by: Jim S. May 18 2015, 08:50 PM

Ok so the show went down and it was a great success! I did take everyone's advice here and the kids loved it. I feel good because this was my first time singing and playing and I got to use my looper and jam out. Some of the kids loved the improv stuff and asked for more. Other kids liked the sing song songs that they knew.

Darius was so right. I was determined to use a looper for some of the songs but that required an amp, looper, cables, feedback supressor for guitars port hole, ect... BUT i forged ahead. 25% of my "show" was going to require the looper. The day before the show my looper takes a big crap and left me stranded. I am so glad it didnt happen today. Luckily I did have something else but it was a huge pedalboard which was one more thing to bring.

The school director asked if Id play at graduation...... so needless to say it was a great Hour!

Posted by: Phil66 May 23 2015, 07:48 AM

Well done sir.

Posted by: Jim S. May 23 2015, 07:44 PM

Thanks Phil!

It was so cool seeing the kids get energized and singing.

Posted by: Phil66 May 23 2015, 07:50 PM

Yeah, I bet it was a real buzz

Posted by: Jim S. May 30 2015, 12:55 AM

Haha today was the final day, here's a clip from it. There were around 100 people there and it was really fun. Practicing these kids songs gave me some confidence in myself.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 30 2015, 01:53 AM

Hey man this was awesome! The kids are so cute singing along.
You did a great job playing, singing and animating them. Are you going to play more of this gigs in the future as well?
Looks like tons of fun and I think practicing guitar and playing music becomes so much worth it in moments like that.

Posted by: Jim S. May 31 2015, 10:54 PM

Yes Bogdan or Bmoney! I hope to do more of these type of shows and I think now that I'm singing and playing more frequently, the next show should be much cooler! If I can get my looper set right and my acoustic dialed in then I have more ideas to get the kids involved. I do agree that that was a very proud time!

Posted by: Slimfinger May 31 2015, 11:45 PM

Hi,

That seemed like a real good time. From what I could see you had the kids attention.

I thought for a minute one of the adults were going to start lighting candles , they seemed to enjoy it as much as the kids did.

Had to be a very enlightening experience for you .

I noticed from your previous post that you were not sure about the acoustic, did you play at all before joining the site ?

Im a new member and am exited about the community that is felt here ..great job !

Slimfinger

Posted by: Jim S. Jun 1 2015, 01:06 AM

Nice to meet you slim, thanks for listening and giving good feedback. Acoustic guitar has always been around but I never used it how it's meant to be played. I've always envied people that could sing and play. The chords and the voice is a magical thing if your doing it right. I never could or never really tried. It's easier for me to play electric however I always go back to it and try singing.

There is something you reminded me of that is a little hard to explain. When I'm practicing a lesson here or sing a cover, two things I notice. 1 is that the complication of playing something complicated seems to go away. What does that mean? Because the melody is already written an known to work it's easier to play even if it's very complex. It just seems to fit together and the two parts fit together.
The 2nd is daily practice gets these lessons down. Esp singing, I went on a few month bender practicing singing and afterwards I got involved with something else and nearly lost all that I had gained. I did get it back quicker but it was a wake up call.

I'll gladly pay for something like this. The support here is great and having something on your shoulder encouraging practice of something new keeps it fresh. I still would probably play near the same amount but since I've been here I've tightened up many areas of my playing and set me sailing toward goals.

A very very good way to excel here is singing or at least matching pitches. Many teaches have encouraged me to sing but I've been reluctant but now see the point.




Nice to meet you slim, thanks for listening and giving good feedback. Acoustic guitar has always been around but I never used it how it's meant to be played. I've always envied people that could sing and play. The chords and the voice is a magical thing if your doing it right. I never could or never really tried. It's easier for me to play electric however I always go back to it and try singing.

There is something you reminded me of that is a little hard to explain. When I'm practicing a lesson here or sing a cover, two things I notice. 1 is that the complication of playing something complicated seems to go away. What does that mean? Because the melody is already written an known to work it's easier to play even if it's very complex. It just seems to fit together and the two parts fit together.
The 2nd is daily practice gets these lessons down. Esp singing, I went on a few month bender practicing singing and afterwards I got involved with something else and nearly lost all that I had gained. I did get it back quicker but it was a wake up call.

I'll gladly pay for something like this. The support here is great and having something on your shoulder encouraging practice of something new keeps it fresh. I still would probably play near the same amount but since I've been here I've tightened up many areas of my playing and set me sailing toward goals.

A very very good way to excel here is singing or at least matching pitches. Many teaches have encouraged me to sing but I've been reluctant but now see the point.

Posted by: Darius Wave Jun 1 2015, 10:50 AM

Awesome performance Had to be real fun. You remind me a bit of my younger brother, who makes percussion workshops with kids