What Makes a Great Guitar Teacher?

[Whipper]

I have noticed that there are a number of guitar teachers here, another reason I feel privileged to be here, and thought you might enjoy this article:

http://studentviolin.learnviolintabseas ... r-teacher/

I'm about to finally get my life back from my employer soon, and have been planning all winter on starting lessons with a teacher for the first time in my life once this happens. I've only ever used books and videos to learn with so far, which may be why I suck so bad... that, and having quit for 20 years! Don't get me wrong, I still think such materials are great. They're very economical, and you can learn at your own pace. But, I think progress would come much greater and faster by also having someone knowledgeable guiding me, and having them available to stop me if I'm doing something wrong that I'm not even aware of, and explaining how to overcome it.

There's a phenomenal local guitarist who recently finished studying music at college and won the regional guitar competition here, and is offering lessons. But like the article points out, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be really helpful to take lessons from. He an acoustic fingerstyle player, but I like the idea of learning from someone like that, rather than a rocker on electric like I primarily am. Besides, I've been very intrigued by that type of playing lately, and getting addicted to my acoustic. My wife even thinks it's more my instrument, which is her way of saying, "Good god, do you ever suck on electric!".

My primary objects are getting a firm grasp on theory, and I believe that I am "rhythmically challenged", and I'm hoping it is something that can be overcome. I believe that being with a teacher will boost progress just by the fact that I'll be obligated to meet weekly goals in time for the next lesson that I have to dish out 20 bucks for, no? It's easy to blow off such goals when you're just self-teaching yourself.

[RR-ElectricAngel]

Thanks for that article Whipper. I always wonder where I am at as far as teaching and it IS challenging to keep each student excited about playing when they hit those playing road blocks. I'm not sure if I'm great at it because whenever a lesson doesn't go well I feel terrible all day and pray to God they won't quit guitar because I didn't say or do the right thing at that moment.

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Hi Ric

thanks for that!
I think like many things, if you recognise a flaw in your playing, then that is a great step just by that alone in sorting it out! Denial is a huge thing to overcome and as a teacher myself you have to try and show people while being patient (as well as being not patronising) things that they haven't noticed yet.

It is certainly better for their development in my eyes that rather than just tell them, you actually try and show them why...

re good players not necessarily making good teachers...

there was a local teacher a few years back who has sadly passed on now who was even by his own admission not a great player - he was about grade 5 standard - but he was an excellent trouble shooter and loved guitar. Those two things are the most important things in my opinion too

Matt

[psylocke24]

Great article, thanks for sharing. I always wonder what it is like being a guitar teacher, I am starting to learn new techniques right now because I'd like to teach my nephews and nieces first. I want to share what I have learned especially to kids so that at young age they appreciate music and become one of their interest/hobby rather than any other things.

[rice_pudding]

I think the critical thing for a teacher is mixing enough theory and practice together while keeping it fun. And perhaps most crucially explaining the logic behind scales, melodies etc.

If you teach a student an awesome lick, you teach them a cool trick. If you teach them what scale/notes were used and explain why the lick sounds so good, you open up the possibility of the student inventing dozens of their own awesome licks.

Rob

[Paul Wolfe]

If you teach a student an awesome lick, you teach them a cool trick. If you teach them what scale/notes were used and explain why the lick sounds so good, you open up the possibility of the student inventing dozens of their own awesome licks.

I agree 100%!!

It is easy to find teachers who show you how to play songs, licks, etc... the teacher who explains the theory behind everything is a lot harder to find.

For example, I'd learned about the CAGED system and it kind of made sense, but when I happened across Desi Serna's CAGED DVD it all clicked because he showed examples of the CAGED chords as used in actual songs... he does the same thing with the pentatonic scales and they make more sense now.

[Whipper]

Thanks for the recommendation Paul, these lessons sound great and I'll definitely be placing an order with them!

I have the utmost respect for teachers ever since I was a teen and my buddy's girlfriend asked me to give some free lessons to her little brother. I couldn't believe how difficult it turned out to be, and I soon realize how much I suck at teaching! And no matter how good I were to ever get at guitar, I would still such just as badly at teaching.

I think there's a natural ability to being a good teacher. And like Electric Angel pointed out, I can just imagine the pressure of whether you're giving a student their money's worth when they're shelling out $20 for a half hour of your time!

[Paul Wolfe]

I have the utmost respect for teachers ever since I was a teen and my buddy's girlfriend asked me to give some free lessons to her little brother. I couldn't believe how difficult it turned out to be, and I soon realize how much I suck at teaching!

I've found that while teaching my son to play that things just occur to me that never did before.

He loves Breaking the Law By Judas Priest, and while teaching him the major scale I realized that the riff to that song is straight major scale (I'd been playing it since '81 without seeing the correlation and one day it just popped out)... so it made learning the scale "make sense" to him. He could see why it was important by seeing the application right away.

I remember reading a quote by Randy Rhoads that when he was teaching he'd figure out the solution to a problem he'd been working on by answering a question posed by a student. He said he learned a lot by teaching, and seemed amazed by that.

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

I have the utmost respect for teachers ever since I was a teen and my buddy's girlfriend asked me to give some free lessons to her little brother. I couldn't believe how difficult it turned out to be, and I soon realize how much I suck at teaching!

He loves Breaking the Law By Judas Priest, and while teaching him the major scale I realized that the riff to that song is straight major scale (I'd been playing it since '81 without seeing the correlation and one day it just popped out)...

Hi Paul

Not meaning to be an ass ; but the main riff in that song - I am assuming you mean the one tabbed below - is in a minor. The second phrase is over the power chord of F and is from the modal scale of lydian; or still even a minor, depending how you choose to look at it.

a minor F lydian (4th of c major which of course is A minor's relative
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------- --- --these last two notes, c and b ( 3rd and 2nd fret on the a string lead back into the home key a minor)
-0- 2- 3- 0- 2- 3 0- 2- 3-- ----0 -----0--3-2---------------
------------------------1 -3---1-3---3------

I hope this helps

Matt

[Paul Wolfe]

Matt, thanks for pointing that out, it brings up an interesting topic...

I started out teaching him the C major scale (as most teaching materials do with no sharps or flats, right?) and I showed him how that riff fits into the C major scale in the 8th position. I then showed him that everything on a guitar can be transposed anywhere on the fretboard into other keys. This sparked interest in the instrument and created a willingness to learn theory at the age of 10.

Absolutely no offense intended,Matt (you know more and can play better than I ever will so please bear with me), but I believe that guitar players have become obsessed with modes and saying things like "is from the modal scale of Lydian". There is no modal scale of Lydian. "Lydian" is the Major scale played beginning on the 4th note and ending on the the 11th (or the 4th note one octave higher) - or to phrase it more appropriately, using the 4th note of the scale as the note to resolve to. Modes, again in my opinion, confuse the hell out of so many guitar players because they are seen as separate scales when they are not separate scales at all. The Pentatonics, as I see them, are not separate scales either. The Major Pentatonic is the Major scale with the 4th and 7th degrees omitted and the Minor Pentatonic is the Major Scale with the 2nd and 6th omitted and the 3rd and 7th degrees flatted.

The way I want Jakob to learn about the modes is to visualize them the way he sees the remote control for our TV. The remote can be used to run the TV, the cable box, the DVD player and the media player. Depending what he wants to do, he has to use the remote differently. If he wants to watch a DVD he has to use the remote in DVD mode. To watch TV he has to switch to TV mode. Likewise with the Major scale, the sound he wants to get determines how to apply the Major scale. For Breaking the Law he'd apply the Major scale in Aeolian mode for the first phrase and in Lydian mode for the second phrase. Ultimately he's still using the same remote (scale), just changing the way he uses it to get the desired result.

Down the road I'll make sure my son knows the Minor "scale" pattern so that creating the Minor Pentatonic will be easier on the fly, but for now, knowing that everything comes from the Major scale is enough. At this point he wants to play guitar because it's cool and interesting. Maybe it'll be a passion at some point and he can delve into the advanced concepts.

On a side note, the term "legacy" is thrown around here as applied to Randy. One of the definitions of legacy is anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. In this sense, I believe that a part of Randy's legacy is the confusion over the modes. Prior to Randy, guitar players used modes but didn't talk about them in rock guitar circles (sure, someone will pull out a quote to prove me wrong). Randy made it cool to be a student of the guitar. He made it cool to take lessons - because he did and he was amazing. However, he was also technically advanced and it is the bad habit of many guitar players to jump into the deep end to try to emulate their heroes. We skip the basics to get to the point of playing the Crowley solo.

I know that this is a long and rambling post, but getting back to the topic, a great guitar teacher, to me, is one who can teach the basics in a way that keeps the student interested in playing his/her lessons and keeps them constantly wanting to learn more. This breeds a desire to practice because they can constantly see how the present lesson is leading towards their goals. Which is why I recommend the Desi Serna DVDs, because he can teach the basics while keeping the end goal in sight.

It's too bad Randy never taught a lesson on video tape... that'd be more valuable than any "pro shot" concert footage, to me anyway.

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

I know what you mean about the modal scales and guitarists almost over complicating thing with them - and the piece is in A minor, the relative key of c major, hence both not having sharps or flats, so it is not completely wrong to think it was in c major.

To be consistent though, if you want to think of major and minor in this piece of music and not use modes it is best to say the riff is completely in A minor as to put is simply when you hear it it doesn't sound happy (a major tonality) but instead serious and quite dark (minor).

I think it is good that guitarists (well rock guitarists that is) have become more educated over the years. Modal music is a part of our culture and some of the earliest music recorded is written modally and not in the traditional major and minor sense. It is the the later that is the 'new comer' if you like. Plus the modes may come from the major scale but they do not 'sound' anything like it. I wonder if some one from hundreds of years in a time machine would come and say "what are Matt and Paul on about with major and minor? they are Ionian and Aeolian!" LOL

Matt

[Paul Wolfe]

I agree Matt, the Major and Minor tonalities are definitely important to understand, as are the use of the modes. In this case I was teaching a child with no real musical experience so I felt it easiest to not complicate things by adding too many different ideas.

I never progressed to the level I wanted to because I became obsessed with knowing all the different scales and how to apply them rather than learning songs and seeing them actually applied in the music I was listening to. So I have taken the approach mentioned above with Jakob to try and avoid the rut I fell into.

Thanks for discussing the subject with me, I find your input very interesting.

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Paul you will love this. What you said is exactly what baldy... I mean Joe Satriani says! It is quite surprising coming from him too! He has a great attitude towards goals!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq3WqUXQ ... r_embedded

[Paul Wolfe]

Paul you will love this. What you said is exactly what baldy... I mean Joe Satriani says!

Maybe we think alike 'cause I'm bald, too?

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Paul you will love this. What you said is exactly what baldy... I mean Joe Satriani says!

Maybe we think alike 'cause I'm bald, too?

I sense a clip around the ear is coming for me!!!

Paul, did I ever tell you my wife having heard he loved Star Trek, gave him a doll of Jean Luc Picard, he was like "hmm thanks" LMAO!!!!