How should I go about teaching my friend guitar?

Question

Hey, a friend of mine told me how much she always wanted to learn guitar, so I told her I could teach her. I taught myself a few years ago, and now I play electric and acoustic. I'd modestly say that I'm pretty good, but what exactly do you do first to teach someone?

I think I should have her memorize the string names first, then learn the sound and fingering of the basic chords (a b c d e f g am em), and then teach her a song that practices chord progression. Is that good or are there any major things I'm missing?

Answer 1

Hi - you sound exactly like me. I taught myself (many more years ago than you...) and now I teach Electric Guitar, but I started exactly like you, by having some friend asking me.

You are correct on your approach. Think of the guitar as if you were teaching some one to drive (here's the gas, here's the ignition, this is what turns the car, etc) so they know the instrument.

Go ahead and teach the basic chords, but remember music has to be fun, so I normally suggest my new students to give me the names for 5 or 6 songs they would like to learn, and I will pick one or two that I think would be easy to start, and this way when they practice they have at least something fun to do other than just chords.

If you need help getting free sheet music for your clases send me an e-mail and I will send you some links.

You will love teaching, is fun and eventually you can even make some extra money out of it... not bad with the gas prices we have today!!

Best of luck - B70

Answer 2

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Answer 3

This is coming out from somebody whose been playing guitars for over 5 years. I learnt it all by myself using the internet. You can check out http://www.iguitarworld.com/ for beginner lessons and hopefully it will help your friend get started  

Answer 4

Flexibility exercise for the fingers.

You'll notice that your fingers are more flexible than others that dont play the guitar.

If your fingers are not flexible enough it might be a bit harder for her to learn