N
NRS
New member
Back up and.......
Give him something to feel immediately sucsessful at: While simple chords, scales and alternate picking are all pretty basic, by themselves they may not offer much of a sense of accomplishment to a struggling beginner who might be feeling overwhelmed or bored. I would suggest preparing a small "jam track" on a CD with a simple drum & bass line so he has something to take home and jam with in between lessons. Even if you initially give him only 3 notes of a scale to downstroke as a rhythem over the tracks, so long as his guitar is in tune and he's playing in the correct key and within his tempo range, he'll at least feel like he's making music and will be more compelled to put in the practice time that will allow his advancemant. This will also teach him to "feel" the music which is just as important as the physical hand mechanics of playing. Once he finds the grove, throw a quickie lead over him playing to the tracks during a lesson and watch him really light up. My point is, we all need a little instant satisfaction along the way and this is especially important to the beginner. He needs something to affirm to himself "I can do this". It might make both your roles easier.
Even for a more advanced player: I can recall my guitar leads improving exponetially after getting my first keyboard (Yamaha PSR 510) just a few years into playing. It helped me tremediously because the keyboard had user controlled backing loops of various musical styles that I could generate in any key. I could also turn off/on individual instuments within the loops. Any sour notes or timing mistakes in my playing immediately became noticable after that and were quickly overcome. Also, when your jamming over something repetitave like that its helps your improvisation skills a lot.
One more word of advice: Learn to recognize and resolve body tension in your student. Being tense with the anxiety of trying to make your hands do something that doesnt feel natural to begin with can be physichally constricting. A relaxed body and mind is more conducive to learning an instrument and feeling the natural flow of music.
Give him something to feel immediately sucsessful at: While simple chords, scales and alternate picking are all pretty basic, by themselves they may not offer much of a sense of accomplishment to a struggling beginner who might be feeling overwhelmed or bored. I would suggest preparing a small "jam track" on a CD with a simple drum & bass line so he has something to take home and jam with in between lessons. Even if you initially give him only 3 notes of a scale to downstroke as a rhythem over the tracks, so long as his guitar is in tune and he's playing in the correct key and within his tempo range, he'll at least feel like he's making music and will be more compelled to put in the practice time that will allow his advancemant. This will also teach him to "feel" the music which is just as important as the physical hand mechanics of playing. Once he finds the grove, throw a quickie lead over him playing to the tracks during a lesson and watch him really light up. My point is, we all need a little instant satisfaction along the way and this is especially important to the beginner. He needs something to affirm to himself "I can do this". It might make both your roles easier.
Even for a more advanced player: I can recall my guitar leads improving exponetially after getting my first keyboard (Yamaha PSR 510) just a few years into playing. It helped me tremediously because the keyboard had user controlled backing loops of various musical styles that I could generate in any key. I could also turn off/on individual instuments within the loops. Any sour notes or timing mistakes in my playing immediately became noticable after that and were quickly overcome. Also, when your jamming over something repetitave like that its helps your improvisation skills a lot.
One more word of advice: Learn to recognize and resolve body tension in your student. Being tense with the anxiety of trying to make your hands do something that doesnt feel natural to begin with can be physichally constricting. A relaxed body and mind is more conducive to learning an instrument and feeling the natural flow of music.
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