by Glen McCarthy | Nov 10, 2014 | Classroom, Education, News, Principles, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
Source: Giphy It’s getting dark earlier, you’re tired, your throat is sore…well look on the bright side. What do you have to be thankful for? 1. You’re a guitar teacher. 2. You have admiring and adoring students. 3. There’s tons of great...
by Glen McCarthy | Nov 3, 2014 | Classroom, Education, News, Principles, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
By Bill Swick 1) Teamwork The profile of a typical guitar student is a person who does not spend a lot of time playing sports, does not participate in scouts, does not belong to a youth group at church, etc. The guitar ensemble may be the first time a guitar student...
by Glen McCarthy | Nov 3, 2014 | Classroom, Education, News, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
Power Chords are one of the greatest things about guitar. Just put your index finger on a bass note on the low E string then put your ring finger down on the A string two frets over (or use the A and D strings). Done! You can use power chords as a proxy for any major...
by Glen McCarthy | Oct 28, 2014 | Classroom, News, Principles, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
Nothing looks easier than strumming, but that’s because great players make it look easy. In reality it takes a some work to sound great when you strum a guitar. You have to have rhythm, a good sense for patterns, and good form. Reasons to learn strum patterns...
by Glen McCarthy | Oct 28, 2014 | Classroom, Education, News, Principles, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
Rob Pethel Warm Up Video In this video Rob Pethel demonstrates a warm up pattern for playing a major scale on a single string. Other benefits: • The scale pattern is the same on all six strings, so students will hear/play five major scales (and E major in twice)! •...
by Glen McCarthy | Oct 21, 2014 | Classroom, Education, News, Principles, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized
Being a classroom guitar teacher is a great! You get to play music, think music, and breathe music, but the day-to-day can be challenging. Fortunately, when you are trying to motivate and help a classroom full of kids become a classroom full of awesome guitarists, you...