by Glen McCarthy | May 27, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Stories, Tips + Tricks
Once a student discovers the “desire for mastery”, s/he is hooked. Students can discover the desire for mastery by attempting to play the simplest melodies. One of my most interesting observations came from teaching students who attend a behavior school. These...
by Glen McCarthy | May 20, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Gear, Stories, Tips + Tricks
The first string to wear out with classroom use is usually the D or 4th string, followed by the A or 5th string and E or 6th string. Changing the bass strings on your class guitars more often will brighten the sound in the room. Bulk single strings can be purchased...
by Glen McCarthy | May 20, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Stories, Tips + Tricks
Always place the capo a bit behind the fret and fasten it on the guitar tightly. Never slide the capo from fret to fret with out loosening it as this can scratch the guitar neck. Check your tuning after the capo is placed on the guitar neck. If a string should go...
by Glen McCarthy | May 20, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Stories, Tips + Tricks
Students are not ready to tune a guitar. Save valuable class time by insisting that students do not touch the tuning pegs and have consequences for the students who do. It is only necessary to tune the strings in which the students are playing. If working only on the...
by Glen McCarthy | May 20, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Stories, Tips + Tricks
Here we are at the end of another semester. Hard to believe! It’s always bittersweet. Nice to see the summer break, but also sad to say goodbye to my guitar kiddos. I feel like we pack so much information into a semester! I made the push this year, to try to get a...
by Glen McCarthy | May 1, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Stories, Tips + Tricks
Every year one of the challenges is motivating students after the concert is over. This year our concert was in mid-April, so that’s a long time before the end of school to convince students to keep practicing and learning new things. We are playing for the student...