How to teach guitar

This website has everything that you need to start or improve a guitar teaching business in a simple download

Thousands of guitar teachers all over the world use this material (450 PDF handouts and 35 backing tracks) as the basis of their professional activities

Although designed and developed with professionals in mind the material is also of great help to those who wish to have a proven and structured plan to follow when teaching their children (or grand children!) to play guitar


How To Teach Guitar

In order to teach guitar effectively all you need to do is........

Step 1: Teach the first eight chords that all beginners need to know

Step 2: Make chord changes happen more quickly and smoothly

Step 3: Help students strum in time to music

Step 4: Increase the complexity of strumming patterns

Step 5: Review progress and plan for future improvement

Teaching someone to play guitar from a standing start really is as simple as that!


Below you can see a simple but very effective and long established sheme of work that is used to get students off to a flying start on the guitar

guitar teachers scheme of work

The scheme of work is designed to be used alongside the six free guitar lesson plans that you can download by following the links below.....

How to teach guitar wth free lesson plans

Follow the link to see and hear the Backing Tracks and Student Handouts that you will need for a series of first lessons (with a free one with handouts to download now) or........

Stay on this page to download the...

First Six Guitar Lesson Plans Free

Six lesson plans that will take a beginner from the point where they have never picked up a guitar to a place where they can move comfortably (in time to music) between the eight chords that every beginner should learn first

If you look at the scheme of work above you will see that when they can move comfortably between the eight chords they are ready to work on songs that they know and love

How to teach a first guitar lesson

Guitar Lesson 1

Moving between the first two chords (G and Em) in time to music

This is a very effective first guitar lesson because it gets a student playing "properly" and in time to music from the very beginning

Download the free lesson plan


Hear the backing track

The graphic above shows the chord sheet designed to go with the backing track that you can hear a snippet of below

It should be pointed out that this backing track is deliberately "sparse" in that it features only a bass guitar and drums leaving the student to fill in everything else (the chords) and to allow a teacher to easily examine what is going on during the lesson

Hear a short section of the backing track


How to teach a first guitar lesson

Guitar Lesson 2

There are two backing tracks used during this lesson

The first introduces two new chords (C and D) and the second combines all of the chords encountered to this point (G Em C and D) into a single progression

Download the free lesson plan


Hear the backing tracks

The first extract introduces the two new chords and again features bass and drums but this time with the addition of a (simple) piano part

D to C Backing Track


A section of the backing track that uses all four chords learned to this point in a single progression Again only drums and bass are used to allow the teacher (and the student) to hear clearly what is going on

By the end of this second lesson your student will be half way to mastering the eight chords that any beginner needs to learn

G Em C and D Backing Track

How to teach a third guitar lesson

Guitar Lesson 3

This is normally a popular one!

This lesson features one chord that a beginner will have already covered up to this point (G) and a new shape (A)

Download the free lesson plan

The backing track (which has a vocal intro and outro to up the energy levels) is simply a bass player and a drummer cycling between two bars of each chord The classic "power trio" line up leaving the teacher and the student to concentrate on moving between the chords

All of the backing tracks can also be used with intermediate and more advanced students This one is great for using when learning to play bar chords or when working on solo lines using the Am Pentatonic scale etc

A to G Backing Track


A Video "Walk Through" Of The Lessons

Before we look at the fourth lesson I'd recommend that you look at the video below It will show you how to teach the lessons covered up to this stage (and the next lesson come to think of it) and is a great way to make sense of the material covered up to this point in the programme

"Bonus Material" on the video

It also contains some "bonus" material that tells you how to teach a foolproof method for writing Rock chord progressions that are guaranteed to work every time

How to teach a fourth guitar lesson

Guitar Lesson 4

Funky drums and bass with an atmospheric synth pad bubbling away in the background gives a satisfying way to have your students move between the final three beginner's chords (Am Dm and E) smoothly and in time to a band

Can I again urge you (if you have not done so already?) to look at the video above to get a real feel for how this stuff fits together in practice

The video has material relating to the best strumming patterns etc that makes much more sense there than If I wrote anything down about them

Download the free lesson plan

Am Dm and E Backing Track

Hear a short snippet of the backing track used as part of this lesson

How to teach guitar lessons

Guitar Lesson 5

Recap and planning session to secure the skills developed to this point

This lesson presents an ideal opportunity to assess progress so far and plan future sessions

Learning any musical intrument is by nature a slightly messy business and every student will learn at a different rate to any other and it cannot be stressed enough that this is how it has always been and how it should be

Our job as a guitar teacher is to make sure that a student is travelling in the right direction and not to "not sweat the small stuff" too much

If a student can move between the chords more or less in time to music at this stage then the object of the next stage is to present them with a bunch of backing tracks that will challenge them a little more either by the introduction of new chord shapes or more rapid chord changes

how to plan guitar lessons

Planning Guitar Lessons

It is a good idea to employ a general "rule of thumb" from this point that a guitar lesson will contain an element drawn from each of the following strands

Strand 1: Working With Backing Tracks

Now that a student can change basic chords it is time to develop that capability further and challenge them with more rapid chord changes with more advanced strumming patterns

The download contains 35 backing tracks and goes well beyond the novice stage with a whole range of genres (Funk, Rock and Blues etc) and they can almost all be used when working with intermediate and more advanced students who require help with more involved chordal or solo styles


Strand 2: Developing Repertoire

This is the perfect stage at which to introduce "real" songs to your learners

The work that they have done to this point means they are ready to play thousands of chord progressions that they recognise and can associate with music that they know and love The challenge to you as a teacher is to find out what your student likes to hear and wants to play

From there it is a case of presenting the material to them in an easily understood (and perhaps simplified if required) way

The chords that they have learned to move between to this point are particularly suited to playing common chord progressions in the key of G and guitar teachers often move songs from more difficult keys (where bar chords or more difficult shapes would be required) into the key of G to present them to their students

The download has a whole load of blank neck, chord and tab sheets designed to allow you the flexibility to easily create your own guitar teaching resources

You can see them in action by following the link below....


Strand 3: Technique and Music Theory

What is normally required for a student at this stage of development to progress effectively is to work on the mastery of more useful techniques such as the ability to play bar chords and solo lines or passages along with the first steps towards understanding useful music theory

when learners are capable of moving between the chords in time then it is the ideal time to introduce songs (or fragments of songs such as chorus/hook etc) that they are already familiar with and like or even better love

If students try to learn songs that they know before they have the facility to change smoothly between chords it is likely to discourage them because they will hear themselves "going wrong" in comparison to the version of the song that they carry around inside their own head

Another real advantage of using the backing tracks (aside from the important one of encouraging them to play in time to a band from the very start) is that because the tracks are not trying to reproduce versions of songs that they already know they are less likely to dislike the results


How to teach guitar lessons

Guitar Lesson 6

Beginning work on Power Chords, Bar Chords and basic Music Theory


Download absolutely everything you see and hear on this website (thats over 450 PDFs and 35+ Backing Tracks) for only $25.00

Rather than divide the materials into a series of teaching packs and sell them separately (as I have been advised to do on numerous occasions by people who know much more about this online marketing malarkey than I do) I would much rather just bundle all of the guitar teaching aids together in a single download and have folks feel like they got a bargain rather than decide between options and run the risk of choosing the wrong one

$25.00

Alongside the resources aimed at beginners and children there is also a whole load of materials that can be used when teaching intermediate and more advanced guitar players

There are a whole load of resources designed for teaching music theory to guitar players and even stuff aimed at helping a teacher to understand how songwriting works on guitar

Add the material on teaching ukulele alongside the bass guitar teaching resources in addition to stuff geared towards teaching jazz guitar basics and you can see why I feel justified in claiming that the teachwombat download offers rediculously good value for money

Only the most advanced and versatile guitar teachers will use all of the materials but I think it is fair to claim that anyone who teaches guitar will find that the download makes their teaching better and the process easier

$25.00


free guitar lesson plans and teaching resources

To help you to get started and to see the quality of our tried and tested materials you may like to ........

Download Some Free Printable Handouts

Resources made with the younger guitar player in mind

 How To Teach kids and Children to Play the Guitar

If you are particularly interested in teaching younger guitar players you should check out our...

Free Kid's Guitar Lesson Plans'

What happens after a student can change smoothly between the eight beginners chords?

Regardless of the age of your students you can follow process outlined below that basically describes what the best guitar teachers have been doing for decades There is no need to "reinvent the wheel". Once a student can move whilst strumming in time between the eight basic chords (normally afterr a couple of months of lessons although everybody progresses at their own pace) then they are ready to expand their capabilities and work on other areas of guitar playing.This is how that process works.............

Five stage process for effective guitar teaching...

1: Help your guitar students to change between the eight best beginners chord shapes in time to music

2: Work on well chosen single note riffs and phrases

3: Bring in power chords and basic music theory

4: Introduce bar Chords and single note lines that use the pentatonic minor scale

5: Move onto more advanced chords and further develop knowledge of practical music theory

How to teach guitar wth backing tracks and chord sheets

Playing In Time To A Band

Help them to play "In Time" from the very start!

Developing the ability to play in time to music is the most important skill that a beginner guitar player can develop and the failure to play in time (rather than to learn to form and strum chords (which is actually the "easy part") is the reason why most people who try to learn to play guitar give up

To help make sure your students play in time we have 35 Guitar Teacher's Backing Tracks with Chord/Scale Charts and tuition materials to go with them that are used by thousands of guitar teachers all over the world

The materials are designed to make your guitar teaching more effective and less stressful

How to teach advanced guitar

Teaching Intermediate and Advanced Guitar

Many (most?) guitar teachers specialise in teaching beginner students or children to play the guitar but there are others who work with folks who have been playing guitar longer and who either want to, or who are already operating at a higher level

For teachers who work with intermediate and more Advanced Guitar Students we have materials that look at Teaching Guitar Music Theory as well as resources aimed at Teaching Jazz Guitar Basics

How to teach music theory to guitar players

Teaching How Music Works At The Right Stage

Music theory has to be introduced to students at the right time. Too soon and it can confuse and hinder progress. Too late and they can be resistant to it because they are already competent technically and they may not like "starting from the beginning" again


Printable blank guitar neck diagrams

Printable blank guitar necks, chord and tab sheets that allow you to teach guitar the way that you want to

Make Your Own Professional Looking Resources

In addition there are a host of other resources such as Blank Guitar Neck, Tab and Chord Charts to allow you to produce your own resources

Follow the link below to find out more

How to write songs on a guitar

Develop Your Guitar Student's Creativity From The Start

You don't have to be a great guitar player (yet) to write a great song. The earlier our students get used to the idea that they can be creative almost from the very first stages of playing guitar then the more they are likely to enjoy the whole process. Before they are familiar with the detail of how music theory works they can still derive great benefit from realising that some combinations of chords tend to work better than others and that a whole load of the songs that they know and love have a lot of chord sequences in common

Its not just Teaching Guitar!


How to teach ukulele

Add another string to your teaching bow!

A lot of guitar teachers are branching out and becoming more versatile by teaching ukulele You could join them

The chord shapes (if not the names) should be pretty familiar to anyone who plays guitar and the material here is designed to work with ten of the backing tracks from the download


How to teach bass guitar


Download absolutely everything you see and hear on this website for only $25.00

But There is No Purchase Required! Get Loads Of FREE Resources

You dont need to buy anything though! There are loads of advice and Free Guitar Teaching Resources to download from these pages that will prove invaluable to anyone setting out to teach somebody to play the guitar

Get Free Guitar Teaching resources

You can pick up a whole load of our printed guitar teaching resources featuring chords, scales and music theory "explainers" if you follow the link below

How To Teach Guitar

Our downloadable materials contain everything you need to start or improve a guitar teaching business
All of the Guitar Teacher's Backing Tracks, chord sheets and guitar student handouts etc designed to allow you to start or improve a guitar teaching business today

($25.00 is probably less than you will be paid for a single lesson)


You will get over 450 PDFs covering Music theory for Guitar Teachers and Blank guitar neck and chord diagrams that will allow you to custom prepare your own handouts for favourite lessons

There are also 100 Giant Guitar Chord Grids to print and use to decorate your teaching studio wall
We also have a load of printable Bass Guitar Teaching Resources, a set of Jazz Guitar Teaching Resources,some songwriting tuition stuff and even some Ukulele Teaching Materials

As well as all of the fun stuff the download includes a bunch of documents designed to help with the "boring admin side of a guitar teaching business" (follow the links above to find out more)


How To Teach Guitar

Do you already know how to teach guitar or are you thinking about finding out if it's right for you'?

If you have a skill on the guitar combined with an ability to talk and communicate with people, without wanting to resort to "hype" the material that you can download today from this site could be all that you need to change the direction of your working life (or at least help you to make some extra money doing something you love).

Our resources are used by guitar teachers all over the world to make it much easier for them to make a living. Use the links below to look at our materials aimed at both beginner and more advanced students as well as some stuff on the often overlooked subject of helping students to come up with their own original songs

Teaching Guitar Lessons In The Right Order


The objective is to help your students to learn and be familiar with the best and most useful eight chord shapes that a beginner can learn
This site does not offer a "revolutionary original patent guitar teaching method" that I came up with that guarantees years of progress in a single session or any of that kind of nonsense The website is based around what the best guitar teachers on the planet have been quietly doing for decades

Follow the link below to go right to a page that gives you "step by step" instructions for a series of guitar lessons aimed at absolute beginners (the most common type of guitar student out there)



Backing Tracks for Intermediate/Advanced Students

We also have a whole range of guitar backing tracks that go beyond the basics to help you to teach more advanced learners that introduce more "involved" chords and help your students to explore a range of styles, grooves and genres

How To Teach Jazz Guitar

How to teach jazz guitar

A Great Option For Teachers Of More Advanced Students

The reality is that most guitar teachers don't have much call to teach jazz guitar as the vast majority of students either have limited interest in it or are not yet ready to study the form due to a lack of theoretical knowledge and technical capacity. Having said that its a great way of keeping more advanced students stimulated and also a very effective means by which we can stretch ourselves as educators.


Developments in technology have created a situation where a guitar teacher can really "travel light" and the phone has now become the nerve centre of many guitar teaching operations

How to teach guitar using a phone

Start a guitar teaching business from your Phone

We offer a "one stop shop" for guitar teachers that allows them to download our resources to, and teach guitar from a phone, tablet or PC. With the rapid advance of mobile phone technology it is now common for guitar teachers (with access the appropriate kit such as air printers/bluetooth technology/mp3 storage etc) to turn up for work armed with little more than a guitar and a phone



Back to teaching beginners........


You are strongly recommended to take a few minutes to watch video below. It outlines a structured and proven plan for effectively teaching guitar to an absolute beginner and serves to "put flesh onto the bones" of the written and graphic content of this website


To find out more about developing an effective guitar curriculum you could follow this link


Our $25.00 Download contains everything you need to start or improve a guitar teaching business
All of the Guitar Teacher's Backing Tracks, chord sheets and guitar student handouts etc designed to allow you to start or improve a guitar teaching business today

($25.00 is probably less than you will be paid for a single lesson)