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!
The First Six Guitar Lessons
If you vist the pages below you will be able to download FREE PDF Lesson Plans for each of the lessons
Guitar Lesson 1
Guitar Lesson 2
Guitar Lesson 3
Guitar Lesson 4
Guitar Lesson 5
Lesson six is a really important one!
Guitar Lesson 6
Guitar Lesson 6 is not so much a lesson as the jumping off point for a student to make the move from being an absolute beginner who has been working towards forming and strumming simple chord shapes to someone who has a plan that will help turn them into a well rounded and competent musician
This simple system can be enough to set you up for a lifetime of teaching beginner and intermediate level guitar players
Resources made with the younger guitar player in mind
If you are particularly interested in teaching younger guitar players you should check out our...
Free Kid's Guitar Lesson Plans'
Or just go to our pages that deal with a series of first children's guitar lessons....
Kids Guitar Lesson 1
Kids Guitar Lesson 2
Kids Guitar Lesson 3
Kids Guitar Lesson 4
Kids Guitar Lesson 5
The earliest stages of guitar playing for both children and older learners is taken up with becoming able to move smoothly between eight basic chords
What happens after a student (of whatever age) can change smoothly between the 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
Teaching More advanced Guitar Players
Before we look in detail at a series of lessons designed with a beginner in mind you may like to look at some of the resources in the download that will help you when teaching more advanced guitar players or check out some materials designed to assist a teacher who wishes to look at teaching the basics of Jazz Guitar
The download also features a whole load of materials that are invaluable to guitar teachers who set out to teach music theory on guitar
Download absolutely everything you see and hear on this website for only $25.00
$25.00
To help you to get started and to see the quality of our tried and tested materials you may like to ........
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
Get a free backing track and chord charts
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
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!
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 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
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
A series of beginners guitar lessons.......
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
Six Steps to Teaching a First Guitar Lesson
1: Help your student to form the chords of G and Em
Give them a copy of the handout (shown in the graphic above) and explain that the numbers inside the black circles refer to the fingers of the fretting hand
Encourage them to learn the shapes individually and then help your student to move between the shapes strumming each chord once
2: Have your student change between the shapes in their own time
A first step is to learn the chord shapes but really the objective of the lesson is to move between them in time to music when they can move between the chords try counting your pupil in "1-2-3-4" (asking them to strum once on where "5" would be)
3: Move between chords in time to music with simple strumming patterns
Play the G to Em backing track and encourage your learner to strum each chord once as it changes You may find it useful to count them "1-2-3-4" into each change again
Hear a short section of the backing track
It should be pointed out that this backing track is deliberately "sparse" featuring just drums and bass to allow the teacher and the student to develop a clear idea of when the chord changes happen
Follow this link to hear more of the thirty five guitar teaching backing tracks that come with the download
4: Introduce more complex strumming patterns
You could take a look at thie video which covers suggested strumming patterns in detail but if you dont want to do that then the important thing to remember is that strumming patterns at this stage should be kept towards the beginning of the period after the chord changes leaving plenty of time for the (at this stage still slow) fingers to form the next chord
The video will start from "Guitar Lesson 1"
5: Recap lesson and issue a practice plan
The download contains a blank document that you can fill in and hand out at the end of each lesson that lets your student know what they should practice before the next session with you the download also contains colourful (or color in) versions of the practice plan if you are setting out to teach children to play the guitar
Guitar Teaching Practice Plans
The Practice Plan features spaces for activities relating to three areas "Theory", "Technique" and "Repertoire" which can be regarded as being the "Three Pillars Of guitar Teaching Wisdom"
6: Email mp3 backing track for home practice before next session!
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 for $25.00 each (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 resources 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
Teaching guitar is not complicated unless you are doing it wrong!
I feel we know each other well enough now for me to point out that the first four lesson plans featured here are just the same lesson plan with different chords, handouts and backing tracks
More than that, the thirty five backing tracks in the download and the lessons associated with them work in exactly the same way All that happens after Guitar Lesson 6 is that you introduce new techniques such as the ability to form and play power chords and bar chords and get your student used to moving between them in time to music
Introduce Guitar Music Theory as appropriate and use the blank guitar necks and chord charts to introduce your students to existing songs that they know and (hopefully) love and you've hit the jackpot with "mission accomplished"
They got better and you got paid!
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
Five Steps to Teaching an effective Second Guitar Lesson
1: Recap the first lesson and address any problems arising from it
Revisiting the previous lesson is very important and is often missed by inexperienced (or just plain bad) guitar teachers
Your student will have (hopefully) been working on the material presented during the first lesson (moving in time to a backing track between the chords of G and Em) and while it is tempting to wish to move on to the "next thing" you should spend time assessing and aknowledging their progress to this point
2: Introduce the D and C chord shapes
Give a copy of the D to C chord chart to your student and ask them to study and form the chords in their own time first strumming each chord once and then responding to a "one-two-three-four" count
3: Have your student(s) play along to the backing track
As with the first lesson have them to sound each chord with a single strum before moving on to more complicated and involved strumming patterns as directed by you
D to C Backing Track
3: Use all four chords in a single progression
A backing track that uses all four chords in a single very common progression (think "Stand By Me" "Every breath You take" "Crocodile Rock" "Blue Moon" "Hungry Heart" "Simply The Best" "Teenager in love" and frankly thousands of others which use the same basic sequence of chords)
When they are capable of moving in time to the backing track (and not before!) you may choose to mention and demonstrate a version or section of a couple of the above songs to let your student know that they are getting towards the stage where they are capable of playing "real music" rather than just strumming along to a guitar teacher's fairly random and generic sounding backing tracks
G Em C and D Backing Track
Here's a short video I put on youtube that looks at the G- Em C and D chord progression and suggested strumming patterns that could feature in this lesson
The video will start from "lesson no 2"
4: Fill in and give out a Practice Plan
The example practice plan below gives a student a clear guide as to what they should be practicing before the next session and also informs them of how the chords that they are learning to move between now will allow them to play literally thousands of existing songs in the very near future
5: Email the backing tracks to your student and tell them what happens next
What happens next is lesson three where a new chord(A) is combined with one that they already know and 'Rock' music is introduced
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
1: Recap the material covered during lesson 2 (moving between the G Em C and D chord shapes) and address any issues arising
A recap of what your student has been working on between sessions is very important not least because it shows them (and you) what they can do as the result of the practice that they have been engaged in before being confronted with something that they can't yet do (play the a chord)
2: Learn to form and strum (once) the chord of A
The chord of A presents no real problems with regard to stretching the (fretting hand) fingers Having said that your student may well have to spend a little time getting used to the idea of squeezing their fingers together to play three strings next to one another behind a single fret
3: Change between the chords of A and G (a shape that they already know) in time to music strumming each chord once as it changes
The backing track (which has a "hot" vocal intro and outro to up the energy levels and to let you and your learners know when the track is about to start and end) 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 guitar 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
4: Use more complicated strumming patterns
The important thing to remember about strumming patterns for beginner guitar players is to make sure that they happen during the first bar or so of each chord leaving lots of time for your student to change before the next chord
This means that the backing track does most of the "heavy lifting" while your student gets to play correctly and (importantly) in time to music from the very earliest stages of learning to play guitar
Take a look at the video below for more on strumming patterns
5: Make sure your student knows what to practice before the next lesson
As well as playing along to the new (A to G) backing track encourage your student to keep working with all four of the backing tracks and chord charts used to this point
We should not take our eyes off what this series of lessons is really about which is to get a novice to be able to move between the eight best beginners guitar chords in time to music
6: Give your student a practice plan and email the backing track to them for home study
Email the backing track to your student and let them know that in the next session they will work on the final three chords that a beginner on the guitar should learn
A Video "Walk Through" Of The Lesson
Here's a short video I have up there on youtube that looks at this lesson and suggested strumming patterns in greater detail.....
The video will start from "lesson no 3"
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 to get a real feel for how this stuff fits together in practice
The video will start from "lesson no 4"
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
1: Recap the material covered during lesson 3 (moving between the A and G chord shapes) and address any issues arising
It is always a good idea to start a lesson by covering material from the previous session It gives your student a chance to show you what they can do, reassures them that you have a plan It lets them know that you are not just throwing random chords or activities at them (they can get that themselves by simply trawling the internet)
2: Give out the chord chart and have your student learn to form and strum (once) the chords of Am, Dm and E
Unlike the previous session where a single new chord shape (A) was introduced this lesson requires a student to form three new chords and naturally the new shapes will take a little time to master
From a technical point of view they are probably all easier to form than the A chord (where your student had to press down three strings behind a single fret) and that is why we are able to combine them into a single lesson
3: Use all three new chords in a single progression
As before start work with the backing track by asking your student to play the correct chord once at the beginning of each bar and once they are comfortable doing this you can introduce your student to more complicated strumming patterns (for example "sausage-egg-and-chips" if this confuses you then all will be explained in the video)
It is important to note that even though the strumming paterns are faster and more involved they should still take place just after the chord changes which leaves plenty of time for changing shape and being ready for the next chord
Am Dm and E Backing Track
Hear a short snippet of the backing track used as part of this lesson
4: Complete and hand your student a practice plan letting them know what to work on before the next lesson and inform them of what they can expect from that session
The next session is one where progress to this point can be evaluated and a plan can be developed for the next stage of learning
Above you can see an example of the type of practice plan that you could use for this lesson
Make Your Own Teaching Resopurces
It should be noted that following on from the next lesson the "Repertoire" section of your practice plan is likely to contain materrial relating to "real" songs that you can provide by using the resources in the download that will allow you to customise your own guitar teaching resources
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
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
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
Download absolutely everything you see and hear on this website for only $25.00
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
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