Subject: Stupid Guitar Teacher Tricks
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, *** FIRST OFF, A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ***If you've been around for a while, you know I love the Coursera educational platform. For those of you not familiar with it, major universities from around the world offer classes from every topic imaginable, completely free of charge. Princeton, Stanford, John's Hopkins, Yale and many more (including international universities) offer courses for you to take online. My favorite is Berklee College of Music, who offer at least 5 online courses now. Stating next week, the newest course being offered is Developing Your Musicianship, taught by George W. Russell, Jr., a professor at Berklee. I'm excited for the class because he'll be teaching about harmony and ear training, which I feel every aspiring musician needs to spend time on developing. Even hobbyists can benefit from learning how to hear better - even if it's just to enjoy music more. This class has no requirements for any musical background, so it should be an excellent introduction to many of the basic skills of musicianship that we don't learn about in informal lessons. I've taken three of the Berklee / Coursera courses in the past and have found them to be excellent. My particular favorites have been Songwriting and Music Production, and I learned a lot from both. These aren't watered down courses you might expect from a free offering - you'll come away with a lot of useful information and inspiration. I encourage you to head over to the Developing Your Musicianship enrollment page and watch the intro video to see if it sounds like something you'd like to do. *** NOW, BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM... *** I'm a big dummy. This past week I asked for some feedback from one of my students in the beginner guitar class I teach locally (thanks, Nancy). Since I am most interested in getting people excited about learning how music works, I tend to get a little, shall we say... overzealous... about the technical workings - incorrectly believing that because I'm so excited about it, everyone should be. WRONG, Sir! Once I get started down a path talking about chord construction or sound frequencies, it's a short tumble down the rabbit hole before most people are staring at me like I'm a babbling idiot (probably a far too common occurrence). It's sort of like when Marty McFly kicks into channeling Eddie Van Halen at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance in Back To The Future. Those 50's kids didn't know what to make of the craziness they were witnessing. Of course, these days we're all familiar with the genius of Eddie Van Halen... The problem with the technical approach is, I'm not really giving my students what they need when I go off on tangents and load their mind-space up with stuff they aren't quite ready to put into use. There I go again playing fireman - turning the hose on full-blast, thinking they're going to soak up all this great knowledge stream I'm slinging their way. You see, everyone has a different level of tolerance for information overload. The wise teacher recognizes this and balances the hard stuff with some fun. I'm slow, but not completely stupid, so I do see where I can improve on some things (OK, OK, a whole lot of things). One of Nancy's suggestions made a lot of sense to me (well, there were many good suggestions). She said there needs to be some "basic training" in place before students can move on to playing songs by their favorite artists. Now prior to her mentioning this, I had been thinking along similar lines - that I need to do a better job at targeting specific needs for my students. Hmm, shared consciousness, perhaps? I prefer teaching group classes versus private lessons, so in order to help my students reach their goals, I probably need to create groups based on their existing skill level. So instead of my big group of students all getting the same curriculum, I need to do a better job of meeting each student where they are. This means more class options and perhaps smaller groups. Another suggestion Nancy made had to do with learning some simple songs - so there is a feeling of accomplishment. Truthfully, I lost track of that, and I'm glad she brought me around full circle to that realization. I'm seeing clearer now and I know what I need to do... This point was gently hammered home when another student shared a new songbook he picked up. Each song is limited to four chords, keeping it fairly simple to learn and play a bunch of songs quickly - just what the doctor ordered (thanks, Matt). I thought I was doing better this week in class. I decided we would focus on learning a song rather than talk about more chord theory. I tabbed out the music to follow along, thought about ways to make the chords easier to play, even considered a second set of tabs for the melody of the song. But there were enough chord forms to make the song challenging. Oops, I did it again! Probably too much, too soon. Ah well, you know what they say - the teacher learns more than the student, and the past couple of weeks have been some excellent training for me. I'll get it, as long as I keep plugging, right? Like Pete Townshend said, "Rock and roll will always, always, always overcome... eventually." All this to say, I appreciate and value your feedback - it means a lot to me that you've welcomed me into your musical life. I really aim to help you where you are, so please don't hesitate to send me an email whenever you have a question or comment. Thank you! Until next time... Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. 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