Teaching my son.....

[Motojunkie]

My 11 year old approached me tonight wanting me to teach him how to play guitar. Imagine my exitement!

I'm coming to you guys for advice on how to approach it. He says that he wants to learn rock. I want to make this fun for him so that he will stick with it. Where do I start, and what materials do you guys recommend....

Thanks!

[Old Tele man]

with each music theory or practice lesson, have HIM pick a song riff or chord change from a song and have it be "his" reward treat for working through the theory or practice part first...

[Telebluesfan]

The fastest way I was able to get both my kids started and playing to THEIR music - was to teach them four barre chord shapes and how to hear the root. I taught them the 'E' major shape, the A major shape, the E minor shape, and the A minor shape, and where the root was on the either the 6th or 5th string - thus anchoring the chord position. We sat down to listen to some of their CDs and we picked a couple of songs I could tell were on the easier side.

From there - I taught them how to 'hear' the root of the chord being played and then how to find it in the framework of the barre-shaped chord patterns - again keeping it simple on either the 6th or 5th string. From there, we listened to the differences between major and minor sounding chords.

Within a couple night's work and only four fingering formations, both kids were off and running! They could put any song on the CD player and after just a little effort, play along. If they got stuck - I'd help them out. But I'm telling you, they've developed to the point where each of them (but the younger 15 yr old especially) surprise me with how deep they can get into figuring out their favorite songs. And really - it involved little more than showing them 4 chord shapes and working with their ears a little bit.

They now have chord books and have gotten into open chords and the 15 yr old has recently shown a strong interest in lead playing - so we're starting to delve into scales a bit. But I think it's critical you show him HOW to figure out the songs he's listening to - not just simply throw a bunch of notes and/or chords at him. Especially early on.

[stevedenver]

i took an entirely different approach-for fear of pushing and nagging and being in his face too much (all faults i have- i am competitive and try to be exacting-i know it and didnt want to subject him to this),

i encouraged my son by getting him a first class guitar and amp and giving him outside lessons-weekly, and constantly telling him how proud i am of his progress and , when he sounds good, i tell him without a prompt....

while he started at eight and is now almost fourteen, he still plays and has developed his ear quite a bit (far more than i had at his age)

he knows I know guitar and love it (me my LPs and tele-he his strat and his explorer)

i encouraged him to sing a lot-told him that almost anything else can be done by a better session player, but the voice is unique-and by golly he is singing!

and he knows i support him, and we even occasionally work out a song, we set up guitars, ill show him a riff or two, and talk music and gear lots, but i try to let him find his own groove-i guess he has-he plays in the school r and b band and the jazz band-best part is he has fun

[EJG]

Get him started with lessons from a good teacher.

[1boogieman]

Just wondered if you were on the right track, lemme know.






*Post edited to remove spam from signature.

[Sven]

Good luck. I would have liked to teach my son, but he won't listen to anything I say....if I told him the sky is blue, he would argue. His loss.

[Motojunkie]

He's not quite as interested now as he was. There is a girl in his class that he was interested in that just got a guitar. I came to find out that he wanted to learn to impress her. I guess that's as good a reason as any, but he's moved on to a new "flavor of the week". They sure are learning young these days.

I still hold out hope that he'll pick it up. However, I'm not going to force him to do it.

Thanks for all of the great ideas, and input!

[BLUELOU]

AHH GUITAR IS A GREAT FUN INSTRUMENT
ASK HIM WHA HE LIKES MUSICALLY
IF YOU CAN HANDLE THE NEW SSTYLES OF MUSIC I DONT KNO WHA YOUR SON IS INTO BUT TRY TO TEAR INTO THEM SONGS THEY LISTEN TO THEN JUST TAKE TIME PATIENCE AND SHOW THEM THE RIFF OR SONG
LIKE THEM OL LED ZEPPLIN RIFFS JUST A IDEA
ITS LIKE JUST NEED A HOOK TO CATCH THEIR ATTENTION ITS FUN

I TEACH SOME KIDS HERE ITS A BLAST
I CALL IT THE LADDER THEORY
ITS LIKE OK FIRST I'LL SHOW THEM THE TTYPICAL PENTATONIC PATTERN LIKE SKYNERD ETC SHIT THEN LET THEM RUN THEIR FINGERS OFF AS I STRUM A SET OF CHORDS OUT
THEN AS THEY PROGRESS I SHOW THEM THE SWEET /SOUR NOTES IN BETWEEN THA MAKEV UP MAJOR /MINOR SCALES AND DIMINISHED RUNS
IT IS LIKE CLIMBIN A LADDER
THAS MY APPROACH
WELL IT IS SIMPLE IT WORKS FOR KIDS TO GET A GRIP ON FUN

THA OL SRV LMAO BLUES SCALE AS WE CALL IT
MAN I LIKE LETTIN THE KIDS USE IT IN DIFFERENT PLACES AS I STRUM CHORDS SHOWIN THEM THE ROOTS THE OTHER PLACES TO SOLO IN ETC THE POSSIBILITIES FOR BEGINNERS
I SHOW THEM IN THA PATTERN HOW A MINOR BECOMES A MAJOR PATTERN ETC AND HOW WHA NOTE TO USE TO START ON
THE LADDER THEORY

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER I TRY TO MAKE MUSIC LESSONS FUN I CALL IT KIS THEORY
KEEP IT SIMPLE TILL THEY GRASP IT
I PIK THEIR BRAINS TO SEE WHA THEY WANT TO LEARN ITS IMPORTANT TO KNO THEIR WANTS

I USE THE TERM LADDER BECAUSE THE WAY I SHOW YOUNGSTERS GUITAR OR BASS
I MAKE IT SIMPLE LIKE CLIMBIN A LADDER SEE ALL THE OPTIONS IN A PATTERN THE POSSIBILITIES IN 4 FRETS PER SAY ETC SIMPLE TILL AS COMPLICATED AS THEY CAN FEEL IT
IT TAKES TIME
BUT SIMPLICITY IS WORTH A KIDS SMILE

I TELL THE KID TO GIVE ME A TAPE OF THEIR FAV SONG AND BY

NEXT LESSON I'LL GRASP IT AND TEACH THEM THE POWER CHORDS OR PATTERN ETC WHA EVA IT IS FOR MOST PART

ALL I TRY TO DO IS MAKE A KID SMILE THEN I THINK ITS WORHWHILE IN MY EYES
KIDS ARE THE FUTURE

GODBLESS
SINCERELY
BLUELOU

MY REASON I CALL IT LADDER THEORY IS
YOU CANT CLIMB THE LADDER TILL YOU GRASP THA NEXT RUNG

[Folk_guy]

I didn't have the greatest Luck teaching my kids, it's easy for them to make excuses not to practice when it's only Dad giving them the lesson. There seems to be a lot more motivation for them if they have to prepare to play for someone they don't see every day. lessons times are taken more seriously when scheduled with an outsidr too. It is too convenient to just say well we'll do it later. I would go with an outside teacher if I had to do it again. But perhaps you can get them to be more serious about it and motivated than I was able to.