...they're written by guitar players. Well, I guess they are. I hate to say it because I am a guitar player, but guitar players are not great with method books. I learned to play out of one of these method books, and I've taught out of them for years but they're weak. Let me tell you why I've come to this conclusion.
1. They move too quickly.
2. They teach new notes in groups of three according to string tuning rather than adding one or two at a time.
3. They begin with modal music that sounds funny.
Most guitar method books begin by teaching E, F and G on the first string. Then, after you've played about a page you move on to B,C and D on the second string. Here, most books will stick with these six notes for a couple of pages. Then, when you're feeling like you can almost do this, they unleash the third string with G and A.
I learned to play the guitar great this way! I began with Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1. I really do have a special place in my heart for this book. I fell in love with this instrument playing through this book. The funny thing is, I didn't even know about chords when I started teaching myself.
I went on to study some classical in college while majoring in music. Years later, when I began to teach private lessons, I was surprised to find that most students didn't have the same experience with this method that I did. They had trouble keeping up and lost interest because they were required to learn so many notes just to play the first couple of pages.
The difference for me was that I was already a musician and highly motivated. I had played the saxophone for three years in band, could read music very well and was already a full-on, passionate music nerd!
Most people who came to me for guitar lessons wanted to learn to play guitar but didn't have the same ability or motivation. I really have always wanted to believe that anyone can learn to play. I set out to find a method that was geared more toward inexperienced musicians.
First, I tried Mel Bay's Mastering the Guitar book which mixes in chords and tab at the same time as the note reading. I figured this would help with the monotony of the note reading. But the note reading section still worked from a 3-notes-at-a-time approach and some students couldn't keep up.
Then, I found Everybody's Guitar Method which after teaching the three notes on the first string, uses an add-one-note-at-a-time process which I was pretty happy with. It definitely helped the pace but had one song per note added; still a little fast.
In a future post I'll explain why I think that a new method is needed for guitar instruction.
2 comments:
I stumbled on your post because I was looking for some reference to how quick one should be learning to play from a book.
I'm 44 and started to play last year from Everybody's Guitar Method. It was recommended to me by someone in a music store who told me that practice was key and that I would safe a lot of money teaching myself.
Due to family circumstances and a slight injury to my left arm I've had to take a long break from playing but I picked up where I left off again a few weeks ago and moving along okay now.
Your comments on the frustration in the beginning of the book at spot on, apart from the fact that the 'skill' is not really there yet in the beginning it's also hard to read music quickly enough to play along with the songs.
I'm happy to say that this has not discouraged me and that I'm making progress even if it is a bit slow.
Thanks for posting the article, it's nice to be able to find some point of reference to my own experiences.
As a classroom guitar teacher, I agree with most of your issues. It finally took a professional to show me that starting with notes on the second string will produce better technique overall. Unfortunately, good resources are limited. The Hands On Training (HOT) starts with the 6th string, which I also think is a neat approach. I'm personally a fan of (and use in my classes) the Jerry Snyder Guitar School series because it comes with plenty of supplements to help practice the new notes, rather than just the 2-3 pages in the book. It also teaches chords and notes simultaneously through the two sections of the book.
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