I received this email from a parent regarding practice. “HI, My five year old began guitar (acoustic) lessons approx 4 months ago. She begged for months and was very excited when she got her guitar. She does well in her lesson and seems to enjoy her hour w her teacher. I cannot get her to…
Tag: music
Should you look at your fingers when playing guitar?
This answer is yes and no so let me explain. The goal is to be able to play guitar without looking at your hands. There are several reasons why you will want to learn to play guitar with out looking but lets begin with when to look. The time to look at your hands The…
Finding a great guitar teacher. 5 tips.
Finding a great guitar teacher is difficult for several reasons. Firstly they are very rare. Secondly great teachers rarely have vacancies. Lastly teaching guitar is an unregulated industry so anyone can teach guitar which means you need to go through a lot of teachers to find those few exceptional ones. The question is how do…
Guitar Student’s Quit for 2 Reasons – So they say
Whenever a guitar teacher says to me their student quit and gave a reason I say “Let me guess. They have no time or couldn’t afford the lessons.” There are only 2 real reasons most students give but these reasons are rarely true and here is why. Reason 1. No time. This is by far the…
The qualities of a successful guitarist
Statistically most people who buy a guitar only last a few months. I have been researching this problem for close to 30 years and what I have found was people who succeeded on guitar tended to share a few similar qualities. I realised that for my students to succeed they needed to adopt these qualities….
Will you succeed or fail at guitar?
New students will often wonder whether or not they have the so called musical bone in their bodies. Are some of us born more musical? After 30 years working with guitar students and much research I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter. It may or may not be the case but…
The power of musical memory
Musical memory is the ability to remember musical passages whether it be a melody, a chord progression, a rhythm pattern or a song arrangement. According to research our musical memory is encoded in a different part of our brain to language so needs to be developed. They also found that both sides (left and right…
How to teach your 3 year old to play guitar.
3 year old Mia’s guitar lesson The number question I receive from parents is usually one of starting age. Many parents assume that their child can’t start learning guitar until 6 or 7 years. The reality is children can start learning as soon as they are able to physically sit and hold a guitar. I…
The Shortcut to Learning Guitar
This is a short article about a very important topic for those who wish to learn guitar but can also be applied to really learning just about anything. I’m often asked the question “What does it take to learn guitar?” It is the burning question that anyone who sets out to learn guitar would give…
Finding the TIME to Practice Guitar
Finding the time to practice for most guitar students is their biggest challenge but this is especially true for the beginner. We know any new routine takes time to establish but we often overlook the fact power of habit. Think about the many things you now take for granted such as taking a shower, brushing…
A common misconception about child prodigies
When we see or hear of young children playing a musical instrument at a level far above those two or three times their age we image a dominating parent and a child begrudgingly going through the motions. While there are definitely cases of extreme parents most are a far cry from any form of child…
3 reasons people quit guitar
1. No time. Time is the one thing we all get equally yet some manage their 24 hours a day far better than others. When we claim we have no time we are usually lying to ourselves. What we actually have is a lack of organisation in our lives. The solution is to write down your…
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