In a study conducted some years ago teenagers were asked before their exam what mark they expected to get to assess how accurately their belief matched their result. They found that boys tended to over estimate their results where as girls underestimated. As a result the boys were disappointed with their mark and the girls…
Tag: school
The value of music theory
I know when I was a teen learning guitar was simply about learning songs. I recall my motivation for lessons was just about finding someone who could workout some songs I really wanted to learn. I had little to zero interest in learning scales, reading or music theory. I found such topics laborious and even…
The secret to improvisation
I recently received a question via one of our teachers asking about improvisation. Here is my answer. … Improv is always a good question. I think the best quote I ever heard was from Miles Davis. “There are no wrong notes”. I usually tell students we improvise everyday. Whenever we have a conversation we don’t…
Reading Music for Guitarists
As guitarists we basically have two choices when it comes to reading music and both are important. Music Notation – As displayed is a system of reading music that dates back hundreds of years and once understood will allow you to sight read (read & play) much like reading a book out aloud. Music notation…
Teacher or no teacher – What’s the difference?
Many people who take up guitar try to teach themselves mostly to save a little money but there are of course other reasons like time and convenience factors. Self teaching is not impossible and there are definitely some examples of great guitar players who are completely self taught so I won’t try and convince you…
Group Guitar lessons v Private Guitar Lessons
Let me premise this blog by saying I believe both group and private lessons are important its just that group lessons tend to be viewed as less important and this is just not the case. I guess when the average person imagines a guitar lesson they think of a private scenario. We see ourselves sitting…
Guitar and child brain development
Playing guitar to your child can be both beneficial and soothing. The video is an example of my own daughter who could be relaxed simply by playing guitar. It seemed to work every time except if she was in pain or in need of something. We knew when the guitar playing didn’t work something was…
Improving your guitar skills. Start with what you are good at.
When I ask people the question ‘What are you good at?’ the answer is almost always related to a hobby (E.g. painting tennis, golf or writing poems or repairing cars etc.) Rarely do they mention the little things like cleaning their teeth, driving a car, getting dressed, taking a shower, speaking, writing or using a…
Music Theory Basics
Theory Basics Music is essentially a language. Understanding the language of music will help you to learn musical concepts and will also allow you to communicate with other musicians. The basics of music theory are not difficult and do not require a lot of time. As little as 20 minutes a week will give you…
Memorise the keys easily Part 1 – Sharp keys
As a teen I decided to devise an easy way to memorise the key signatures. It seemed to me that knowing every note in every key was going to be helpful because it was so central to music. When I began teaching I found the system I had devised worked quickly and easily for most…
“Am I too old to learn guitar?”
I recently received an inquiry from a guy in his 40’s asking if he was too old to learn guitar and if he was kidding himself. I am sure we all know the answer is you are never too old but I think it is a valid question. Ageing is a process we all go…
The future of teaching
The cry for abundant cheap energy has been the focus of most countries for over a hundred years but almost out of nowhere and without anyone really noticing information took its place. Our world has transformed. Information is now abundant and cheap and in many cases free to a large percentage of the world’s population. With…
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