How Often Should I Practice
How Often Should I Practice
One question I get all the time is “how often should I practice?” My recommendation is at least 20 minutes three times per week. For brand new students, sometimes it is better to stop earlier if your fingers get sore…especially for the younger kids.
The key is not to get overwhelmed by how much practice time you must put in. By shooting for 20 minutes, you are more likely to pull out your instrument. Just pulling out the guitar can be the beginning of an hour-long practice session without even realizing it. Getting the instrument into your hands can be so much fun that you may not want to stop.
Practice the Day of Lessons
One important recommendation is to practice after you get home from a guitar lesson. By doing this, everything will be fresh in your mind and you can then reinforce the skills or songs right away. In addition, if you do have a question, it is easier to text or call your teacher then so he can address it and either send additional information or help you through it.
Keep Your Instrument Visible
Kennedy at Practice
Another helpful hint is to keep your instrument in a stand. This way, your guitar will stare you down. Just having to open the case will sometimes stop a student from practicing.
Another idea is to put your instrument next to the couch. If you have an electric guitar, it is a lot of fun to noodle around while watching tv. It is amazing how fast you can become just by doing a few finger exercises or simple riffs while watching your favorite show.
Dedicate a Specific Time
Having a practice time helps tremendously as well. Making it a part of a routine is a great way to remember to pull out your instrument. Right after school can be a perfect time to schedule a practice session.
As a parent, it can be a bit more difficult to find the time and/or energy to practice. Having lessons on a regular basis can help with this. A parent can then get in some consistent practice time that works the best with their schedule. For those very busy parents, it may be a great idea to consider a full hour lesson each week. You can literally achieve your goal twice as fast and help make up for the lack of available practice time.
Final Motivator: Build Your Brain Cells While You Sleep
Some final thoughts…The interesting thing about practice is that your brain will processes the information from the previous day while you sleep. You will then be much better at that skill the next day. That is why we are sometimes able to play riffs and chords better the next day than while we were practicing.
Hope you found these suggestions helpful. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Sprucing Up a Lesson Studio
Sprucing up a Lesson Studio
Improvements to the Studio
If you ever take on the task of sprucing up a lesson studio, make sure to be patient. Studios tend to always be a work in progress. Teaching studios are incredibly fun to put together. But even when you think you have the perfect idea, trying it out can be a whole different thing. There are three simple steps that can help turn a plain room into an inspiring studio, and remember, Amazon can be your best friend!
Ambience
The first thing is to create ambience. One of the additions that was most commented on in my studio were the acoustic panels. The red and black square foot wall panels help to make the room feel much more inviting.
Depending where you are installing them, they could be difficult to put up. I quickly realized that the acoustic panels would not stick to cement using tape, so I bought a hot glue gun to put them onto black cardboard. Then Velcroed the cardboard to the cement. That did not last either, so had to hang the panels from the floor joists with thin black sewing thread. Finally, they stayed and look great! They will be much easier to install if you have a finished room.
One thing to consider is to purchase 2-inch thick acoustic panels. I currently have the 1-inch thick version which does help, but the thicker the panel the more dampening effect it will produce. There are also corner shaped acoustic panels that look really nice. Putting a few of those up will add to the professional look.
The Lesson Studio Floor
This may sound crazy, but black yoga mats work incredibly well, especially on cement floors. I bought the Innhom gym flooring mats off Amazon. I did not know how they would turn out, but they ended up being amazing for several reasons. First, they looked great and were very comfortable to stand on during the jam sessions. They also did wonders to hide all the guitar and speaker cables. Now I don’t have to worry about people tripping over cables. Plus, keeping the cables hidden makes the place look much cleaner. As an added bonus, they made the room look bigger.
Lighting
The Teaching Area
This is probably one of the most important additions. I purchased WIFI light bulbs that can be controlled by a cell phone in order to change colors and intensity. Those are incredible! The only downfall is that the studio only had 2 light fixtures. This made the room darker when they were changed to blue or red. A student commented that the studio seemed a little dark, so it was Amazon to the rescue.
I picked up some 40 watt Hekee colored LED lights which put out an equivalent to 400 watts of lighting from an incandescent light. Those were strategically placed around the studio to splash light up on the walls. Eventually, I ended up with 5 of those and added some PAR 56 LED lights. What a huge improvement. I think having the lighting dispersed all around the studio really gave the room a nice rock and roll feel.
Final Thought
Overall, those few additions turned an ugly cement room into an amazing teaching studio. Adding a snack table and small refrigerator made a huge difference as well, especially to the younger students. Sometimes students come straight from school and are hungry. Keeping chips and snacks around have really helped.
If you are interested in taking lessons, I would be happy to get you started on your musical journey!
Feeling Nervous About Lessons
Feeling Nervous About Starting Lessons
I always look forward to meeting new students, especially if they are feeling nervous about starting lessons. It is nice to see them relax after about 10 minutes-once they begin to realize how easy learning guitar is.
The guitar is simply and amazing instrument, and the speed in which we learn how to play it is completely up to the student. Private guitar lessons are so different from a college class. There is no fixed time line and a very flexible path of learning. Whatever the student’s goal is will determine the speed and direction.
Unfortunately, there have been several occasions where my students have aced the college jazz band audition only to quit after a year. This is sometimes caused by the rigid programs and endless commitment to practicing. I think there are occasions where certain students will excel at an intense program. However, most people seem to want to have an artistic approach to playing music rather than an academic approach with that type of intensity.
After years of teaching, I believe that if the focus is on the areas the student is interested in, they will stay inspired. When I demonstrate how to play something, they can see that it is something they can do and it drives them to pull out their guitar at home. Intrinsic motivation is by far a a more positive force, in my opinion, than extrinsic.
Everyone Has Different Interests
Song Writing
Some people do find enjoyment in the deep theory and how everything fits together. This is incredibly fun to teach and can open a lot of creative doors for song writers. But it seems that most students would simply like to learn how to strum their favorite songs for friends around a campfire. Pursuing what the students is interested in will keep them motivated while they learn other things along the way.
Final Thoughts
In the end, music is a place where you can lose yourself sometimes for hours. When students enjoy the lessons, they continue taking lessons and those relationships are very rewarding. Watching a student grow musically is amazing. Everyone has their own journey with their own time line, never let nerves stop you from learning a new instrument.
If you have any questions about lessons, feel free to contact me.
The Amazing Jam Sessions
The Amazing Jam Sessions
Growing up, playing with other musicians was extremely inspiring. The guitar took on a whole new dimension and eventually led to a rewarding teaching career. I hope to pass along that same inspiration to my students by having some amazing jam sessions. A person never knows where it can lead. Even if they don’t pursue music, my hope is that each student can look back and have a great memory and be able to scratch “playing in a band” off their bucket list.
How the Jam Sessions Work
June was our first open jam session which started right after the student band finished. Everyone is invited, and their parents and friends are welcome too.
There will be two full bands each month. Each group will consist of 3 guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, one or two vocalists, a ukulele player, and possibly a keyboardist. Each band learns a song in the one-on-one lessons and then plays their assigned part at the show.
During the performance, the song is played 3 times. The first time is to get comfortable with the levels and playing in the group. This time through is with the pre-recorded song. After that, it will be played twice more to tighten up the song and allow the parents to record it. The older students are invited to solo over a 12-bar blues if they would like to.
No one is required to solo, but everyone is welcome to. Each of the soloists will take 2 rounds of solos. We will go over the solos in the one-on-one sessions for the students who want to play during this section.
There are two 27-inch monitors which display the chords and diagrams on the screen just in case anyone gets lost.
Anticipation
Karney on Drums
Despite a little twinge of nerves, the rush afterwards is incredible and addicting. What stops most people from participating is the fear that they will not do well and become embarrassed. But with one simple 5 note scale called the minor pentatonic, it is easy to hit every note in the blues jam perfectly. The pentatonic scale is simple to learn and play. It can make a brand-new soloist sound like they have been playing for a while.
One thing that is very nice is that there are no egos. Some of the students have never played an instrument and are only a couple of months into guitar lessons. And the people who have been taking lessons for a long time are very supportive of the other players. The new students are learning alongside other students who may be soloing for the first time.
Having such a positive environment is a great way to get started before trying a club or open mic where sometimes the musicians might be a bit less accepting of new players.
The Reward
Trying a jam session really helps because it drives a person to want to learn more and get better. There is nothing like having full set of musicians, including a bassist and drummer, to jam with. The feel of the music is so important, something a lot of people miss out on.
On top of gaining inspiration, playing with other musicians is a great way to meet people and have an opportunity to start a band.
Encouraging Students
If you are not sure about trying it, feel free to stop by to watch and see what it is all about. That is a great approach. Then if you decide you would like to try it, I will get you slotted into the next available band. Before you know it, you will be hooked!
As with everything, just taking that first step can open a door to something incredible. Putting yourself out there can build a lot of confidence.
Let me know if you are interested in signing up, it could be a life changer- it was for me!
Getting the Most Out of Your Lessons
Getting the Most Out of Your Lesson
When taking on a new skill such as learning guitar, it is so important to make sure you get the most out of your lessons.
A couple of important things to think about before heading off to your first session:
- What do you want most out of the lessons?
- What type of music do you like?
- What does your dedicated practice time look like?
- Is this something fun just for you or do you want to be able to play for family and friends?
- Are you interested in an academic approach with notes and theory?
- Do you want to improve skills through learning songs?
What do You Want to Get Out of Your Lessons?
Josiah’s Certificate of Achievement
One of the first questions I ask my students is what their musical goals are. For most students, it is something they want to do for fun. Some just want to play for family at the holidays or jam with friends. A few people are looking to try out for high school and college jazz bands.
To play for fun versus preparing for a jazz band tryout are taught in completely different ways. Most instructors want to know your goals, but if for some reasons it is overlooked, definitely talk about it.
I currently have students who just want to solo and some who only want to learn strum patterns. So each week we match up a song they like with an amazing solo or strum pattern and they are very inspired to learn. For Jazz students, having the ability to read a chart and get through the chords is a huge motivator.
Without a goal in mind, you may be learning songs or doing exercises that a far less beneficial than they could be. Some songs will help to get the chords down in a way that makes sense. A knowledgeable instructor will be able to pull out several tunes from different styles to get you to your goal systematically.
What Music Styles Do You Like?
Telling your teacher what kind of music you like is probably the second most important piece of information to pass along. If you signed up hoping to learn rock and roll and your classically trained instructor pulls out Mozart, you may dread the lessons. He or she may be the best teacher in the world, but it is hard to get excited about a style you are not familiar with and do not like. This happened before I met one of my current students almost causing them to quit guitar altogether.
The quickest way to destroy musical passion is the to continually teach music that does not inspire the student.
What Areas Do You Want to Cover
Some people have come into my studio and only want to learn strum patterns or how to solo. Right away, I start thinking about some of the coolest solos in their ability; or some songs with an amazing strum pattern that they can build from. Most teachers will have a collection of songs that fit the different areas, so it is important to let them know what you are interested in.
Make Sure Your Teacher Knows Your Practice Time
Practice time for a teen is usually drastically different than practice time an adult. With kids, a career, and other obligations, sometimes an adult may only have a half hour a week to sit down on the guitar. Whereas a teen may have a lot of extra time. Even with sports and school, teens can usually find a couple of hours per week. Whatever your case is, you may pass that along to the instructor as well. This will affect the amount of material covered per session. Some adults only are able to practice when they have the lesson. Knowing that can really help. The teacher can then prepare the material in way to keep things moving forward without overloading the student.
It is all about enjoying the musical journey. No matter what, make sure you do not lose your passion for any instrument in the process.
If you are interested in learning the guitar, bass, or ukulele, please contact me. Thanks!!
Online Lessons at 7
Should a 7 Year Old Start with Online Guitar Lessons?
Online Lessons at 7
I got lucky the first time I started teaching online. It was at the beginning of the pandemic and my students had already been with me for a while, so we transitioned over to Zoom. It was easy since everyone had the fundamentals down. Even for my students transitioning to online lessons at 7 years old were doing great.
But after a few weeks, I picked up my first new online 7-year-old student and realized there were challenges I had not even thought about. I am grateful for the technology, especially for people who are 100’s of miles from the nearest teacher. But it did require a certain degree of relearning how to teach. And soon I wasn’t sure if a 7-year-old should start with online lessons.
Not all children struggle online, but there is definitely an art to learning the guitar online at a young age. We realized very quickly that the key is to have a little extra patience and for the parents to be prepared for the lessons to move slower. This will make things much easier. Teaching online is a wonderful tool, but the progress is much different than in person.
Tuning Online with a 7-Year-Old
One of the first skills everyone learns at the studio is how to tune. If a younger student has never touched a guitar before, I demonstrate how to use a tuner and have them tune one string. After that, I tune the rest. Each week, we add a string or two, but by then they are usually a pro.
After a few lessons, tuning becomes a habit. The student comes into the studio, takes the guitar out of the case, tunes, and is ready for the lesson. But online, things are different.
For a new student, the guitar may be way out of tune. This can seem like a nightmare for a 7-year-old who has never played. The parents can help, but even then, it could be an entire lesson to get all the strings in tune. Occasionally, this can knock the wind out of their sails.
Other teachers and parents have told me stories where multiple lessons have gone by and the only thing they did was tune. I have not experienced that yet, but can completely understand. It is not unusual to spend an entire online lesson learning to tune.
This is not to say that all 7-year-old’s have trouble, but this is an area where it will take patience.
The Environment
The best advice I can give is to make sure the parent is nearby and the room has absolutely no distractions if possible. This is something that, even with my longer-term students, we struggled with. This was generally due to a sibling wanting attention or a quirky internet connection.
If there is a young brother or sister around, they tend to like to get involved. Even the slightest distraction for a 7-year- old can derail the lesson and take a bit to get them calmed down and focused again.
Making sure that they are rested and not hungry can make a difference as well.
Final Thoughts
I believe that a 7-year-old can do online lessons. For the best results, make sure they are rested, fed, and free of distractions. If the parent can be there during the lesson, that is a huge bonus, especially if the computer glitches. In fact, I sometimes teach the parent along with their kid. This can help tremendously and is much more fun for both of them.
Remember to be patient. They may miss out on certain things, like jamming together, since there is a lag during online sessions-even with the fastest internet connection. And the in-person interaction will be missing. But hopefully in the future we will have instantaneous video.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you are interested in lessons, feel free to contact me.
Putting Together Chords for a Song
Putting Together Chords for a Song
Putting together chords for a song is easy to do. You only need two scales and the desire to write a song. Your ear will help you with the rest.
Chromatic Scale
The first scale you will need to know is the chromatic scale. These are all of the notes on one string of the guitar. And the amazing thing is, once you know these 12 notes, you know all of the notes going up the neck of the guitar.
A quick bit of theory for you. First, this (#) is a sharp. It is generally the black keys on the piano. It raises a note up a half step which is also the next fret toward the body of the guitar. Piece of cake. We will only work with sharps for this blog.
The easiest way to remember it is that all the letters except B and E have sharps. Think, to BE or not to BE.
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A
If you start on the open 5th string on the guitar, these are all of the notes up the fretboard to the double dot. Each letter is a half-step above the last one. So if you skip a letter, it is a whole step. That is it!
Courtesy of Active Melody
Major Scale
Now on to the major scale. Remember that each note is a half-step, and by skipping a letter, you have a whole step. The layout of a major scale is:
Whole Step -Whole Step -Half Step -Whole Step -Whole Step -Whole Step -Half Step
Let’s build a major scale: A (whole step) B (whole step) C# (half step) D (whole step) E (whole step) F# (whole step) G# (half step) A
Chords of the Major Scale
Without taking you through a ton of theory, there is a shortcut to figuring out what chords are in the major scale. Each letter of the scale can also be a chord in that key. The chords will be major or minor and then a diminished which isn’t used much in most musical styles. The order of major and minor chords will always be like this in the major scale:
Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor Diminished
That is all you need. Now we just stick the letter of the major scale from above and place it before each word…
(A major) (B minor) (C# minor) (D major) (E major) (F# minor) (G# diminished)
Picking the chords
Now that you have all of that, you can let your ear decided what chords sound best together. These all work perfectly since they are in the same key. They share the same notes, so you can’t go wrong. Some chord changes sound better than others, but that is up to each of us.
For me, I like:
F# Minor to D Major to A Major to E Major
Mix up some chords and you will soon be sitting on a beach in the Cayman Islands drinking those little umbrella drinks. Have fun with this, hope to see you next time!
If you would like to learn more about how to write a song, please contact me. Thanks!
