When a student begins to play the guitar they are generally chomping at the bit to play music and have fun. However, you can bet their enthusiasm is usually greater than their ability. After establishing a foundation of knowledge and the basics have been covered (see posts February 2013 forward) I like to have students start playing actual music. Keep in mind all the basics and exercises I posted about in 2013 should only take a couple of lessons – discussing the material in depth requires more time than actually teach it.
The music I choose to start guitar newbies with are ‘simplified’ classic rock riffs to meet the needs of the beginning student. It may be cliché, but the first riff I like to teach new students is “Smoke on the Water.” My reasoning is simple: the riff is easily recognizable (surprisingly even young students have heard it), one finger is all that is required to play it, the riff can be played on a single string , the melody is easily memorized and students can begin to navigate the length of the guitar neck as well as begin to read guitar tab.
The music I choose to start guitar newbies with are ‘simplified’ classic rock riffs to meet the needs of the beginning student. It may be cliché, but the first riff I like to teach new students is “Smoke on the Water.” My reasoning is simple: the riff is easily recognizable (surprisingly even young students have heard it), one finger is all that is required to play it, the riff can be played on a single string , the melody is easily memorized and students can begin to navigate the length of the guitar neck as well as begin to read guitar tab.
I hope this short post has not only gotten you thinking about other simple melodies to use with students, but how they fit into their development. Next month I’ll continue on the topic of simplified classic riffs and discuss one that uses multiple fingers.
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