Teaching Young Children, pt. X – Book Suggestion

As I begin to wrap up the series of posts Teaching Young Children I wanted to discuss my favorite book to use with young students Aaron Shearer: Learning the Classic Guitar, Pt. Two. The book title may be deceiving as I do not always teach my younger students classical guitar; however, this is an excellent book for getting young students started playing the guitar no matter what the style.

One of the things I really enjoy about this book is that from the start students are playing music - short simple duets which have a student and teacher part. The students begin with two note songs using the G and D strings with combinations of quarter and eighth note rhythms. Each musical selection is approximately eight measures in length making it easy for young learners to follow along with. I particularly like that the book progresses in a thought out pedagogical manner when adding new notes, solo music selections and well as longer pieces of music.

If you are a guitar teacher looking for a good approach to teaching younger students the guidelines laid out in this series should help create a sound pedagogical starting point. Moreover, Aaron Shearer's Learning the Classic Guitar, Pt.2 will help by supplying musical selections which are challenging, fun and developmentally appropriate. Once you have a solid foundation in regards to teaching young players you can then add to it and develop your own.