Teaching: When to Move On

[marnold]

As I've mentioned before, I've been trying to teach my son to play guitar. Well, this summer we decided to get much more serious about it: regularly scheduled lessons, practice time, etc. I've been using the older DVD version of Doug Marks' Metal Method to teach him. My question is, how do I know when I should move on?. I don't want to go too fast so that I blow past what he's capable of. I don't want to go too slow and repeat the same stuff over and over again because that gets boring too. I'm looking for a happy middle-ground.

[Spudman]

Quiz him and see what he can do from previous lessons. If he's semi-mastered the past material then move on. He'll be refining what he's learned for years to come. You just want to see if a little of it has stuck with him.

You also don't want him to become bored so introducing something new is going to be key there. Don't get too stuck on the past and keep moving forward.

[Robert]

What Spud says, but go back and revisit earlier material too to make sure it really works.

I suggest working on a variety of songs if possible, songs that he likes. That way you can incorporate scales, licks, riffs, etc while playing the "real thing", which makes it more fun to practice.