Teaching guitar

[deeaa*]

Hey,

I promised to give a buddy a few pointers on how to play the guitar. Nothing fancy, no real lessons either, just a few tips and show something now and then.

Now, I dunno, seems I have very little patience with this, however. For the first task I showed him and gave a tab of simplified Smells Like Teen Spirit, I mean basically just the bass line first, then explained how to play it with 2-finger power chords and the 'ding ding' high up E,B string when he'll feel like it later, over the bassline.

He's not getting it down after a week for some reason, especially the break part.

Now...I just don't get it. What more could I explain to him. I just sort of told him to get drums if you can't learn how to play that in a week...but he still wants to try. I tried to show him picking and how to hold the guitar, but...well it seems to me that if a guy can't learn how to play such a simple riff in a week, he's never gonna be able to play much guitar really. I gave him some other real simple songs to work on and after another week he can barely muster a just-about-recognizable version of Smoke On The Water.

When I and my friends started out, it was like first week we learned how to play Smoke On The Water and based on that 2-string idea I figured out how to facsimile half a dozen simple songs on my own, and the 2nd week a buddy showed the F barre chord and said next week you'll play AC DC songs with full barres or he won't bother teaching me more. So I had to get the fingers bent that way. And the third thing he taught me was 'Still of The Night' by Whitesnake, and then almost at the same time 'Paranoid' and 'Heaven and Hell' and 'Sanitarium' complete with solos. That was the end of any teaching we eve got also, after that it was our own doing.

I mean, it's not like I / we could play the songs anywhere well after a month of playing guitar, or with great rhythm, more like stumbled thru them, but still quite recognizaly and so on...it didn't seem _impossible_ to learn most any song _somehow_ at least.

So, quite frankly, it just seems to me that in the case of my friend, am I wrong or not in assuming that he'd better try another instrument entirely, based on how hard it seems to be for him to achieve any real progress?

[Eric***]

Well, I was never very fast or natural at learning. I just kept plugging along, and now, though I'm not as good as 15 years of playing would have you think, I'm good enough.

For some people, it just clicks. But I don't believe in giving up just because it doesn't click. I've heard many times before that if you're an early teen boy learning to play, you will learn 5-10 times faster than anybody else. No explanation for that, but there's tons of empirical evidence for it. Perhaps that has to do with how easy or hard it is for someone.

I'd certainly encourage your friend to just keep hacking away. Might not be a quick journey, but it's not like quitting really gets him anything either.

[deeaa*]

Yes, indeed for me as well it's ten times harder to learn new stuff than it was at the time I started in my teens, I understand it's harder for him to learn now than when he was a kid...but still...is it really worth it if you're _so_ far in the process and it seems _so_ hard to get ahead with it.

I mean, IMO it'd be much harder to learn to play something in Guitar Hero or RockBand or such games with those controllers, as you have to also be able to keep time - and those should not take weeks to be able to limp along for most people? but...

Is there anything much easier than Smells---bassline out there? Just four notes, one finger suffices...if even after a week he's finding it hard to hit the string at the same time as he fingers it, or understand the rhythm concept, well, I dunno, just seems pretty impossible to continue, doesn't it?

I guess you should see him try it, I go like, OK, just hold here and smack with the right hand, dum-dum dum here. And he goes 'dumdum-dum'...and forgets what was that second note again?

It's just obvious he's got zero sense of rhythm etc...I just don't want him to waste hours and hours on something he'll basically always suck at big time...I mean, I find it amazing, I bet if I spent an hour with my 1 year old I bet even he'd understand the rhythm, dum-dum dum, and not just do it differently every time.

He's a good friend so I have no problem in saying whatever to him - I already said maybe you'd better try, like, singing or being a DJ rather, but he's taking it as a joke so far...I'm really thinking of just seriously talking to him like forget it man, just be content with listening...

[Kazz]

Sounds like he is intimidated by you Deaa......try being a bit nicer.....honey attracts far more flies than vinegar......

[Eric***]

I'd still give him some time. I'm convinced that music is one of those things that's a product of how much you've been exposed to it. Some people are so far behind the curve it seems like they'll never catch up, and I understand your point on that.

However, I'd just have him keep plugging along, really trying to understand the fundamental ideas of rhythm with something like a simple bassline, and see where he gets with it. He'll give up soon enough if it truly is hopeless, but it might be interesting to see if he gets anywhere with it. He might end up surprising both of you.

[R_of_G]

Is your friend trying to learn the bassline by playing along with the recording? I always found that to be among the most valuable tools for getting a rhythm pattern or riff down correctly. There were plenty of times when I played without the actual track and was sure what I remembered of it in my head was right only to then put on the recording and realize I was off. Having the recording there to follow might be something he finds helpful.

[deeaa*]

Heh, I dunno who could ever be intimidated by yours truly...I'm a pretty lean/lightly built fella and, if you don't count my father, the least aggressive and overbearing guy you ever met ;-)

But, yeah...he knows the song full well, he's a big rock & such fan...I just think he simply has no sense of rhythm at all...no chance he could play to a recording, it's way too fast for him to follow, he seems to have big difficulties in even pressing down a single string at a fret and getting a sound out of it really...it's like 'brng THUM THUM THUB - brwangg THUM-DA DHUB' when he tries to play the first two notes...I dunno...I'm amazed how hard it can apparently be for some people, and also how it is apparently not clear to himself that it's not looking very promising...he just doesn't seem to understand it's not going right at all.

[omegadot]

There's always Horse With No Name. First some I learned, although I started on an acoustic, I'm gathering he isn't. I actually learned barre chords before power chords as power chords seemed so simple when I read about them that I assumed I didn't understand.

[rick04901]

Deeaa: I'm a 50+ year player who, for the last 3 semsters taught beginner guitar to adults 1 evening a week at a local high school. I can tell you that your observations about ceratin beginners is pretty much right on the money. Some of them get it very quickly, while others just don't. I was once naive enough to believe that if I could do it, anyone could. I was wrong. Very wrong. Beyond faithful and diligent practice, steadfast motivation, unbelievable drive and determination, I believe that the predisposition to play music is hard-wired, and that's about all there is to it. Unfortunately, I don't know of any method that will jump-start the learning process, and that will eventually become apparent to the would-have-been player. Better luck next time!

-Rick

[Jx2]

Have him list several songs. Ive had guys come up to me and show me how to play a song, but because I couldnt wrap the song around my noggin I couldnt seem to find it. Right now a buddy and I are working on a song by Baxx Riggs that simple barr chords, but I still struggle with it because I cant hear the changes in my head in advance.

I know smells is very easy to play, but if he cant hear it without hearing it. That could be the majority of his battle. One of the very first song I learned to play was Penny Royal Tea. I was practicing changing between chords, and as soon as I with from that Am to that G. With that strum/pickin pattern I was using I knew it immediately. I instantly ran over to a more seasoned friends house and he helped me find the bar chords in the song and I was off on my way.

[lou]

I always think about all the free lessons I had recieved when I was younger and its what gives me the patience to help those who want to learn.. Teaching is not for every person it does take some out of you at times but I also do not like the idea of failure ( never give up attitude ) either.
So if he isn't getting the first lesson very well then try maybe a simple E 12 bar blues beginning and see how he does with that and its often a beat they can hear in their head as they play.Ship..........just a thought