40 Guitar Tips For The Music Educator
By Bill Purse
After years of teaching guitar in the classroom and in
private studios, I would
like to offer some very practical tips to the music educator
which are not
found in any guitar method, but gained from my personal
experience.
The Physical Guitar (Care and Maintenance)
Tip 1 - You can usually tell the difference between nylon
and steel string guitars
by the way that strings are attached. Nylon strings
are tied to the bridge, whereas
steel strings are held to the bridge of the guitar with
bridge pins.
Tip 2 - Steel strings exert a great deal of pressure
on an acoustic guitar neck,
whereas nylon strings exert less pressure. You
should never place steel strings on
an acoustic guitar made to utilize nylon strings.
Tip 3 - When you buy strings for a beginning guitar
class purchase very light
gauge strings which will be easier on the students fingers.
If your budget permits,
you should change all the strings each semester.
Tip 4 - A small tool called a string winder is essential
for changing strings on
multiple guitars. A string winder is a small crank
that you place on the tuning peg
and allows you to rapidly raise or lower a guitar string’s
pitch by cranking it clock
wise or counter clockwise. String winders
are very inexpensive ($3), and some will
have a notch that slips under the bridge pins and make
pulling them out easy. Ask
your local music dealer about this important tool.
Tip 5 - Certain strings break more frequently
than others, so always have extra
strings ready; single strings can be purchased inexpensively
at any music store. On
nylon guitars, the 4th string (D) usually breaks,
and on electric or acoustic guitars
the top two strings (E-1 and B-2) usually break. The
number of single extra strings
you purchase depends on the class size; as a rule
of thumb have three extras of these
strings for every ten guitars.
Tip 6 - Some string manufacturers (La Bella brand
is one) make nylon classical
strings that are called Folk Guitar Strings. These
are different from regular classical
strings in the fact that they have ball-ends and don’t
have to be tied to the classical
guitar bridge. I always put an extra knot or two
in the bottom 1st E string with Folk
Guitar strings, because the string is so thin it
will often slip through the ball end
when you are playing.
Guitar Accessories and Add-Ons
Tip 7 - Using a strap will give the music educator
the greatest mobility in a
professional situation. The strap can remain on
the guitar while you are seated so
that the you can continue playing if you need to go to
another area of the room.
Tip 8 - Strap buttons can be purchased for under $2.00
and it is a easy job to add one
to the back of the guitar (Most nylon string and acoustic
guitars come with only one
strap button when purchased). Some guitarists use one
strap button and tie the strap
to the area behind the nut; this method will get in the
way of the left hand playing
the guitar. The best area to add a button is centered
on the back of the guitar one half
inch in from where the neck joins the guitar. If
you are not good with tools, a guitar
technician can add one very inexpensively, or you could
ask the music dealer to
include a button and installation as part of your purchase
deal.
Tip 9 - If your strap does not feel securely attached
to your guitar, you can purchase
either the Schaler or Jim Dunlop strap lock systems. These
are more expensive than
a simple strap button but you will never have to worry
about your instrument falling
from a loose strap, these were designed for rock & roll
stage acrobatics.
Tip 10 - Picks or plectrums come in many sizes, styles,
and materials.
Take some
time and go into a music store and try out several different
pick styles and listen to
the results. Try single lines and chords when trying
out the different picks
(plectrums). Choose the shape and material with which
you feel most comfortable.
Tip 11 - When teaching a guitar class, always have
a pocket or case loaded with extra
picks for class. Students always need picks.
Tip 12 - A small plastic pick holder which has
a self adhesive strip can be
purchased for less than $2.00. Each one holds up to ten
picks and I place one on the
back of the peg board so I can always find or store a
pick. When guitarists place the
pick in the strings, it may fall out or become warped
and difficult to hold.
Tip 13 - An inexpensive alternative to buying a pick
holder is a wide rubber band
placed around the pegboard that will allow you to slip
a pick under it as a no-cost pick
holder.
Tip 14 - Always place the capo a bit behind the fret
and fasten it on the guitar
tightly. Never slide the capo from fret to fret
with out loosening it as this can
scratch the guitar neck. Check your tuning after the
capo is placed on the guitar
neck. If a string should go sharp loosen it at
the peg and tug on the other side of the
capo then tune the string up to pitch. If the strings
are flat, carefully tune them up
to pitch in the new key. Go up five frets
from the capo and check your tuning in the
traditional way.
Tip 15 - Keep a nail clipper in your guitar case, it
is impossible to get a good tone if
the left hand nails are not kept short. When you
evaluate a student’s tone, observe
the left hand nail length, and make sure a nail
clipper is available for students to use
in the class if the length is affecting his or her tone.
Tip 16 - Some electric guitars have an apparatus called
a string lock or lock down
nut; this is a metal clip that screws into the
guitar with allen wrenches to lock down
all six strings at the nut of the guitar. The locking
nut keeps strings from going out
of tune when using a whammy-bar, a device that dramatically
loosens all the guitar
strings either up or down to create dramatic vibrato
or dive bomb effects. If you try
to tune the guitar with the pegs while a locking nut
is clamped on the strings, you
will break a string. There is a wonderful all purpose
tool called a Guitool (price about
$18) that has a string cutter, allen wrenches used by
most guitars for locking nuts,
and phillips head and slotted screwdrivers.
Classroom Techniques
Tip 17 - The guitar is a very popular instrument and
you may have a budding Eric
Clapton in your class. These students can be a
good resource and usually will be glad
to be your assistant, either by demonstrating guitar
performance techniques or
assisting other students.
Tip 18 - The guitar is essential to the music
of many cultures.
Put together a library
of different styles multi-cultural music that you can
play for your class;
this will
help them to understand the wide range the instrument
possess outside of rock and
pop music, such as flamenco, jazz, reggae, classical,
South African, blues, folk, blue
grass, new age, country, Latin American. “Guitar
Player Magazine”
has a collection
of recordings of world class guitarists called the Legends
of: Jazz, Rock (50’s, 60’s, or
70’s), Classical, Electric Blues. See if
your school library can order these as a
resource. Go to your library and see what guitar
CD’s they have that you can take out
on loan.
Tip 19 - Nothing sounds less interesting and
uninspiring than a guitarist
strumming chords with the same dynamic range and timbre
throughout a song. As
your class plays an example, think of musical ways to
use left and right hand
articulation to color the examples while practicing. By
incorporating dynamics and
articulations in practice periods, these techniques will
feel natural when performed.
Tip 20 - You can also turn your guitar over and use
its back as a desk top when
writing for a student. Don’t try this with
a round back acoustic guitar. If you are
using a single sheet of paper, don’t press too
hard.
Tip 21 - Tape record your class sessions once
you have gotten a semester underway
and play it back so that you and the class can objectively
review and discuss what
they performed (either solo or ensemble pieces) and how
it could be improved
musically.
Practice, Performance, and Reading Techniques
Tip 22 - Practice your classroom repertoire while standing
and also practice
singing and strumming while walking around your practice
area. You will then feel
very comfortable in the classroom when you have to be
mobile. You may even want
to find a gig as a strolling guitarist at your nearest
restaurant.
Tip 23 - Encourage your students to practice in front
of a mirror in order to observe
their implementation of left and right hand technique
on the guitar.
Especially
useful is a mirror on wheels that can be placed in front
of a student so he or she can
understand how to correct a poor technique through self
observation.
Tip 24 - A common technical problem: make sure
that the student does not place a
finger of the left hand that he or she is not using behind
the fingerboard and neck.
This is a tendency for students that are first starting
out, but once they are aware of
it they can correct it. I always tell the students that
this is a tea cup fingering if they
extend the pinkie of the left hand in the air. After
teaching larger guitar classes you
can develop a scanning technique to zero in on students
technical problems.
Tip 25 - If your students are having problems spreading
their fingers far enough to
be in each fret, start higher on the neck where
the frets are narrower.
They will be
able to make the stretch; create a chromatic exercise
that will work its way down into
the lower fret region slowly. Have the students
make up their own exercises for a
technical problems, and share them with other students.
Tip 26 - Have your students look ahead to the next
note after they play a note to keep
the ahead of the music, they will make less mistakes. Try
to have the student say the
letter name of one note ahead of the one they are playing
like a cannon.
Tip 27 - When a student is concentrating on sight-reading
any poor technical
habits will come into play. I like to have a short
easy sight reading session during
class time to observe the level of technique a student
possess,
and also help them
build their reading abilities.
Tip 28 - Remember that the guitar is a transposing
instrument; it sounds an octave
lower than written. If you are playing single line or
notated chords in guitar music,
it is fine to play at the written pitches. If you
are playing piano or other
instrumental music, play the notes up an octave to sound
the correct pitch.
Tip 29 - Always read chords from the lowest note up
to the highest since this is
usually the way chords are strummed with the pick. It
will make chord reading
much easier.
Tip 30 - Have your students practice tapping their
foot with the metronome. Make
sure that their tapping is consistent with the metronome
for timing and the height
of the up beats even.
Tip 31 - Finger placement is dependent on the hand
size of the guitarist.
Teach your
students to let their ears be the judge; does the note
have a clear clean sound or is it
indistinct? Try exerting more pressure if it buzzes. Never
use more pressure than
needed to produce a clear sounding note; otherwise,
you may push the string out of
tune.
Tip 32 - The right hand palm mute should be used at
the end of each song to deaden
the strings after they have sounded for their proper
note value.
Another option is to
roll the right hand over to use the flat upper surface
of the hand to insure that all six
strings are stopped at the same time.
Tuning the Instrument and Ear
Tip 33 - Regular quartz tuners need a switch or dial
to be set to the pitch of the
string you are seeking to tune. Chromatic auto-tuner
models automatically determine
which pitch you are playing and whether it is sharp or
flat, a hands off approach
which is especially convenient for guitarists.
Tip 34 - When you tune a guitar string, always tune
up to the pitch rather than
down to the pitch. This way the wound guitar strings
will not get caught in the nut
of the guitar and sometimes slip below pitch during a
performance. When you tuned
up to pitch will not have this problem, if you find the
guitar string is sharp go below
the pitch then bring it up to pitch.
Tip 35 - I have created a game called The Tunemeister
which uses an electronic
tuner for students having difficulty matching pitches. By
using the built in
microphone in the tuner, ask the student sing a doo or
ahh syllable into the tuner
after getting the correct pitch from the guitar. When
they sing the pitch, the meter
or lights on the tuner will show them when they are sharp
or flat.
The game is to see
how long the can keep the meter centered on the pitch.
Quartz electronic tuners are
sensitive to a one-hundredth of a tone. This has helped
my students: some will get a
pitch from a tuning fork, then sing into the tuner.
Tip 36 - Keep the tuner as close to the guitar as possible. The
music stand is a
convenient place; you can also use Velcro to secure
the tuner to the bottom lip of the
stand.
Guitars, Gimmicks, Etc.
Tip 37 - You or your ensemble has a solo or group concert
and somehow the strap,
was left at home or lost; enter the duct-tape strap. This
tip is directly from the
mother of invention; someone always has duct tape
around, and by folding a long
piece of this tape over upon itself (sticky side to sticky
side) all you have to do is
punch in two holes and hook it to the strap buttons!
Tip 38 - Teach your students to walk with their guitar
case lid placed next to the leg
so that if it should open accidentally (inexpensive chip
board cases often do this) the
lid will open into their leg, and the guitar will not
fall out on the floor from inside
the case.
Tip 39 - You can have the class turn their guitar onto
their laps, strings down, to
avoid the cacophony of an entire class creating strums
and licks or whatever, while
you’re trying to demonstrate or lecture.
Tip 40 - You can use regular music manuscript paper
as guitar grids, by drawing six
lines on the staff to represent the guitar strings, and
writing the rhythms on the
staff underneath.
Bonus Tip - I like to play the guitar dice game with
students to help them learn the
complete guitar neck. By using two dice you can
randomly generate guitar neck
positions and have students say the name of the pitches
at these various locations.
Roll the first dice to select a string, and then roll
both dice to select a position on that
specific string. After rolling both dice have the student
say that specific pitch names
then play the note on their guitar. Eventually
students will be able to visualize the
guitar neck and not have to look at the guitar’s
neck to say the pitches.
I would love to hear from you about any strategies,
experiences or support you would like to share
for the guitar in music education. After all, there
is a reason the guitar is so popular
and we need to help spread the joy of making music at
all levels to our students.
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