"Teach me to play something!"

stu · 2013-02-02T18:34:21+00:00

You know how it is. You're sitting around, playing your guitar and a random girl comes up and says "Teach me something!" I never know what to teach them. Gu...

"Teach me to play something!"

BMU

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: (and sent them home with homework)

BWAHAAHAAAAA!! Homework.

(It's only funny 'cos I've done it too.)

ZarK

Love the reaction when I teach someone who has never touched a guitar to pluck those first few notes of 'Nothing else matters'. (Basically just right hand with 1 pull-off...) The point being to show someone how easy it is to create something so familiar sounding with very little effort. Next I usually show how to play the very first part of 'Thunder struck' -again a familiar, technical sounding piece that is very easy to duplicate. Speed not important... Last but not least it would be a basic barre chord to illustrate how many famous pieces of music can be played by moving a single 2 finger position up and down the neck on the 6th and 5th string... These 3 noob exercises have served me well for years and the reaction has always been exactly the same -awe and fascination that hopefully translates into inspiration to pursue playing the instrument further...

deebee

Peter Gunn, it's an instrumental, but so what, one string and one finger needed. with imagination you can sing anything that you like to it.

stu

... Well I never thought of that... ???

I thought she just wanted to play something... :-[

Nitebob

So what do you tell a 6 year old who has yet to get any dexterity? There's a reason why I dont teach man...

singemonkey

Nitebob wrote: So what do you tell a 6 year old who has yet to get any dexterity? There's a reason why I dont teach man...

Search youtube for 6 year old guitarists and be frightened and astonished.

DaFiz

I started teaching my own daughter guitar when she was seven (over twenty years ago), now I find myself teaching a six year old and it's taxing my patience & tolerance levels like you won't believe,
yet I still believe this young lady is gonna go the distance.

slyd

Yeah, . . .

Get them playing young! . . . .. . What a start! . .. .. . 8)

ActionArnie

Open D tuning ...

singemonkey

DaFiz wrote: I started teaching my own daughter guitar when she was seven (over twenty years ago), now I find myself teaching a six year old and it's taxing my patience & tolerance levels like you won't believe,
yet I still believe this young lady is gonna go the distance.

Just look at the fingers. Ready to go.

aubs1

Here's an easy, fun one .... X-Rated Bob's favourite .... one chord ?

=

Bob-Dubery

Guys, the girls that are approaching Stu with requests for "tuition" are not likely to be interested in pieces that date back to the 70s, 60s or even 50s. They may not even be interested in "classic" rock ?.

When I was Stu's age I could have solved this problem with a Booker T and the MG's riff, but I think something a little more contemporary will be required here.

Coconut is easy on the left hand for a beginner (though you have to alternate the bass note between the 5 and 6 strings) but trickier for the right.

BobZ_1989

when it comes to learning something easy for a complete newbie the easiest things are single note songs. Im still learning myself so I can tell you that the 2 easiest things I know hopw to play are Smoke on the water and the godfather theme by slash, if they manage smoke on the water with just the bass string then try get them to do it in power chords. But like everyone else is saying I really doubt she is actually interested in learning

[deleted]

Sometimes, as one of the few women on this forum, I just want to cringe... (shades of a certain all-boys, Joburg private school's alumni club some days... hahaha)

That being said:
1. It's probably not utterly inaccurate to assume that a girl asking you teach her something may have ulterior motives. (@ez - I'm sure I pulled this move on you back in the day. Don't think you ever reciprocated by asking me to teach you cello tho. haha!)
2. Kids can be hard to teach but they're MUCH faster learners than adults, and you can literally mould their muscles and muscle memory
3. If I asked a guy to "teach me something" and he offered me One Direction, I'd leave immediately. Led Zeppelin, on the other hand... 8)

AlanRatcliffe

MoreCowBell wrote: shades of a certain all-boys, Joburg private school's alumni club some days...

That is true, but I can easily counter by saying I've spent enough time in nail salons (sitting quietly in a corner with my back to the room with long hair loose) to know that a group of "girls" can be just as bad. The female of the species can be dirtier than the male.

1. It's probably not utterly inaccurate to assume that a girl asking you teach her something may have ulterior motives.

Exactly. But I think it should be mentioned that you shouldn't automatically assume she does. Pouncing on someone who is expecting an actual lesson could be a traumatic experience. ?

singemonkey

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
1. It's probably not utterly inaccurate to assume that a girl asking you teach her something may have ulterior motives.
Exactly. But I think it should be mentioned that you shouldn't automatically assume she does. Pouncing on someone who is expecting an actual lesson could be a traumatic experience. ?

Phrasing can mean a lot. Someone who asks you to "teach me something," is probably - but not always - using it as a conversation starter. Someone who says, "Can you teach me to play the guitar?" is probably - but not always - asking you to teach them how to play the guitar.