The Problem(s) It’s great, isn’t it, that you can download the chords and TABs for pretty much any popular song you can think of? There are loads of wonderful TABs websites, such as Ultimate Guitar, where users contribute their transcriptions of song accompaniments. There are really two problems, though: Often the chords and TABs given are pretty inaccurate. This is… Read more »
Practise scales the right way Over the years I’ve found the students expect to start each lesson with a series of exercises – more often than not, scales. This is especially true of people who have previously been taught by someone else. My view is this: that not every lesson / practise has to start in the same way, and… Read more »
When I first started playing guitar as a child then as a teenager, there was really only one way to tune up: with pitch pipes. I had some really cheap ones that looked like this: Of course, things are much easier now that digital tuners are cheap and easily accessible. I tend to use one on my mobile phone, but… Read more »
Last week I received in the post my copy of the ABRSM syllabus for (classical) guitar – a little booklet outlining everything candidates and teachers need to know about guitar exams for this board from 2019 onward. In truth, very little has changed on the guitar specification from previous years: all the exercises (scales, arpeggios etc.), sight reading and aural… Read more »
Learning and enjoying music doesn’t always have to be about structured lessons, or even be ‘taught’ as such. This weekend I set my son’s little guitar up with an open E major tuning (E B E G# B E) and gave it to him to play with. I offered absolutely no instruction, but simply handed him the instrument and a… Read more »
