Learning the guitar is almost a rite of passage for many children and guitar lessons can either make or break this dream relatively quickly. While many instruments available to students in school can be difficult to learn, few actually pose the same set of difficulties as the guitar. Guitar lessons for beginners can be fun and exciting, but they can also turn a student off from music altogether. Why?
1. Strengthening the Finger Tips
Learning to play the guitar requires that the student endure some level of pain in the fingers. This has to do with the process of building calluses in the fingertips. Calluses are hardened skin around the area that actually touch the guitar strings and new students taking guitar lessons for the first time will not have any of this toughened skin built up. The strings will penetrate deep into the flesh and cause some tenderness and potentially a little pain.
Young children are especially susceptible to giving up when this happens, so it's important for music teachers to encourage them to press forth, especially in the beginning. Within a few weeks of consistent playing time, the calluses will form and soon the student will no longer feel any pain in their fingers. Offer rewards to the student for completing their guitar lessons or practice times.
2. Knowing the Right Form
What can be a bit tricky when talking about playing through the pain for a student is knowing when it's the muscles in their hands and wrist that are hurting, and that they should stop.
Most times during kids guitar lessons and the process of practicing exercises that are new, muscles need to be strengthened. While this process will certainly cause some level of discomfort, if the student actually feels pain in the hand or wrist, then they should stop and take a break. This can also be an indicator that they are not practicing the proper techniques, or their posture is not right.
Slouching in a chair is a common problem for new students taking guitar lessons. When they are first learning, their eyes will be constantly fixated on the strings and what their hands are doing. This is quite normal and encouraged; they should be certain that they are playing the appropriate notes and begin to learn what those notes are and this cannot happen unless they are watching their hands. While looking down at their hands all the time, though, the student will tend to hunch over the guitar. As time progresses at any one practice session, their entire body will begin to sag over the guitar and this takes their arm out of proper position.
When the arm is out of its proper playing position, the wrong muscles are being used to play certain notes or chords. It's a good idea to check in on the student as they are practicing and remind them about their posture, as well as the importance of it. When taking kids guitar lessons, some students can become so enrapt by it that they lose track of time and what their body is doing. They may be learning the patterns and becoming better at playing, but they'll run into some difficulty when playing upright or standing.
3. Keeping the Student Engaged in Practice
Good music teachers will devise exciting exercises at the guitar lessons for the student to take home. Often, during the first few weeks, while some muscle memory and strength is being built, these exercises will be quite mundane. Ask the music teacher for some music that the student can play along with, preferable something that is popular today. It doesn't have to be anything tricky or beyond their ability; there are always songs that can be transcribed to suit any level of player, including absolute beginners.
If you break up the exercise routine with play-along time to something they know, when the student begins to hear the results, their enjoyment level will climb exponentially. Guitar lessons for beginners are a process of building one technique upon another. It is important that the student maintain the integrity of the exercises, but also find moments of measurable improvement each week.
4. Keeping a Schedule
Keeping a schedule for guitar lessons is also a great benefit for several reasons. First, the body is a machine and when a routine is developed, it begins to anticipate what's to come. When learning guitar, by creating a consistent schedule of guitar lessons, and practice time, the student will begin to anticipate each day and will look forward to, rather than dread, the guitar lessons.
5. Getting the Right Equipment with Breaking the Bank
Also, the right guitar can make a major difference in whether the student enjoys the guitar lessons or not. There's no need to purchase a $1,000 guitar for a beginner, but try to avoid the Wal-Mart specials. Ask the guitar instructor whom you've chosen what brand or type of guitar will be best for the student and their age range. A guitar that is too large for small hands will lead to frustration and a loss of interest.
The Music Teachers Network wrote this article about how to get the most out of guitar lessons for beginners.
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