1. Point out to your student that a lot of blues slide guitar is played on open-tuned guitar.
2. Tell them that open tuning normally means tuning the guitar to a specific major chord and to show how this is done you are going to re-tune to the chord of G. 3. Ask them to tell you which three notes make up the chord of G (G, B, D).
4. Show them how you take the 6th E string down to D by tuning it an octave lower than the 4th D string. Then the 5th A string down to G by tuning it an octave lower than the open 3rd G string.
5. Point out that the 4th D, 3rd G and 2nd B can remain unchanged and it therefore remains to take the 1st E string down to the with the 6th (now D) and 4th D string. 6. Once done, ask them to make the same adjustments to their guitar, coaching them through the process as necessary.
7. Now get them to play the resultant open G chord.
8. To get them started on some popular riffs get them to play the following classic Delta blues slide riff:
D--0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~--- B--0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~--- G--0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~--- D--0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~--- G--0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~--- D–-0---/3---0--/3--0---/12~~~~~---
This is shown played on all 6 strings but the beauty of open tuning is that you can select as many or few strings as you like on a riff like this. Get your student to experiment.
9. Play a shuffle rhythm 12 bar in G (having re-tuned your guitar to standard!) 10. Have them use the above riff over the I chord then adapt it over the IV and V simply by playing the last chord at the 5th and 7th frets respectively.
11. As an alternative have them try out this chord based lick which they can again move to the 12th, 5th and 7th frets for the I IV and V chords:
D---12-12-12-12-12--- B---/12---hold----(12)---/12-(12)--- G---12~~~--- D--- G--- D–---
12. Encourage them to use these ideas as points of departure and experiment around them. Good slide playing should be energetic, free and uninhibited and that requires lots of confidence which in turn comes from lots of practice. A lot can be learnt simply by experimenting around simple ideas like those above.
Lesson plan 30:
SPECIFIC REMEDIES
Problem: Student struggling to stretch for shuffle patterns
Younger students or adults with small or stiff fingers may have trouble playing added sixth shuffle patterns to begin with.
Probable cause(s): Insufficient stretch, physical strength or coordination or any combination of these three factors will make it hard to play shuffle patterns.
Solution(s): The first step is to assure the student that with the help of a few exercises they will get on top of the problem and in preparing their fingers to play these patterns they will also open up other areas of their playing. In other words it is worth their investing time and effort into solving these problems.
As well as general stretching and strengthening exercises found elsewhere in this book, get them to play the following exercise:
Fingering: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 etc.. 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 etc.. E--- B--- G--10-10-10-10--9-9-9--9--8-8-8--8--7-7-7-7----etc..- D--10-10-12-10--9-9-11-9--8-8-10-8--7-7-9-7----etc..- A--- E–---
Working their way down the fretboard to the 1st fret if possible. This makes use of the layout of the fretboard to gradually stretch the fingers.
Once they can do this easily get them to play the same motif on the 4th and 5th strings. Then, once they can do that, the 5th and 6th strings.
Problem: Student can't grasp theory
They have no problem physically playing the exercises, but really struggle with understanding the theory behind it.
Probable cause(s): Whenever the student has difficulties with a particular level of theory the problem always lies with an earlier level that was not completely understood. For example the student can't understand why the chord of E major has a G# in it because they didn't really grasp the lesson about key signatures or major scale formula.
Solution(s): The solution is to backtrack to where the student was doing fine. Run a review from the bottom up: notes on open strings, chromatic scale formation, tones and semitones, major scale formula, key signatures, circles of fourths and fifths, then and only then is it worth discussing chord formulas.
With some students it is better to keep them progressing with the physical playing of the exercises regardless of their level of understanding. It's true that the more comprehension a musician has the more efficiently they learn, but for some the comprehension is a great deal harder than for others. Work with the student's strengths. The broader their repertoire of what they can play grows, the more solidly they can apply theoretical concepts to actual examples and this in itself helps the understanding process.
Problem: Student finds barre chords to hard to play
They are getting very frustrated because every time they play barre chords they take ages to get hold of and then sound awful anyway.
Probable cause(s): It is either that you have introduced barre chords too early for this student and given them 'too steep a hill to climb' or that you have omitted the all important expectation management step and given them an unrealistic idea of how easy barre chords are to play.
Solution(s): Ultimately, to play guitar without using barre chords is extremely restrictive. That does not mean however that your student has to cross this particular bridge right now.
You have to make a firm decision based on the age, strength and confidence level of the student whether to put barre chord development off until later or whether to encourage them to persist in their attempts to get them to sound good.
If you decide to delay then concentrate on the student developing a broad range of songs that utilize easier chord shapes and focus your efforts on harnessing their enthusiasm because what you want to happen is that they play lots and lots of guitar. The more they play, the stronger their hands get, the easier they will then find the addition of barre chords. Try to encourage them to continue with the pre-barre chord exercise described in Lesson plan 7.
If you decide to persist then encourage a daily physical exercise routine using the exercise in Lesson plan 7. Talk to the student about their expectations and point out that nobody learns to play clean barre chords overnight, but if they persist with their attempts , they will gradually improve and their efforts will build up their hand and finger strength in ways that help with all aspects of their playing.
In both cases, make a point of helping the student develop stamina. When you are playing together in lessons make songs last longer – add a few guitar solos over their rhythm playing to keep them playing longer because that helps to build strength in a way they will hardly notice. Encourage them to practice for longer spells at home. Problem: Student finds the movable C7 too hard to play
The C7 chord shape isn't actually physically hard to hold down, but if you are not used to it, it can seem a very difficult chord to move around at first.
Probable cause(s): The student sees you happily moving this shape up and down the fretboard and then thinks there must be something wrong with them because they find it really difficult.
Solution(s): Expectation management is required here. It's not a bad shape after the first 1000 times you use it! Get them to play on a one-strum-per-bar basis through a 12-bar blues or something, so they have plenty of time to move and re-establish the shape. Reassure them that it just takes practice.
Problem: Student confused by generic note and chord notation (all those Roman numerals)
They have no difficulty understanding rhythm charts that are written key-specific, but as soon as those Roman numerals appear they go all blank on you and can't relate them to chords or notes at all.
Probable cause(s): Firstly it may be that they simply don't understand the Roman numeral system at all.
Secondly, they may not be clear on the basics of forming a major scale from a chromatic Scale. Or they may still be confused about why there is no E# in the chromatic scale in the first place (for example).
Thirdly, confusion is often caused by the fact that Roman numerals are used to describe both the position of notes relative to the major scale and the chords that are derived from harmonising the scale.
Solution(s): Always check that it is not the use of Roman numerals themselves that are the problem. Especially with kids, you can't be sure that they understand the Roman numeral system as it is generally used less and less these days and not necessarily covered in school curricula.
Next check back over the first basic theory steps and make sure that they are really clear on how to build a major scale. If not, then go back a step further and discuss the
chromatic scale, tones and semitones and then the major scale formula.
Then you can clear up the two different areas of application. Primarily you get them to apply the numerals to the notes of the major scale. Test them on it thoroughly. If they understand it they will be able to apply it. If they can't apply it they need to be taken back a step further again.
Once they are happy with describing notes relative to the major scale in terms of Roman numerals, then take them through the subject of harmonization – deriving chords from the major scale. Use plenty of examples and plenty of tests. It is vital to get them to work with the information. Transposing songs into different keys is a real application of this knowledge so I advise plenty of that.
Finally you can explain that chord formulas are thought of generically in terms of steps relative to the major scale (ie. I III V = major chord, I bIII V = minor chord and so on). Get them to use this knowledge to work out the notes of several different chords until it is clear they can use the information with confidence.
Note that this whole process may take several weeks, done a little at a time. Also note that if you teach with care from the outset, you shouldn't run into these problems at all. The trick is to use plenty of application and testing to consolidate knowledge at each level and resist the temptation to move on until each level is really well understood and applied by the student – its not how much ground you cover – its how thorough their grasp of each step is before you move on that determines real progress.
Problem: Student confused by diminished and augmented chords
These chords both have one or two unusual features that can sometimes confuse students.
Probable cause(s): Usual problem is with the equidistant intervals that is a feature of both these chord types.
Solution(s): Get the student to write out a chromatic scale:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# …….etc.. Then a C major scale:
C D E F G A B C
Now ask them if they know the formulas for the diminished 7th and augmented chords. If they don't know them tell them:
Dim 7th = I bIII bV bbVII Aug = I III #V
Now get them to apply these formulas to the C major scale to derive the C dim7 and C aug chords:
C dim 7 = C Eb Gb A C aug = C E G#
Now get them to underline all the notes of the C dim 7 chord on the chromatic scale: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
And ask them if they can spot what is special about this arrangement of notes (they are all exactly a tone and a half (equivalent to a minor III) apart)
If you get them to repeat the same exercise with the augmented chord they will discover that its notes are all two tones (equivalent to a major III) apart.
You can say that the practical implication of this is that the C dim7 chord comprises the same notes as the D# dim 7, the F# dim 7 and the A dim7 chord.
Another way of putting this is that any note in a dim7 chord can be considered to be the root note.
One more view is that there are only three dim 7 chords
With the augmented chord the same sort of rules apply except that there are four possible augmented chords.
Problem: Student disorientated by crossover between country and blues scales Getting to grips with the relationship between blues scales and country scales can cause confusion in students
Probable cause(s): The most likely cause of confusion stems from their being as yet insufficiently experienced working with the blues scales in their home keys. So you are building on shaky foundations by adding a whole new dimension to their lead playing.
Solution(s): Usually it is best to go back to straight blues scales. Get them more thoroughly used to jumping around from key to key and from position to position. Have them use them over as many different types of song as possible, different tempos, rhythms and feels.
Only when they are thoroughly conversant with using the blues scales in their home keys should you introduce the subject of using the same patterns for country scales. The best approach is then to simply state that 'this song is in the key of A, but I want you to make the F# blues scale work over it' Then get them to do it. Then pick the key of E and get them using the C# scale.
Next, tell them you are going to play in C and they are to work out which other scale works over C. If they're smart they'll spot the relationship – if not then point out that they used F# over A (three frets down the fretboard) and C# over E (three frets down the fretboard) so guess what to use over C……..
Keep the emphasis on their playing in lots of different keys in this way until they are thoroughly used to what to do. Only then answer questions about how and why it works.
Problem: Student having difficulties handling the slide
No matter what you say to help, the student is really struggling with bottleneck guitar
Probable cause(s): The slide they are using is either too big or too small
Solution(s): Have a close look at the slide the student is using and at the size of their fingers. It should become obvious if the slide is the wrong size for them. If you plan to do a lot of slide teaching it makes sense to keep a few different slides handy to try out on the student. Weight can make a difference – glass slides are much lighter than steel ones for example.
Problem: Slide work sounds messy
The student is getting a lot of sounds from other strings that spoil the sound of their slide playing.
Probable cause(s): They haven't got the hang of damping the other strings with their trailing fingers.
Solution(s): See Objective 3. Lesson plan 29. Problem: Slide guitar sounds out of tune
The student is playing at the right frets but it all sounds flat.
Probable cause(s): Assuming the guitar is correctly tuned, the cause is that they are so used to positioning their fretting fingers behind the frets whereas the slide is used directly over the frets.
Solution(s): Repeat the listening and tuning drill from Objective 1 in Lesson plan 29. Spend some time on this starting with single notes and working up to 6 string chords.
Lesson plan 31: NAMES OF NOTES Suitable for: Beginners Prerequisites: None General Objective:
Student able to name any note on the guitar fretboard Summary of this lesson plan:
This lesson plan treats the fretboard like a grid. By understanding how both axes of the grid work you can find any note on the grid
Stress:
Make it fun and be very, very patient with the student. If they grasp this level thoroughly, you remove all sorts of problems from their future studies of music. Materials required:
Chromatic scale derivation Diagram of note names Special equipment required:
Piano or keyboard if possible. If not, then a drawing of the keyboard. Objectives and methods:
Objective 1. Student familiarized with note names on open strings