Just starting off or going beyond the basics? Master guitar technique and songwriting now.

I started teaching lessons after graduationg from the Atlanta Institute of Music and Media in 2007. It was at a family owned shop I taught in called Newnan Music. While teaching I had a band that played weekends which would grow my student base. After Newnan Music closed I got wild with how much I would fill my schedule. I began teaching guitar at Piano Crafters, A Major Music and Attinas Music, all based around the Metro Atlanta area. Many students came with me from Newnan Music, as my students loved my focus on being creative. Generally I try to get students writing their own songs very quickly, some students absplutley do not want this however, they want to be comfortable with the information before writing, or they didnt seek to write music at all, and wish play their faveorite songs. Once we got the song, I might teach them how to improv a solo, so that they can apply any knowledge learned thru the lessons. However, It is the students that were songwriters, that would follow me wherever I went, and would continue learning until they eventually moved away for college.

Strumming is the begining of all guitar playing. I often start with a 5 chord or a “power chord” there will be no progression with this, just set up to practice playing the two strings “root and 5th”, to make sure the notes xome out cleanly, then we move to the “everything” chord progression from there. While workong on the power chords we also work on four of the most used open chords, and this is put into a progression with a couple of methods taught to make the chord changes easier. The chord progressions is A-, C, E-, G, one technique is to have as many fingers where they already meed to be for the next chord, leaving changing as little as possible on your fingers. The other is a technique one I call “letting the guitar breathe”, which is always fun to teach! From thsoe two chord progressions we will learn to improv over them with a minor pentatonic scale. This is the first two weeks to first month of a beginners lessons. It gets them started with, starter chord knowledge, starter lead knowledge, rhythm and ear training. Some guitarist stay at this level of knowleged, you can play many many songs with just the information taught in the first few weeks, and you can write even more with that same information. Once a student learns they can write their own songs, theyre hooked!