As indicated on p.ii of the Preface to the main text, the Supplement contains essential information that for various reasons has not been considered suitable for inclusion in the main text. Therefore, that information should be applied in conjunction with and according to directives found throughout the text. Further, in the Shearer Online Supplement, short articles in which issues surrounding the often controversial field of classic guitar instruction are discussed.

Hopefully, it will be evident that most of the information presented in both the Text and Supplement should eventually be grasped by all enterprising students. Effectively conveying this information to various students, each an individual with specific personality traits and possessing differing levels of maturity and talent, presents a serious challenge. As an aid to this undertaking, most subjects that due to their length or complexity have the potential for becoming sources of confusion to some students, have been placed here.

This gives the teacher the prerogative of making choices about how much emphasis to place on a specific area of information at a given time or whether it should be deferred to later. Although the basic concepts found here generally apply to all students from the very young to the more mature alike, the degrees of the actual application vary greatly according to individual levels of intellectual development. Thus all necessary discretion should be used in introducing such concepts to less mature students. A major challenge in teaching young students is in finding ways to convey essential information in interesting, easily grasped ways while never burdening those students with information they find perplexing to understand and apply. Although one’s long range teaching goals may be quite well-defined, approaches to achieving them can be as varied and flexible as necessary. In no case are they ever reached through proceeding in a straight line.

 ……..Aaron Shearer