No matter what method or style, teachers should be able to accomplish three essential goals for first-year classroom guitar—guitar positioning, optimal body posture, and basic musicianship. Seems like obvious tasks— we all want students to hold their guitar and move hands with greatest efficiency, and we want them to be musically literate. If accomplished, these goals will make successful players who are more likely to transition to upper-level guitar study.
Positioning and posture go hand in hand. Students can’t have good posture without good positioning. And both should be applied in an integrated way, constantly reinforced along side the development of other skills— technique, sight-reading, guitar ensemble, etc. It’s amazing how many technique issues can be resolved with just a few tweaks to positioning/posture.
If not integrated or reinforced in daily learning, positioning/posture may become weak and jeopardize the development of guitar study. While some teachers might argue that students shouldn't worry about positioning/posture all the time—maybe for sight-reading, guitar ensemble, (because it’s an “added distraction”), consider the “distraction” bad posture has on their playing which affects the accuracy of their reading. It’s a flawed argument
How many times have we seen students holding the guitar in correct position, then as class wears on, guitar necks slope down and footstools get kick out of the way? At that moment, we choose either to ignore it (thinking, ”students will eventually learn it”), or we fix it—“nipping the problem in the bud.” Being proactive to the latter, acknowledges the power of positive habits, and how important they are in learning (and teaching).
I always tell students that guitar positioning is the “foundation of the house, which all technique is built upon.” “If a foundation cracks, the house crumbles.” Imagery like this is helpful, but the key is building positive habits, tweaking students’ position on an ongoing basis until they are on “automatic.” It can be fatiguing. It can take a couple of weeks, months or the entire 1st year, but in the end, it’s worth every bit of effort for you and them.
Unfortunately good positioning, doesn’t ensure that students will have good posture. Optimal posture (from a Shearer-method standpoint) means keeping the body joints (most importantly the hands and arm) in alignment and resting in their mid-range position (between extreme flexion and extreme extension). Once posture is set, optimal body movement is possible, using follow through and uniform direction of joint movement—a way of moving with utmost relaxation and the least muscle resistance. For more, see Four Principles of Efficient Muscle Function.
Learning optimal posture takes time and as argued should be integrated into all aspects of technique. One of the best ways to address in the classroom is for you to be actively walking around (using a guitar strap) during warm-ups and group study. This affords you one-on-one assessments and corrections, albeit brief. Maintaining a traditional stance in the front of the class isn’t always best—it doesn’t serve students out of visible range, and forces you to unnecessarily yell out.
Unfortunately, many guitar students are musically illiterate, reading TAB over traditional notation. But ask yourself...what other music programs in public schools teach TAB? The answer is none. Orchestra, Band, and Chorus all teach music reading, so why should Guitar be any different. Yes, tablature is tempting to students; it offers visualization power and an immediacy of music connection, but it does little to nurture musical understanding and musicianship. And while there are more and more guitar music publishers selling TAB, it’s definitely not a healthy direction for guitar education. TAB disconnects with understanding of harmony; it closes off access to a wealth of standard notation repertoire, as well opportunities to play with other instrumentalists and vocalists.
While learning to read music is an initial investment of time, in the long run, it’s well worth it. And if students really want TAB, nothing stops them from learn it on their own time—online. It just doesn’t (and shouldn’t) need to be a subject learned in a Middle or High school grade-assessed program.
Understanding: Frets, strings, rhythms, chord/melody voicings, AND— A min with non-chord tones on weak beats of 1 and 2, moving to F maj with added 9.
Understanding: Frets, and strings
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Identify three-note fretboard patterns as chord names. Each pattern is part of a larger 4-, 5-, or 6- string chord. The qualities choices are lead-sheet style. (Here "o7" is for all types of diminished 7th chords)
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