Notes - Lesson Review after Seminar

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Lesson: 1 hour

Lesson Overview - I decided to implement exercises that I had worked out with my previous lesson. This particular student wants to be a songwriter. She has been writing a song a week and we are working on her latest one. I had her play the song for me while I made TAGpoints in my head that we could use to clean up some of the inconsistencies with her technique.

These were the issues I saw with her playing during the song:

- Inconsistent strum patterns and technique
- Constantly resetting fingers for each chord played


I used these TAGpoints to address the issues:

• Stop pick at Marker: This TAGpoint is in conjunction with a visual marker applied to the instrument. For the electric guitars I physically put masking tape onto the guitar to mark where the pick (or hand) should stop when strumming down and strumming up. For acoustics we use the top and bottom edges of the sound hole.

• Keep fingers close to strings: This TAGpoint is a little general but is meant to keep the student from taking their fingers completely away from the fret board and then resetting them with each chord. The idea is to keep the fingers close to the guitar fretboard and strings so the that you can move between chords as quickly as possible. There is not a specific distance that the fingers need to be away from the strings, however the fingers should not be completely pulled away and then placed back on the fretboard one by one. Instead, the fingers should stay close to the strings between chords to maximize efficiency.

How I implemented the TAGpoints:

I began by going over the strumming TAGpoint. Explaining the reasons for the hand to not pass these points to ensure for efficient technique. I had her practice with the first chord of her song. I let her know "The TAGpoint is - Stop pick at marker" then signaled for her to start. I had her strum for 30 seconds 4 times. I had the student then strum the chord without tagging. When it seemed that we had given that chord enough time we moved to the second chord. The sme TAGpoint was applied to this chord and we practiced that chord for 30 seconds 4 times. I had the student then alternate between the chords to get the feel of how the strumming pattern should feel between the two chords. Her technique had improved.

The third chord of her song was a difficult from the second. This is where I had noticed the student completely taking the fingers away from the fretboard and resetting them one by one to make the third chord. I explained what I wanted her to do to achieve the next TAGpoint. I let her know "The TAGpoint is - Keep finger close to strings" and signaled her to move from one chord to the other, concentrating on keeping the fingers closer to the strings.

Notes - My TAGteach certification seminar

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My TAGteach certification seminar has finally come and gone. I have been studying and implementing TAgteach into this guitar method since I started it but I knew there was still more to know. My primary seminar really put a lot into focus with that. I am now moving forward with a clearer picture of the road ahead towards my level 1 certification.

Video - Montage of Complete Lesson 2

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Here is a montage of the entire 2nd lesson I had with my late student. You can read below what we did on the first lesson. She does not own a guitar and did not practice between lessons. I wanted to see what her memory retention was and so I had her do the chord exercise with the Fmaj as soon as we sat down. To my delight (as well as hers) she was able to play the chord cleanly and effortlessly all without going home to practice!!! We decided to move forward and learn more chords for the song she wanted.

We moved to the Bmaj chord which I thought would give her the same trouble as the Fmaj but it did not. She was able to easily play that chord. I then had her do some chord shape exercises to get used to moving between both those chords. Since that was going well I showed her the Dm chord. Again, she was able to play it fine so we did some chord shape exercises as well as some strumming exercises to get her used to strumming all the chords. I decided to show her the last chord, Cmaj, to finish all the chords she needed to know for the song. She was once again able to play that fine along with the chord shape exercises. I decided to go ahead and start getting her started with alternate strum patterns. At first I had her play a downstroke then an upstroke. Each successful stroke got a TAG. Then I turned a metronome on and had her naturally just play an alternate strum pattern to see where her rhythm was at. It was fine. I decided to go ahead and have her start playing with the metronome.

First I had her just hold the chord and vocally call out each beat. She would call out 8 beats then have 8 beats to get to the next chord, then call out 8 beats, then have 8 beats to get to the next chord. I then had her strum the beats with the rest between each chord to have time to move to it. When she was proficient at this I lessened the time to 4 beats. When that was proficient I challenged her to just 2 beats. At first it was difficult but she immediately started over and was able to do it!!!

Video - Strumming Exercise 2

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Here is an example of an alternate strumming exercise I did with my second student. The TAG point is playing a down up down up pattern clean for one chord.

Notes - First Lesson with Second student

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My second student is actually a friend of mine that wants use the method. She currently does not have a guitar but thought our first lesson was very fun. She already has some skills and a small knowledge base with chords and strumming. To take advantage of this I developed the second and third strumming pattern exercises with her. Since she already knew the beginner chords I teach everyone we are moving on to much more challenging open chords like Fmaj and Bmaj. This proved to be a challenge. We ended up only focusing on the Fmaj the whole time but by the end of the lesson I had her playing it cleanly. I developed a way to approach these types of chords.

For the Fmaj chord it was taxing on her hand to hold the whole chord and play it cleanly. It was also impairing her ability to learn where her fingers should be to play cleanly. Her hardest challenge was playing the 1st and 2nd strings cleanly as these are held down by finger 1 at the same time. So I decided to focus on just those. I had her hold the 1st and 2nd strings with finger 1 and play each until they were clean. Once she had a grasp with how the finger should be positioned to be able to do this we added finger 2 on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string. I then had her practice playing those three strings cleanly. At first she ran into problems but was soon able to readjust and get her hand positioned to play all three clean consistently. At this point I had her add finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the 4th string. What I thought would affect her playing the chord actually did the opposite. She was able to play the chord cleanly with the added note. This led me to understand the most difficult aspect of the open Fmaj chord is holding string 1 and 2 down with the same finger. Once that is perfected adding the rest of the notes for the chord are far less difficult.

Video - First Song Lesson 6

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Here is a clip of my students first time singing and playing a song. This was during our 6th lesson. It is these moments that there are no criteria. I simply let the student play and have fun with it regardless of the flaws. The idea is to build confidence as my student had never done that before. If she feels excited about how it felt (which she did) she is likely to go home and practice it more. With some refinement through our exercises we will be able to eliminate many flaws and allow the student to focus on creating as opposed to practicing. The excitement of how it feels to be able to perform music is in itself the motivating factor with the guitar and is something that becomes arbitrary as we master the instrument more and more. We begin to forget how it felt the first time we were able to sing over music we were playing. The satisfaction of feeling like we had accomplished something that seemed relatively impossible before.

Click To Learn Guitar Article Published Online

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I have an article published on the popular webnewspaper Broowaha. Here is the link for the article:

Article Link

Please leave your thoughts along with the others. It is this weeks most viewed article!

Video - Lesson 5 testimonial

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Here is a video of some questions I gave my student after our 5th lesson:

Video - Lesson 5 Chord Reading Exercise

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Here is the chord reading exercise I explained in the previous post:

Notes - Lesson 5

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Lesson 5

Our fifth lesson consisted of a more open approach. I did not plan anything, instead We went over previous information, talked some more about how the student was feeling and what her goals were. The lesson exercises went as follows:

Chord Exercise: Play each string of the chord in ascending order. Each correct string played is tagged. Once all the strings are tagged that is cue for the student to then play the entire chord. Correct performance of the entire chord is tagged.

*note: The chord exercise is meant to teach the student how each string should be played and heard to properly play the entire chord. If all strings are played correctly then the chord will be played correctly. Focusing on each string breaks the chord mechanics down to small steps to achieve a big success which is playing the entire chord correctly and easily.

Strumming Exercise: This exercise is meant to learn the mechanics of strumming. The strings should be strummed with an easy attack that is musical. Each correct strum is tagged. each chord is strummed 4 times. The fourth correct strum of the chord is tagged twice to signal a chord change.

*note: The double clicking of the fourth strum teaches the student where the end of a 4 bar measure would be. This is crucial when paying with others or reading music. Also, with all these exercises you can have the student call out the chord being played for their memory.


Chord Shape Exercise: This exercise improves the mechanics of moving from chord to chord. The teacher calls out a chord and the student simply put their fingers on the chord shape. Each correct chord shape is tagged. This exercise can be done by the teacher calling the chord, the student calling the chord or the student reading the chord.

Chord Reading Exercise: This exercise improves the student's reading skills. flash cards with chord names are set in a random order. The student does the strumming exercise using the order of the flash card chords. The student does not call out the chord, instead goes to the next chord. This improves the student's ability to read a chord progression and perform it.

Video - Chord Shape Exercise

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This exercise is meant to increase the speed of moving form chord to chord. Combined with the chord and strumming exercise the student learns good technique along with speed.

Notes for exercise:

-Call chord
-Tag correct chord shape by student

Notes - Lesson 4

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• Review previous lesson
• Review Em chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Gmaj chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Cmaj chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Strumming Exercise
• Ask student what chord feel easiest to play and in what order they prefer to play them
• Have student call out chord and strum each chord 4 times.
• TAG each correct strum
• Double tag the last strum of each chord to signal a chord change for student
• Incorporate Flashcard with strumming exercise
• Hold flash cards up intermittently
• Have student call out chord on flashcard and strum the whole chord
• TAG if chord called is correct and strum is correct
• Learn Dmaj chord
• Finger 1on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 1st string and 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string..
• Play just the four top strings.
• Play each string - TAG correct playing
• Play whole chord
• Incorporate new chord with strumming exercise.
• Assess students ability to strum. If student is ready, incorporate a metronome to play with strum pattern.
  

Notes - Muscle Memory

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from the wikipedia article on muscle memory

Muscle memory starts with a visual cue. A classic example are chords while playing instruments such as the piano or guitar. The beginner must think and interpret these chords, but after repetition, the letters and symbols on the page become cues to the muscle movements. As the brain processes the information about the desired activity and motion such as a golf swing, one then commits to that motion thought as correct. Over time, the accuracy and skills in performing the swing or movement improve.

Muscle memory is the control center of the movement. In maximizing muscle memory to learn a new motion, practicing that same motion over a long enough period makes it become automatic. This learning process could take months, even years, to perfect, depending on the individual's dedication to practice, and their unique biochemical neuromuscular learning system to retain that practice.

In detail, inside the brain are neurons that produce impulses, which carry tiny electrical currents. These currents cross the synapses between neurons with chemical transporters called neurotransmitters to carry the communication. Neurotransmitters are the body’s communicative mechanisms and one of their many functions is to travel through the central nervous system and carry the signal from visual cue to the muscle for the contraction.

Although there are many types of neurotransmitters, the communicative ones primarily used in muscle memory are acetylcholine and serotonin.

Acetylcholine is the major neurotransmitter used in memory, focus, concentration, and muscle memory. It is the substance that transports messages from one nerve cell to another. Acetylcholine is critical to the process of creating and remembering the muscle contraction. It achieves this through motor neurons.

Serotonin is imperative in the muscle memory process. Serotonin has multiple physiological actions at neuromuscular junctions where communication crosses over. This includes facilitation of transmitter release from nerve terminals and an increase in the communication to muscle fibers.

When a motor neuron depolarizes, an electrical current is passed down the nerve fiber and the impulse causes the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to be released to the muscle cell. Acetylcholine then binds with receptors on the muscle membrane to create the contraction. Over time, with acetylcholine the brain-muscle learns the chosen motion and induces its own form of memory. This process is also called neuromuscular facilitation. Once muscle memory is created and retained, there is no longer need to actively think about the movement and this frees up capacity for other activities.

Video - Lesson 3 Chord Exercise 2

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Here is a second example of the chord exercise. The student calls the chord and frets the chord shape. The student then plays each string one at a time. Each correctly played string is a TAG. After all string are played the student plays the whole chord. A correctly played chord is a TAG.

Notice when the student does not play a note cleanly or does not fret the chord correctly there is no click sound. The student then reassesses and tries again, this time doing it correctly. The click then tags the correct performance.

This is 1 hr. 30 mins total over a 3 week period of playing.

Video - Lesson 3 Chord Exercise

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Here is an example of the chord exercise for the Click to Learn Guitar method. The student frets the chord, plays each string, then plays the whole chord.



Chord Exercise:

• Have student fret the chord shape
• TAG correct fretting of chord shape
• Have student play each string
• TAG correct performance of each string - Student does not move to next string until they hear the click
• Have student play entire chord

Video - Lesson 3 strumming exercise - 02-03-08

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Quick Note: The noise in the background is a howling dog. NOT A MURDER.

So far my student has had three lessons. This equates to 1 hr 30 mins of guitar playing. However, it has been 30 minutes a week as the lessons are every Sunday. She has not practiced once since she started so this represents what the student is able to do and comprehend after playing for 1hr 30mins over a three week period.


Strumming Excercise

• Ask student what chord feel easiest to play and in what order they prefer to play them
• Have student call out chord and strum each chord 4 times.
• TAG each correct strum
• Double tag the last strum of each chord to signal a chord change for student

Notes: Lesson 3 Plan

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Lesson 3

• Review previous lesson
• Review Em chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Gmaj chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Cmaj chord
• Play each string - TAG correct play
• Play whole chord - TAG correct play
• Review Strumming Exercise
• Ask student what chord feel easiest to play and in what order they prefer to play them
• Have student call out chord and strum each chord 4 times.
• TAG each correct strum
• Double tag the last strum of each chord to signal a chord change for student
• Incorporate Flashcard with strumming exercise
• Hold flash cards up intermittently
• Have student call out chord on flashcard and strum the whole chord
• TAG if chord called is correct and strum is correct

Notes: Lesson 2 Video

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Lesson 2 Video Notes:

· I mumble

· Slouching posture in beginning

o Fix this

· Posture corrected when lesson starts

· Student posture comfortable

· Asked student to put Guitar on

· Had student turn volume up and pluck strings to check for sound

· Called out date for video reference

· Grabbed Notebook

o Posture changes to crossing legs - student still comfortable

· Review finger numbers

o student is correct each time (small success)

· Explained changing string numbers

o Posture still relaxed with legs crossed

· Reviewed string numbers

· Reviewed fret and finger placement

· Had student show me Em chord

o Tagged correct Em finger placement

· Had student play each string of the chord

o Tagged each correct string played

· Had student finger Gmaj chord

· Student was having trouble with the chord due to incorrect finger placement

o I moved in and physically changed student's fingers

§ believe this is case by case but in the future I should instead tell the student the correct fingering and have them figure it out. Physically moving in should only be done for non-finger position correction or finger position correction as a last resort.

· Returned to chair position

o Posture changed - no longer crossing legs

· Had student play each string

o Tag each correctly played string

· Student has trouble correctly placing fingers on strings

o I intervene and explain correction

· "use the tips of the fingers to push down on the strings like pushing the keys of a keyboard"

· Have student play all strings

o Note - In future use clicker with different click sounds to signal playing next step instead of verbally instructing (i.e. once student successfully plays all individual strings a second click sound would signal to play the whole chord.)

§ Posture changes to crossing legs

· Explain flash card exercise

· Show flash cards 5 times

o At end posture changes. I move in towards student and say "That was great". This is additional praise to mark a large success.

· Asked student how they felt about the chords

o Student responded - YES

· Discussed playing Cmaj chord

· Had student first learn to start on the EM chord then called out the finger position of the Cmaj chord

o Tag each correct finger position

· Engage student to correct hand placement to make chord feel more comfortable.

· While still engaged with student, explain that we don't play all the strings for the Cmaj. Only the bottom five.

· Had student play each string of the Cmaj chord

o Tag each correctly played string

· Have student play chord

o Tag correctly played chord

· Give student time to rest hand

o Note - I am showing flash cards each time I call out a chord

· Have student hold chord again

o Tag correct finger placement

· Have student play each string again

o Note - Student technique has improved.

· Have student play whole chord

o Tag correctly played chord

oPosture change - Move in after this ti signal Large Success with "That was great"

· Flash card exercise again

o Tag rach correctly played chord

· Student has trouble with Gmaj finger shape

o Has two incorrect attempts

· I engage to correct

o Note - this correction should of been done verbally

· Return to chair

· Return to game (flashcard)

· Student has issue with Cmaj finger shape

o No tag given due to incorrect playing of the Cmaj

oStudent reassess and successfully corrects it.

oTag correct performance

· At end of flashcard game posture change - Move toward student and signal Large Success with "That was Great" with click for additional praise.

· Discuss student's guitar skills with them

o Use this time to verbally praise student for successes

§ Note - Student responds VERy well to the praise at this point

· Go over strumming exercise

· Practice strumming exercise

· Lesson finished

Notes: Lesson 2 plan

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Lesson 2 Plan for Student

• Review Lesson 1
• Finger Numbers - TAG correct finger answer
  
• String Numbers - Low E is string 6, high E is string 1 - TAG correct answer
  
• Fret Numbers - TAG correct answer
• Fret Placement - TAG correct finger placement
  

• Review Chords
• Em Chord (E minor)
  
• Have student place fingers for chord - TAG correct finger placement
  
• Play each string - TAG each correctly played string
• Play entire chord - TAG correctly
  
• Gmaj Chord (G major)
  
• Have student place fingers for chord - TAG correct finger placement
  
• Play each string - TAG each correctly played string
• Play entire chord - TAG correctly played chord
  

Practice With Flashcards

• Show Em and Gmaj flashcards intermittently 6 times
• Have student play corresponding chord shown on card - TAG correct chord played
  

Learn Cmaj (C major)

• Have student place fingers for chord - TAG correct finger placement
  
• Play each string - TAG each correctly played string
• Play entire chord - TAG correctly

Strumming Excercise

• Ask student what chord feel easiest to play and in what order they prefer to play them
• Have student call out chord and strum each chord 4 times.
• TAG each correct strum
• Double tag the last strum of each chord to signal a chord change for student

*Note on strumming exercise - Student is playing their chosen chord progression. The theory is that this stimulates basic creative thought and begins the ability decide and decipher chord progressions.

Notes: This Is Your Brain on music - 1-27-08

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* Musical notes appear to fall into categories as to whether they are important notes of the piece or not. Many amateur singers dont store in memory every note of a musical piece. Rather, all have an accurate and intuitive sense of which those are -- and we store musical contour. Then, when it comes time to sing, the amateur knows that she needs to go from this tone to that tone, and she fills in the missing tones on the spot, without having explicitly memorized each of them. This reduces memory load substantially, and makes for greater efficiency.
* Music works because we remember the tones we have just heard and are relating them to the ones that are just now being played.
* The regular pulse of music causes us to expect events to occur at certain points in time.
* Real conversation between people, real pleas of forgiveness, expressions of anger, courtship, storytelling, planning and parenting don't occur at the precise clips of a machine. To the extent that music is reflecting the dynamics of our emotional lives, and our interpersonal interactions, it needs to swell and contract, to speed up and slow down, to pause and reflect. The only way we can feel or know these timing variations is if a computational system in the brain has extracted information about when the beats are supposed to occur. The brain needs to create a model of a constant pulse -- a schema -- so that we know when the musicians are deviating from it. This is similar to variations of a melody: We need to have a mental representation of what the melody is in order to know -- and appreciate -- when the musician is taking liberties with it.
* Music is organized sound, but the organization has to involve some element of the unexpected or it is emotionally flat and robotic. Too much organization may technically still be music, but it would be music that no one wants to listen to.

Thoughts For Next Lesson

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My first lesson was an overall success. I realized quickly that there was a lot I needed to keep in mind when approaching the next one. After thinking more about my assumption that less visual pressure will allow the student to learn quicker, I've realized that my body posture has to change and stay consistent. Since I will be video taping the lessons from here on out I will be able to study my posture with the students and the overall ability to learn guitar because of it. My basic theory is that passive posture will be the best place to start to let the student ease into the lesson. Based on the first lesson, I could tell that I wanted to move closer in to see what the student was doing. I started to slouch and I could tell my face was more intense. In retrospect I can now see that this could become detrimental to the student as they may feel pressure and eventual frustration with the process. However, too much passive posture can make the student feel that they are not doing well as you are uninterested. I am basing this idea on my own experience with music teachers. A lack of interest or physical response can also make you feel that you are not doing something right. Or, what you are doing is boring the teacher. I believe that posture should change given the circumstance.

For instance, when the student starts to learn a guitar chord I have them play each string first. They start by plucking the heavy E string and do not move to the next until a click is heard. A click will not happen until the teacher hears and sees the string played cleanly and correctly. Once the teacher clicks, the student moves to the next string. This can be a very potentially frustrating time for the student. There are many things involved during this process. They are concentrating on holding the chord, playing the string cleanly and fretting the note correctly by the teacher's instruction. On top of that their hands are getting tired and their fingertips may be sore or hurting. I consider this a "Peak" time for the student and they need to feel relaxed and be able to concentrate. It is at this moment that the teacher should have a nice passive posture.

--Passive posture however should not involve sitting back on the chair (i.e. the way we would sit back on a chair to think of a problem or to analyze something in our head). While the teacher may feel that this is comfortable, the student may feel as if they are being judged or over analyzed. Again, this is based on my interactions with past music teachers and people.

When should posture change? Well, the first thing I believe we should to think of when approaching this question is, "What would we want?". In the spirit of click training as well as operant conditioning and positive reinforcement I would only want to change my posture or body language to signal a success to the student. A success would come in many forms, however, we don't want to use body posture as much as we use the clicker. I have a feeling this would condition the student to also look for a body language response and take away from the clickers effectiveness. Instead, I believe that the best time to change body posture would be to signal a "Large Success".

--For example: The student plays each string of the chord. They do not move to the next string until a click is heard. This is a "Peak" time for the student. When the student finally makes it through all the strings the teacher asks the student to play all the strings i.e. the entire chord. Given that the student has learned how the hand should be placed and how the fingers should be placed to play chord cleanly (the student learns this because to play each string cleanly the technique must also be clean)the student now has the hand and fingers situated to be able to play the whole chord correctly. If this is done successfully the student will play the whole chord perfect. This is considered a "Large Success" as the student has made many small successes to get to the final goal: To play the chord correctly. It would be at this point that the teacher would not only click to signal a success, but also rearrange their body posture to show that they are impressed with what the student has accomplished.

Notes: First Lesson With New Student

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Here are the notes from my first lesson with my first student:

01-22-08

First lesson - Elizabeth
Taught - Finger numbers, string numbers, fret numbers, how to put fingers on frets, chords
Chords taught - Em, Gmaj

Time teaching - 30 minutes

Response from student - Good
Student abilities - Good
Response to click - Good

Resolution - Student decided to continue lessons

Observations:

• I believe that teaching someone without a guitar is less threatening and intimidating. When someone is first coming into a lesson and has no experience. Why would we sit there with our guitar, playing it great and feeling good. That just puts pressure on the student. The student should be eased into playing with the teacher. So that when that time comes the student has confidence in their abilities. When the teacher has the guitar at the beginning there is pressure on the student to do as well as the teacher. If not, frustration can happen. Without the guitar the student is free to be the only one playing therefore not being compared. THERE IS LESS VISUAL PRESSURE ON THE STUDENT IF THE TEACHER DOES NOT HOLD A GUITAR OR PLAY IT.


• Need to email student tomorrow and compliment their abilities today during the lesson. Also note what was taught, with as much information as possible. NEED TO EXPLAIN CHANGE FOR NEXT LESSON (will now be referring to high E as string one and Low E as string 6).
  

Click to Learn Guitar Website finished

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Hello everyone,
I have finished the Click to Learn website. Everything is up and running. I will be building the video documentary for the upcoming lessons.

Updated Site Up!!!

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An updated look the website is now up. Still with broken links but the gist is right there. I have been video taping all my lessons and will have it up soon. So far, the reaction has been very very good and I look forward to improving the process!!