Day One with Beginning Guitarists

What would you do on day 1 with beginners (of any age)?

You can start off by playing bass on strings 4,5,6. Find any song in A that they might know (start with a blues, that’s always a good bet!) and put the chord progression on the board so that the students can easily read it. Some students may be able to remember where A,D, and E strings are. Review the strings using call and response or your most successful method.

Here’s the fun part: Sing “In the Jungle” by rote and assign a single bass note to each of three groups of players; have them play only when it is their turn. The Chord progression is: A,D,A,E. Change the string that each group plays and repeat. Any three chord song will work with this method, so you can use a song that the children already know from music books.

Try these other songs to play along with: Bob Marley’s, “Stir It Up” and “Three Little Birds”; Van Morrison’s, “Gloria”; Everly Brothers’, “Bye Bye Love.

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