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Kid friendly lesson ideas - 7 year old daughter

My daughter and I have finished her guitar and it sounds great. She wants to learn to play like Dad (hopefully better, eventually) and looking to me for guidance. She shows good patience for a girl who is almost 7. But you know, that means like 6 1/2 seconds of listening to Dad talk about rhythm.

We tried to do our first lesson today and it landed sorta flat. She has the expectation that she will be able to play Rainbow Connection on her first go.

My plan was/is to introduce simple strumming and picking with the right hand before attempting to do anything with the left. We played follow the leader this morning using the T,B,M,B picking pattern with thumb and index finger. Then simple thumb, strum, strum.

I'd also like to give her some "free expression" time to hopefully discover some things on her own.

I would like some kid-friendly suggestions for different ways to mix up the plan so she doesn't get bored or discouraged. Any ideas?

If you haven't seen or heard the guitar, it's here: http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/my-daughter-s-first-box-guitar-... It's a beauty!

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on June 21, 2012 at 2:45am

Some simple 3 - chord boogie songs should do nicely, very rewarding learning a whole song for a beginner, and mix the strumming patterns, tempos and beats. (-:

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on June 21, 2012 at 2:55am

Thanks Steve. We're not quite there yet, but I'm sure we will be soon. She still has to get through the pain of fretting a note.

I'm considering switching the git over to nylon strings.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 21, 2012 at 5:09am

Eric,

The guitar teacher who taught my kids for the last year and a half insisted on teaching them for the first 6 months on nylon strings, so that their callouses can build up gradually. He has taught several hundred kids here precisely the same way, with excellent results. Then he switched over to steel. Rationale for this also is that the hand doesn't have to work so hard, and you reduce the possibility for injury. With a 7 year old, her muscles are still growing. Switch her temporarily to nylon for awhile. She'll enjoy it more, and won't cut up her fingertips.

Play along with her, and encourage her to sing each note as she plays it. This is good ear training, helps reinforce both muscle and tonal memory, and is used by the classically-trained opera singer who teaches piano and voice to my kids, and is also done by their guitar teacher. Show her how to make a simple 3-note song out of a single chord.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on June 21, 2012 at 5:51am

Thanks Ron. We played follow the leader this morning together and it worked well. I told here I had to sit for days just finger picking to get the muscles burned in. Hours and hours. She has to develop this patience.

Nylon strings are next.

Thanks for the advice.