I’m teaching a friend to play guitar, and she’s picking it up rather quickly.
She knows a bunch of chords, and I’d like to work on some actual songs with her. I’ve asked her to come up with some songs she likes that she might like to work on. Unfortunately, she defered to me, so I’ve got to come up with something, but she’s not very forthcoming about what it is she’d want to do. I don’t want to waste time working on a song that doesn’t inspire her, so I’m thinking of just getting a bunch of options together so she can pick one or two.
I’m thinking something accoustic folk/rock; I know she likes Bob Dylan and the Indigo Girls. Any suggestions?
Dylan is usually pretty easy to play. Just don’t start with Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, or she’ll never want to play guitar again after playing through it once.
My very first tune was Helpless, by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The chord progression is insanely simple, and it’s a pretty song.
How are you teaching her? Tab? Musical notation? Chords?
Helpless is a great tune, MrVisible, good suggestion.
Well, I’m starting with the chord approach. She can read music (can play some piano), but I think her goal for guitar is to just be able to play tunes she likes. So, I’ve tought her some chords, some strumming patterns, and figure we can get the rest through application. If/when we do some finger-picking tunes then I’ll pull out the tab.
I’d suggest just showing her OLGA, and letting her suggest some tunes, and dissuading her from the more complex ones for the time being. http://harmony-central.com/Guitar/tab.html
With this one caveat: It’s an easy way to learn how to play songs you like, but it’s hellish to move from just strumming along to anything more complex. I’ve been stuck in ‘cheat’ mode for decades now, and I can play some stuff that sounds relatively good, but I’ve never learned any theory or technique to go with it, so I’m very limited in what I can do. If she’s interested in just playing for fun, then this is a great approach. But it’s also a good way to pick up very bad habits.