The Blog

The Princess Bride. A ’59 Les Paul. Lucky the goldfish’s funeral.

There’s something satisfying about a true classic. I thought I’d dig up one of my favorites from this blog: Strumming 101.

Since I posted this tutorial on how to strum a guitar in 2005, over 100,000 people have visited it. Every week or so, someone leaves a comment telling me how much they enjoyed it. It’s gratifying to know that I’ve had the privilege of introducing so many people to the guitar.

I remember writing that tutorial. I expected 100 people might read it. I was living alone for the first time, in a dumpy apartment, above a neighbor who’d blast an airhorn when my students would tap their feet.

Five years later, I’m married, living in my own home, and starting development of a beginner’s guitar course that I’ll starting this winter. I hope every page of it has the same spark as this tutorial: Strumming 101

Enjoy,

Rob

My student Wesley and I have been having fun this past month filming songs and commercials for a make-believe TV show. It’s been an awesome motivator for practicing songs.

Here’s his first segment: Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” Yep, he chose the song.

We all need heroes: People who inspire us to realize our full potential and to do the hard work of being good. People to imagine when making tough decisions, and ask, “What would _______ do?”

I just found a new hero.

I usually don’t plug products, but the just-released PolyTune app for the iPhone is amazing. You strum the open strings on your guitar, and the six pairs of dots—one for each string—show which strings are out of tune. Instead of going through each string one-by-one, you can see immediately where the problem is.

In the image at right, the 4th string’s a little flat, and the 2nd string’s pretty sharp.

I just tested the app on my acoustic guitar, and it seems as accurate as my favorite “normal” tuner.

The first 25,000 downloads of the app are free, so let the feeding frenzy begin. More info here: http://www.tcelectronic.com/polytune-iphone-app.asp

One of my students is playing “Sad But True” by Metallica at the upcoming Coffee Shop Jam, and he’s made an unfortunate choice for a vocalist: Me.

I’ve been singing along with Metallica videos to try to get this John Denver voice to rock a little harder, and I came across this excellent Fresh Air interview with Metallica’s lead singer and rhythm guitarist, James Hetfield.

I love it when Terry Gross, Fresh Air’s geeky librarian-like interviewer, has grizzled rock stars as guests. This episode is a new favorite.

My position:

I believe that as a teacher, I’m responsible for teaching both knowledge and character: How to finger tap, and also, usually in more subtle ways, how to be a kind person.  And there are definitely some songs with offensive or “adult” lyrics that I would never teach a child.

But I don’t think “Highway to Hell” is inappropriate.  The speaker in AC/DC’s song “Highway to Hell” is obviously a terrible role model, but the kids I teach know that. Teaching a young person the song wouldn’t make them do evil things, any more than a child dressing up like a vampire for Halloween would give them a thirst for human blood.

What do you think?

Six weeks until the Coffee Shop Jam!  As my students’ rowdy recital approaches, I find myself watching video footage from past jams, reliving the exciting memories.  One video I return to, not just now but whenever i need a boost, is Emma’s performance of her song “Snow Day.”

I tell the story of helping Emma write this song in the conclusion of my Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook, excerpted below.  Enjoy!

Snow Day

When my 9-year-old student Emma came to her first lesson after the winter break, there were still a few patches of snow in my backyard, the remnants of a massive storm that delighted kids, and mortified their parents, by closing schools for a week.  Emma arrived full of stories of sledding on city streets and walking to the grocery store in Arctic gear.

Suddenly, interrupting her own story, she burst out, “I want to write a song!”

“Great!” I said.  “What do you want to write about?”

“Um…I don’t know.”  The muses had arrived at her doorstep empty-handed.  I knew the feeling.

“Well, usually people write about things they feel strongly about—something that makes them really happy, or sad, or angry.  You seem in a good mood.  Want to write a happy song?  What’s something that makes you really happy?”

A brief fermata, and then Emma’s eyes widened.  “SNOW DAY!” she boomed.  Yes, the girl boomed.

I knew from past songwriting sessions that Emma prefers to improvise singing parts while I play guitar.  I grabbed my Les Paul—she insisted that the song should rock—and, with my audio recorder on,  I played power chords while Emma shaped her snow-joy into words, rhythm, and melody.  A few minutes later, she had her chorus, simple yet perfect: “Snow day, the best day ever.”

Over the next few lessons, she dictated verse lyrics while I typed, and then fashioned them into pleasing melodies while I played chords.  Once the song was finished, we worked on stagecraft in preparation for the spring Coffee Shop Jam.  Emma practiced singing into the microphone, moving her body with the music, and counting beats to help her know when to start singing a tricky line in the third verse.  She wore a racetrack around the perimeter of my lawn by running while memorizing lyrics—talk about kinesthetic learning!  I stood in the middle of the lawn, prompting her when she got stuck and, as I often do these days, marveling at what a strange and wonderful job I have.

You can guess how the story ends.  Emma’s fantastic performance at the Coffee Shop Jam was a culmination of her creative gifts and hard work, and the teaching approach I’ve described in this chapter: Honor the students’ interests.  Provide scaffolding (notice she didn’t even touch the guitar during the writing process—singing and playing would have overwhelmed her).  Tackle difficult tasks by appealing to students’ learning styles.  Motivate them with encouraging feedback and a chance to share their music with the world.

When I told Emma at the end of her performance, “That was the best song ever,” I wasn’t exaggerating for her benefit.  It was one of the most powerful teaching moments of my life.

Those of you who’ve frequented my blog over the years probably remember my student Connor, the 10-year-old AC/DC fanatic who writes hard rock songs about American history and his guinea pig, Spikey.  I’m happy to announce that after two years of work, his EP “Too Small” is now available for sale at CreateSpace.com.  You can also buy it at Amazon.com, but less of the money will go to Connor.

Making this album with Connor was such a blast.  I looked at the project as an opportunity to motivate Connor to polish his songwriting and performance skills, and one skill we focused on was singing into the mic as if he were in front of a cheering crowd.  It’s a huge challenge for an inexperienced recording artist to muster enough energy for a compelling vocal performance in the peaceful quiet of a small studio. If you listen to the album, I think you’ll agree that Connor “got it.”

Mixing with Connor was fascinating. He has a great ear for post-production. I always give students final say when we’re making artistic decisions, but in Connor’s case this usually resulted in a better-sounding recording.  He was good at balancing the volume of the different instruments to create a nice blend, and was adventurous experimenting with guitar effects.  For example, he created the helicopter-like sound in the breakdown of “Slavery” by cranking all the knobs on my BOSS Flanger pedal.  I winced when I first heard the effect, but Connor insisted that was the sound he wanted.  Now I love that part.

Connor’s definitely excited to make real money from his music, but I’ve been impressed with his mature handling of mom’s suggestion to donate some of the proceeds to Children’s Hospital. Connor had severe allergies and barely survived his birth, and he really seems to understand the value of giving back to the hospital that saved his life.

I hope you enjoy the music. Hold on to your hairnet!

Details

Price: $12.51
Playtime: 15 minutes
Tracks:
1. Too Small For a Giant
2. What Are You Doing For Halloween, Spikey?
3. Freedom
4. Slavery
5. Civil War
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Children’s Hospital in Seattle.

Video of Connor

Wild Thing – Filmed when Connor was six.



Death Nightmare – 2009 Coffee Shop Jam