Summer Strummer Guitar Course Lesson Plan for 518 Guitar Group Lessons, Spring to Summer 2021 Prepared by Andrew Wheeler
OVERVIEW & PURPOSE
Hello Guitar Students! The purpose of this online group guitar class is to help you feel ready to seamlessly strum this summer. Many of you received your first guitar this holiday season, or, maybe you had a guitar sitting around that you finally decided to put to use. With all of the “instructional” videos on YouTube and other sites, it can be very difficult to know exactly how to progress and move forward. I often hear from students that ‘trying to learn from YouTube’ seems like a good idea at first but ends up as a frustrated network of criss-crossing roads and pay-walls, making for a very distracted learning process.
Rather than hand you a fish, I want to teach you to fish. As a guitar instructor of many years, I have always heard from students that knowing how to strum, change chords and practice correctly empowers them to grow their wings and fly. That is my goal for you: freedom on the guitar to empower you to have the knowledge and skills to grab your … guitar and strum naturally, sounding musical and knowing how to learn new songs with no issues. The guitar should be fun and relaxing, not stressful. I want you to have a very musical and rewarding guitar summer - so let’s head to boot camp now, while there is still time.
This group online lesson will cut through all the disorganized fluff that you see in the market today and help you right here, right now to be the guitarist who can enjoy their summer months strumming on their front porch or around the fire pit in the backyard. Or even the campsite!
Who this group class is for: Anyone who has learned a couple chords but is having trouble putting chords together to sound like music consistently. 2 weeks to a month practice experience is helpful, but not necessary.
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PERKS:
● This class will be online with me, a guitar instructor & gigging musician with over 15 years of teaching experience and dozens of five-star google reviews from happy students. ● All weekly meetings will be recorded and archived for you to watch - forever. ● Andrew will offer 1-on-1 help between meetings with exclusive video responses for enrolled group lesson students.* ● Free Practice Tracker worksheets to help you practice efficiently and improve.
OBJECTIVES
1. Learn how to practice efficiently so you don’t waste time on your guitar journey. 2. Learn the chord switching tricks you can rely on time and time again. (I learned the hard way - from trial and error...now I can share these tricks with you!) 3. Better strumming, better rhythm and better timing. 4. Form the correct muscle memory - the first time - so you don’t have to spend time re-wiring your brain and hands every time you want to learn a song. 5. Learn all your major chords, minor chords and 7th chords. These are the ingredients of the majority of popular music from the 1950s to today. 6. Dive into Rock & Roll, Blues, Country, Pop, Folk, Soul and more! 7. Play songs in their entirety. 8. Learn how to read guitar tablature. This is not the same as reading music; it’s a shortcut and is useful at first to form a foundation. 9. How to use a metronome to measure your improvement and make sure you’re on the right path.
MATERIALS NEEDED
1. Acoustic or Electric Guitar 2. Computer, tablet or cell phone which connects to internet 3. Internet
VERIFICATION (How will I know if I’m improving?)
Steps to check for student understanding
2 1. Weekly video check-ins with Andrew. 2. Use of a metronome to help you develop internal rhythms on your own. 3. Smoother chord changes and transitions. You will eliminate the awkward break and waiting time between chords. 4. Being able to strum rhythm patterns naturally, without thinking about it.
ACTIVITY
Describe activity that will reinforce the lessons
1. Defined practice sessions
*For all enrolled group lesson guitar students, Andrew will offer 1 short free video exchange per week to see how you are progressing and offer feedback to you directly. This is done via short videos you can make from your cell phone, tablet, or computer. Andrew will then make a video response just for you and put it in your guitar folder online so you can access it.
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