fresh ways to help your student develop

CS-004 Chords and related scales

/in /by

About this resource

At first, students see scales and chords as two separate topics. Eventually a student will learn that both are interconnected, but this challenge will speed up the learning process. The goal is to give your student practice in linking the two together.

Some students will find this easy depending on their current understanding of music theory. This simple exercise will help students think creatively during improvising as they will learn to target different notes over certain chords or learn to shift between different scales as they see fit. It's a great way to prepare your student for Jazz improvising or just to give your student a better grasp of music in general.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CR-002 Matching Percussion Instruments

/in /by

About this resource

This Challenge is a simple way to get your student to start thinking about different instruments and more specifically - dynamics and rhythm. The basic idea is to listen to a drum beat or any type of percussive rhythm, then attempt to mimic that rhythm on guitar as closely as possible.

The goal is for the student to learn to understand different rhythms and learn to copy them on guitar. This will help later on when the student improvises or writes their own music.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CT-006 Emulate vocals on guitar

/in /by

About this resource

To help your student develop as a musician, it's important to teach them to think about music from a different instrument's perspective. The easiest way to do this is to teach your student to listen to a vocalist and focus on the way the notes are expressed. Guitar is an incredibly expressive instrument but unless your student learns to think about expressing notes, they often will play with no expression.

This Creative Challenge will teach your student to listen to a vocal melody, work out how to play it on guitar, then learn to emulate the way the vocalist expresses each note on guitar. The change in the way your student will think about music can be dramatic after they practice this skill.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CT-005 Chord progressions with new triad shapes

/in /by

About this resource

Students often start out with chord by learning basic open chord shapes, then move on to some standard barre chord shapes. At that point any chord progressions they come up with usually only use those shapes. This is a problem because it restricts the student to only one or two voicings per chord. Compare this to a Jazz guitarist who understands how to create any chord in any inversion anywhere on the fretboard. The goal of this Creative Challenge is to help your student learn to develop this valuable skill.

Once students learn to come up with new chord shapes anywhere on the fretboard for any chord, they will begin to come up with more interesting chord progressions and start to understand the fretboard better.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CR-001 Riffs based on random rhythm patterns

/in /by

About this resource

Students will often experience writer's block when they try to come up with their own riffs or licks. Your student may feel like they're playing the same things over and over. While there are many potential causes of this problem, one to consider is whether the student is unintentionally using the same rhythm pattern to write riffs.

This creative challenge will force your student to learn to write riffs based on unusual rhythm patterns. Practicing writing to a set rhythm pattern will teach your student what makes a good riff and what doesn't. It will also give your student a new way of looking at music.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CT-004 Two melodies at the same time

/in /by

About this resource

For classical students this challenge is a breeze but for most other styles it's tricky. This challenge will teach your student how to think about finger positioning and fret choices and how their decisions can affect the ease of a piece. The main benefit to using this challenge is that your student will begin to think ahead and plan out which fingers they will use as well as think about how moving notes to different strings can make a piece easier to play.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CI-004 Solo over ugly chords

/in /by

About this resource

This challenge will help your student learn to think about their note choices when playing over any chord. Soloing over an 'ugly' chord forces the student to really think about which notes are the best choices and which notes do/don't work well. It's a great way to test your student's understanding of chord theory and intervals. Your student will learn why certain chords sound appealing and why other chords don't.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CS-003 Octave tapping

/in /by

About this resource

This challenge will help your student memorize two areas of the fretboard simultaneously. By using tapping the student can practice playing the same scale over an octave. It's a simple challenge but can make a dramatic difference to how the student sees the fretboard and how they choose to use scales.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CS-002 No adjacent notes

/in /by

About this resource

When it comes to memorizing a new scale, students tend to become stuck moving up and down the scale without skipping notes along the way. Yes you can definitely practice moving up the scale in different intervals, but those type of set exercises won't completely solve the problem. This challenge will ask your student to think ahead and make their own way through the scale while obeying one rule. This ability to choose any note as long as it isn't an adjacent note will allow the student to develop their understanding of the scale without it feeling like a set exercise. In other words, the student can be creative instead of using rote memorization.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now

CS-001 Single note all over the fretboard

/in /by

About this resource

Learning the notes on the fretboard is a big task for a beginner and it can take a while before the student starts to recall the notes properly. Most students either learn the notes based on patterns or memorizing areas of the fretboard one at a time. This challenge will test your student out to see whether they're memorizing the notes properly, or if they're just memorizing set patterns.

If your student struggles with this challenge but can find the notes when playing in a certain shape or pattern, it's a sign that they haven't actually learned the notes properly. This simple test can reveal whether your student truly understands the fretboard or not.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

If you're a member, please login to access this resource

If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

Please login or register to gain full access now