Beginning Guitar for Kids

If you are between the ages of 8 and 12 and you have little or no music experience, this class introduces you to both playing the guitar and reading music. You start with easy-format chords, single notes in the first position, and simple melodies and songs. By the end of the year, you are playing blues and rock tunes in a class band and even writing your own songs.

The Beginner's Guide to Guitar is the text used in this class.

Book/CD by Travis John Andrews & Ruth Parry

• Warm-ups and finger strengthening (hammers and pulls)
• 3/4 time signatures
• Reading notes on the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th strings
• Rhythms: dotted half-notes and eighth-notes
• Chords: seventh
• Strumming: using rests
• Alternate picking
• Understanding an octave
• The natural notes (half-steps, whole steps)
• Sharps, flats, and natural signs
• Power chords up the neck
• Pop and folk songs

• Warm-ups and finger pattern exercises
• Note reading in first position, continued
• Rhythms: eighth-note triplets
• Chords: min7 and maj7 chords
• Strumming: alternating root and fifth
• Palm muting
• Shifting from first to fifth position
• C major and A minor scales
• Minor pentatonic scale
• Basic improvisation
• Performing for others

Rock songs