https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:08:25 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/paged/2/#post-244637 Mon, 28 May 2007 09:38:32 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion corbind https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/paged/2/#post-244637 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244574 Mon, 28 May 2007 02:47:24 +0000
I agree with Chris C that your Dad should get a little theory. But not TOO much. After all, this is mainly about sharing good moments with your Dad and teaching him how to play songs that he likes.

Since your Dad sings he will probably be most interested in accompanying himself. That means I/IV/V progression chords - hundreds and hundreds of songs use this progression or variations. G/C/D and C/F/G are good ones, if a little tough to learn the open C, and maybe E/A/B (the easy way).

And I would teach him the Emaj shape and Amaj shape barre chords first thing with their minors. It will take him a while to get them, maybe he never will get that serious, but if he gets excited about guitar he will learn these in a few weeks of practice.

There's nothing like grabbing a handful of strings and belting out a big tune! You don't have to be perfect to have a good time. I hope you have fun with your young old man and I'm sure we all wish him success.

Best, MicMac in Florida]]> Guitar Players Discussion MicMac https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244574 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244062 Fri, 25 May 2007 03:00:03 +0000
Paul He's actually a bit young compared to some of us... but I'm sure we could fit him in! :P

I think one of the best things you could do for him is give him a good overview of the subject. It was the thing most lacking in all the books I've read, which tend to confuse a beginner by launching straight into the details. I wouldn't neglect theory and scales either. I'd give him a quick background view of what everything is about and let him decide how much to follow up. Scales are good general exercises for getting your fingers working independently and for accuracy. They're also a good base for working out melodies, having a crack at soloing etc. Not everybody want to play rhythm, so a look at all the options is worthwhile. I'd at least give him a basic major scale to work on.

It's often said that there are 3 elements to music - Melody, Harmony and Rhythm. If you're going to play you need some knowledge and skills in each department. I'm sure that NoteBoat and others could give more accurate detail than me, but I'd include an overview something like this, and let him work on the detail:

Melody:

Basic knowledge of how tunes work. How many notes in Western Music and how they apply to the neck of a guitar. Why some notes on a guitar are effectively the same, whereas others are also 'the same' but an octave apart, etc. What Keys and Scales are and how they are useful to pick smaller 'teams' to play together. In other words, show him that the neck can be a lot simpler than it looks - you only need a few notes at a time! 8)

Harmony:

Big subject, but a rough idea idea of what chords are wouldn't hurt before he starts learning a few of the basic ones.

Rhythm:

Possibly the most overlooked by self taught beginners, yet arguably the most important. It doesn't matter how many chords you know, or how well you can work your way round the neck playing solos or scales, if you've got no skills in your right hand you've still got nothing musical. Timing, expression, strumming and picking patterns, etc etc. The reason most beginners can't make a set of 'easy' chords sound like a song is that they have little or no understanding of how important the right hand is, and what you do with it and how you do it. Beginners often expect the right hand to just 'happen'. But my guess is that progress is often very slow and inefficient until you discover how to work on it, and understand how many important jobs it has.

Good luck and have fun, :D

Cheers,

Chris]]> Guitar Players Discussion Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244062 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244044 Fri, 25 May 2007 00:56:57 +0000
Paul]]> Guitar Players Discussion Off He Goes https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244044 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244043 Fri, 25 May 2007 00:51:50 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Musenfreund https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244043 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244042 Fri, 25 May 2007 00:38:48 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244042 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244034 Fri, 25 May 2007 00:06:22 +0000
Maggie May from the Easy Songs db is a great one to work on.

Have a lot of fun with him along the way!

Margaret]]> Guitar Players Discussion margaret https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244034 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244032 Thu, 24 May 2007 23:52:22 +0000 Get him signed up and chatting then he will realise he's nowhere near too old to learn. :D true. I am almost old enough to be your dad's father! :shock:]]> Guitar Players Discussion dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244032 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244029 Thu, 24 May 2007 23:36:23 +0000 Get him signed up and chatting then he will realise he's nowhere near too old to learn. :D]]> Guitar Players Discussion biker_jim_uk https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244029 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244027 Thu, 24 May 2007 23:18:05 +0000
Everybodies ideas sound good so far. I think open chords and basic strumming will be suffice for a while, I can't see teaching him theory and scales for quite some time. Just pracital stuff so he can play and sing for himself.

Paul]]> Guitar Players Discussion Off He Goes https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/teaching-my-father-to-play/#post-244027