Hello music educators,
As we continue to improve our music notation software and education platform, we’re excited to share some teaching tips for introducing four beginner-friendly guitar techniques. These techniques will not only help your students improve their technical skills but also allow them to express themselves more creatively as they grow as guitarists.
Let’s dive into how you can teach these essential skills with Flat for Education.
Guitar techniques to enhance student learning
Flat for Education Affiliate Program
Guitar techniques to enhance student learning
Harmonics
Harmonics are an excellent way to introduce students to the subtleties of sound and the nuances that a musical interpretation can evoke to enhance emotional expression. These bell-like tones are produced by lightly touching the string at specific points, and they can add a reflective quality to any piece.
💡 Teaching Tip
Start with natural harmonics, which are easier for beginners. Have your students lightly touch the string at the 12th fret and pluck, explaining that the key is to apply the lightest possible touch. Once they can consistently produce the harmonic, challenge them to experiment with the 7th and 5th frets.
🎶 Exercise
Create a performance assingment with a simple warm-up where students alternate between playing natural harmonics on the 12th fret of each string and regular notes. This will help them get comfortable with the technique while listening for the contrast in tone.
🎸 Pro Tip
Harmonics are great for teaching control and precision. For more advanced students, introduce artificial harmonics by having them press a note and lightly touch 12 frets higher. This technique takes practice but can lead to rewarding results.
Bends
Bends are one of the simplest yet most expressive guitar techniques you can teach your beginner students, and they are really fun!
💡 Teaching Tip
When first introducing bends, start with half bends to help students develop control. Have them practice bending the string slowly, listening for the slight pitch change. A tuner can be useful here to ensure accuracy. Once they’re comfortable, move on to full bends, where they raise the pitch by a whole step.
🎶 Exercise
Create a template composition assignment with a slow blues riff and ask students to incorporate bends at key moments. This will help them learn how to apply bends musically rather than just as a technical exercise.
🎸 Pro Tip
Once your students have mastered bends, here are two concepts to incorporate:
- Pre-bends: Bending the string before plucking, then releasing the tension.
- Release: Returning the bent string back to its original pitch.
These variations add layers to the bend technique and allow for deeper emotional expression.
Palm Mute
Palm muting is a fantastic way to teach students about rhythm and dynamics. They will learn to create a muted, percussive sound that adds texture to their playing.
💡Teaching Tip
Demonstrate the technique by having your students strum a chord without muting, then gradually add the palm mute. Show them how the pressure of the hand changes the sound, allowing for variations in intensity.
🎶 Exercise
Create a performance assignment with a rhythmic exercise where students alternate between open strumming and palm muting on a simple power chord progression. This will help them understand how palm muting can be used to create dynamic shifts within a piece.
🎸 Pro Tip
Palm muting isn’t just for fast, rhythmic parts—it can be used in softer pieces to create a subtle, controlled feel. Encourage students to experiment with different levels of pressure to achieve the sound they want.
Let Ring
Let ring is one of the simplest techniques to teach but has a big impact on a student’s ability to create atmosphere and emotion in their playing. The concept is simple: after playing a note or chord, students let it resonate and fade naturally, rather than muting the string.
💡 Teaching Tip
Start by having your students play single notes or chords and focus on not touching the strings after they’ve played. This will allow the sound to ring out fully. Explain that this technique works best in slower, more melodic pieces where space between the notes is crucial.
🎶 Exercise
Incorporate let ring into an arpeggio exercise where students let each note ring out before moving to the next. This will build a sense of flow and allow students to hear how the notes blend together with this technique.
🎸 Pro Tip
For more advanced students, introduce the concept of layering notes or using chords that are left to ring, creating rich, resonant harmonies.
Bringing It All Together
Once your students are comfortable with these techniques, encourage them to combine them in their playing. For example, they can start with a palm-muted section, switch to letting notes ring, and then incorporate bends to add emotional weight to their performance. By mastering these simple but powerful tools, your students will be able to bring greater expression to their playing and connect more deeply with music.
Once your students have learned the basic techniques, challenge them to create their own short compositions in Flat for Education.
Flat for Education Affiliate Program
At Flat for Education, we’re all about building connections and celebrating our vibrant community of music teachers. We’re thrilled to introduce our new affiliate program for musicians and music teachers! 🎶
This unique opportunity allows you to share Flat for Education with your audience while earning money. Whether you run a blog, host a YouTube channel, or teach music online, this program is designed with you in mind. You’ll have the chance to inspire others and expand your reach in the music education world.
Rebeca Valverde
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Feedback?
If you have any questions or suggestions for our product team, please reach out: edu@flat.io.
Have a wonderful day!