Guitar lessons are not measured units.  In a commercialized world, where music education is marketed, priced and packaged, some things still cannot be given a discreet value.

I write this article to explain the benefits of the old fashioned guitar teacher.

Beginners don’t know what they need to know.
Diligently following a guitar method will not necessarily make you a good guitarist.  Information means different things to different people and everyone learns in different ways.  When we begin an activity there is so much new information it is easy for the judgement to get distorted.  People focus on what is not crucial and fail to recognise the importance of fundamental first principles. 

Information is Temporal
When I realize a student could adjust a hand position to make things easier for themselves, I just tell them.  Nip it in the bud, avoid the potential bad habit there and then.  This information early in development is much better than years down the track when the bad habit is well learned.  There is no magic formula for WHEN a student should learn something.  In the case where you have a teacher, it is their responsibility to disseminate the right information at the right time to best aid the student.

Information is not generic
Even though students may come to a lesson saying that they are a complete beginner, each has an individual personal relationship with music and the guitar.   Me as a teacher have no idea of a students past relationship with music, and depending on their background, body size, and what they already know will determine what information is useful.  In my experience information is not generic; it has to be grafted, modified and personalized before it is really helpful to the student.

 
In conclusion it requires experience and know-how to sift through the mountains of information to find what you need, and sometimes you don’t even know what you need to know making the task seemingly impossible. Your private teacher should give you the right information at the right time, developing sound technique and empowering the student with tools to overcome stumbling blocks and play freely – invaluable!

In this article I want to focus on the movement of the right arm and strumming.

Rhythm is a physical exercise and is not to be overly considered. I find that with the beginner there can be some hesitation in hitting the strings, for fear of breaking them or playing too loud I don’t know, but in this exercise we discover the extremities of the instrument - to hell with the consequences.

So look at the positions in the diagram:

1. This is the starting point of the exercise.  The right hand is high above the strings, level with the top of the body of the guitar.

2. At this point the hand is in action, moving, striking the strings

3. This is the ending point of the exercise. The right is way below the strings, even lower than the body of the guitar.

So the right hand moves from position one to position three.  The movement is quite fast so you are striking the strings quickly. This gives a tight jinging sound to the chord, it sounds unbroken. Concentrate on making a big swing from the elbow keeping your shoulders and wrists relaxed.

Now although it may appear easy, try it. It is an exercise in exaggerated movement and you may discover completely different sounds.   

Try holding the plectrum with a very light grip, then each time you strum tighten your grip a little and observe how the sound changes. All the while keep the movement large and wide so the pick hits the strings at speed.

When beginning the guitar there are two things to learn in isolation.  Firstly beginner guitar chords for the left hand, and beginners strumming patterns with the right hand; the challenge is putting them together.

I have crafted this lesson in full knowledge that strumming and changing chords at the same time is difficult.  It takes coordination we don’t use in any other aspect of normal life.  We can learn each in isolation when our minds are focused upon one particular task, but when we try to put two things together we cannot concentrate on either with any focus.  It is a matter of throwing caution to the wind and seeing what happens, just having a go.

For the very beginner I opt for the easiest possible chords and strumming pattern – the idea is to put the two together and we want to minimise the degree of difficulty with each hand respectively.  There is no huge benefit of increasing your chord vocabulary if you can’t strum and change the chords at time.  Learn to do one simple tune well and you set yourself a standard, it is better than knowing hundreds of tunes and playing them all badly. So I start with one finger chords and four downward strums, if played well they can sound just as good as any finger breaker! 

In general, four downstrokes to the bar is the first learned beginner strumming pattern.  When strumming make sure that you have a big action – moving your hand in a large arc, a big swing from the elbow, so the plectrum moves across the strings quickly.  If the plectrum moves across the strings slowly then the chord will sound broken – which is not a bad thing – just for this exercise we want a tight, succinct sound for every down strum.  I think it is important for the beginner to exaggerate the movement and strike the strings with the right hand in motion.  Not resting the plectrum on the low e string and dropping it across the lower strings.

As you change chords focus your mind on the strumming; the idea is to make it even.  The most important thing for this exercise, and just about anything you play for that matter, is to be in time; not to speed up, slow down or lose the tempo completely.  If you make a slip or a buzz with the left hand it is hard for the listener to notice, but making a glitch or losing the time is plainly obvious to even non musicians; so it is crucial that you concentrate on what is most important – the strumming.

And that’s about it.  Strum 4 beats on the e minor chord, and then have a go at changing to the g chord whilst your right hand is in action.  Don’t worry if you don’t get it with the left hand, keep strumming in time regardless and let your left hand catch up as you go.