Teaching the Guitar 101:
In this course, you will review your technique on the guitar itself. To demonstrate proper technique to your students, you will need to perfect your own. We will familiarize you with many different styles of guitar music, to make you more marketable to guitar students of varying interests. Our instructors will help you get up to speed on techniques with which you may not be familiar. Classical guitarists may need to spend more time with their skills with the pick (plectrum), and rock guitarists may need to brush up on plucking the guitar iwht just their fingers, as well as learning more about reading music scores and music theory. In these private lessons, we will help you to perfect techniques that are specific to your preferred playing style. You will gain proificiency in music theory for the guitar, reading scores, ear training, accompaniment We will address more advanced teaching concepts pertaining to your primary playing style through private consultation.
The areas of proficiency are basic technique, fingerboard theory, reading, improvisation, and accompaniment, and specific techniques. The LAGA faculty will assess each student’s proficiency to ensure that they meet our high standards of musicianship before they graduate to the next level.
Teaching the Guitar 102:
This course will prepare you to teach your students in a systematic, step-by-step approach that will maximize their learning curve while learning to enjoy playing the guitar. You will learn the unique teaching method used at Los Angeles Guitar Academy in the following disciplines: classical guitar, Flamenco guitar, rock and other popular guitar styles, music theory for the guitar, and teaching children to play the guitar. We will teach you how to sequence the skills you will teach, how to choose and create materials, and how to design a personalized lesson plan for each of your students. This course takes place in five stages.
Stage One: Students in this stage will construct lessons which build the students’ confidence and proficiency by learning how to develop students’ skill sets by proper sequencing. Students will learn when and how to introduce new concepts and techniques.
Stage Two: Students will learn to construct supplementary materials for their pupils. They will also learn how to choose and utilize extisting materials available on the market to supplement their students’ guitar training.
Stage Three: Guitar pedagogy students will learn to create individualized lesson plans for each of their students, tailoring them to the unique strengths, areas which need improvement, and goals of each student.
Stage Four: Under the guidance of a LAGA faculty member, students will plan and organize a twenty-week course for their students in the following areas: classical guitar, Flamenco guitar, rock and other popular styles of guitar, and children’s guitar.
Stage Five: Teaching students will learn how to utilize effective assessment strategies that work with a variety of guitar students.
At the end of this course, students will be evaluated on their effectiveness in choosing materials, planning lessons, working toward long-term goals, and formulating effective assessment strategies before graduating to the next level.
Teaching the Guitar 201:
In this course, students research and evaluate new developments in learning theory in general, as well as research that focuses on the best methods to teach the guitar. Students wll learn about the various channels by which different people learn best, as well as discovering new ways to effectively teach students with learning differences. Students will learn about brain-based learning, body-based learning, teaching students ear training and improvisation skills, as well as teaching their students how to read music and how to practice efficiently.
At the end of this course, potential teachers will undergo a thorough evaluation on the skills that they have learned at all three levels before they are permitted to graduate from the teaching course and be considered for possible inclusion in our teaching assistant program.
Our guitar pedagogy courses are offered at both our Los Angeles studios and through webcam guitar lessons, for those students who want to learn to teach the guitar, but who cannot come to Los Angeles to study with our master guitar teachers.