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Less is More: Guitar Lessons Made Simple 

Writer's picture: Connor MontgomeryConnor Montgomery

Before Fresh Music Aberdeen shut for Christmas last year I was working with a student to improve his improvisation.  I was giving him riffs within his guitar lessons to better his knowledge and to give him some ideas for when he tries to tackle an improved solo himself.  I spent time showing him each pattern of the blues scale, major/minor pentatonic etc. and I even showed him how to create harmony within each pattern for more variety within his soloing.



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When it came to applying what we had learned and put into practice the scales, riffs and harmonies we’d already played it didn’t quite flow as expected.  Why? The student is a proficient and competent player normally and the riffs were solid and work well within any genre. So why did he revert back to playing the quaver style “comfort zone” riffs he already knew?  I took a minute to ponder this as it was clear that my initial approach wasn’t working as well as I’d hoped.  I started to think of other students who are learning to improvise and I realised that this is a common problem across the board.  Again, I asked why is this so common?  As I began to think about what I was doing wrong within my student’s guitar lessons I had an epiphany and it came to me.


The reason students were struggling to apply what I’d shown them is because I’d shown them too much.  I’d actually given them too many options so when presented with a backing track within their guitar lesson they froze and felt overwhelmed.  They instead reverted back to what they already knew.  What I should have done as a guitar teacher is given them less. I know this sounds counterproductive as surely it makes more sense to give them more riffs, scales, harmonies, ideas etc. to ensure their playing is varied and interesting.

 

Interestingly I think the opposite now.  I asked this same student mentioned above to simply the learning and only play two riffs in each pattern.  Play them well and bed them in and they’ll be with you for life.  Instead of focusing on too much and feeling overwhelmed it is actually more beneficial to focus on less but do it really well.


The answer to becoming a better player in this case was to do less instead of more.  Already I’ve seen an improvement in that student’s approach, confidence and ability.  Learning only two riffs in a guitar lesson may seem unproductive but actually it makes for better guitar playing overall.


As a guitar teacher in Aberdeen I had to learn that less is more and to become great sometimes requires a more pragmatic approach to learning guitar. Every day is a school day!

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