I am a member of a site called guitarwar.com. Well, it’s now called musicianwar.com but it started out as a guitar competition site. There are a great bunch of players there and we have great discussions regarding music. This one was posted a few months ago that really hit home with me and how I approach teaching. The except below was from a member named Kaizen. It's a passage from a book he was reading.

"Exhibit A in the talent argument is a study done in the early 1990s by the psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin's elite Academy of Music. With the help of the Academy's professors, they divided the school's violinists into three groups. In the first group were the stars, the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. In the second were those judged to be merely "good." In the third were students who were unlikely to ever play professionally and who intended to be music teachers in the public school system. All of the violinists were then asked the same question: over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?


Everyone from all three groups started playing at roughly the same age, around five years old. In those first few years, everyone practiced roughly the same amount, about two or three hours a week. But when the students were around the age of eight, real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up the best in their class began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours a week by age fourteen, and up and up, until by the age of twenty they were practicing—that is, purposefully and single-minded playing their instruments with the intent to get better—well over thirty hours a week. In fact, by the age of twenty, the elite performers had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. By contrast, the merely good students had totaled eight thousand hours, and the future music teachers had totaled just over four thousand hours.


Ericsson and his colleagues then compared amateur pianists with professional pianists. The same pattern emerged. The amateurs never practiced more than about three hours a week over the course of their childhood, and by the age of twenty they had totaled two thousand hours of practice. The professionals, on the other hand, steadily increased their practice time every year, until by the age of twenty they, like the violinists, had reached ten thousand hours. The striking thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any "naturals," musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did. Nor could they find any "grinds," people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn't have what it takes to break the top ranks. Their research suggests that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. And what's more, the people at the very top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder."

-Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

I've always had to work hard at playing guitar. Six hours a day practice routines when I was in my earlier 20's still wasn't enough. I look back and thought I should have practices more. But I actually think I should have practiced smarter. I spent a lot of time regurgitating scales and methods when I should have be focusing on a relationship with the instrument. Understanding how it works by associations not memorization. I should have been more open and aware


The journey never ends that's what makes learning an instrument so amazing- there's always something else to know.

Buying a guitar- Electric or Acoustic?

Which is easier to learn? Which one is better to start with? What should I get?

Design

I have been asked these questions many times. Electric is the easier of the two to play. The guitar body is smaller so getting your arms around it isn’t difficult. The string tension is lighter causing less pressure on your fingers and less strain on the players’ hand muscles. And often electric guitars have a slimmer neck. The trade off is it is heavier and an amplifier makes it complete.


For the acoustic, there are two string types - steel string acoustics and nylon string (classical) acoustics. The nylon stringed guitars have smaller bodies, wider necks at the nut and depth with a shorter scale (neck length) and often a flatter fret board than steel string acoustics. The nylon stings are softer on the fingers making it more comfortable for beginners. The strings create a softer, mellower tone. Steel stringed guitars require the most strength from your hands and often have a larger body although there are different sized acoustics available.

All three guitar types come in child sizes (half or ¾ sizes) however, some of the smaller electrics don’t tune properly and some are built to be just toys. That’s not a bad thing for a child who is interested in playing but maybe not ready for lessons yet.



Starting

Most people recommend starting with a steel stringed acoustic. Many parents endorse of this advice as well. I have to disagree with this recommendation and look at what the player would like to play and what she listens to. If you or your child enjoys acoustic guitar, aren’t sure about how far it will go and enjoy time at the cottage whenever possible then yes, an acoustic is perfect. It’s mobile, easy to transport and most are quite durable. If you listen to Black Sabbath, Sum41 or Billy Talent then an acoustic won’t encourage practicing or dedication. Always select the instrument that will make you happy. I know parents like to start off with the acoustic and then move to the electric but I have seen this back fire a number of times. Their child loses interest and finds passion for learning difficult. I also don’t understand the reasoning. Is it advice from someone else “somewhat qualified”? Or is it because parents don’t want to listen to a highly distorted guitar tone? I started out with an electric bought for me, by my father, when I was 13. I found it intriguing and liked that it was quieter than an acoustic (unplugged- yes, an electric works without amplification). The downside is that you don’t truly get the full impact of the instrument without an amplifier. But amps are so cheap these days and every single one of them have a headphone jack. (yay for parents!).

In terms of price you can get acoustics or electrics at affordable prices. Acoustics are a little less as there is no need for an amp but starter electric packages can be $150-$200. Very reasonable! Rental is also an option here in Toronto. It’s a good way to start too.


What should I get?

Adults-Get what you want to get and don’t listen to the salesperson. Yes, there are very helpful salespeople at music stores, but there is also staff driven by commissions. The guitar that’s the best is the one that sounds the best- nothing more. Don’t let your lack of qualification deter you form the guitar you like the sound of (INCLUDING electric guitars unplugged) If you can’t play ask the salesperson to play it for you and ask for them to play at different frets of the guitar-not just in one place. If you like the sound of it, buy it. If you can’t afford it wait until you can then buy it. Settling often breeds regret.

Parents- Research what guitars that are in your price range and what you’ll be willing to pay. Rental might be the best option. If your child wants an electric guitar or a bass guitar I would get that. If music lessons become a battle of proving one’s worth (IE getting an acoustic first to see if she will stick with it) there is the definite possibility that your child will lose interest in music-fast. Think about it this way, do you settle for your choices? An instrument is an investment in your child. This doesn’t mean you buy the $1600 Taylor or $2000 Parker Fly. But listening to your child can bring you and your child a good return on the investment (IE interest and pleasure in playing it).

You get what you pay for- almost always TIPS for buying

1. Solid top acoustics sound the best and will sound better as they get older.


2. Cheap Costco guitars and guitars in toy stores are just that and most won’t tune properly.

• There are good quality instruments at these stores so check with the staff

3. Play the guitar before you buy it- if it’s an electric plug it in but listen unplugged too.

4. Spend more if you want it! Don’t feel you aren’t worth it. A good quality guitar is a good investment.

5. Get the colour you like and the one that looks the best to you! You have to look at it every day (you are going to practice every day, right?) so it’s gotta look cool.

6. You will regret making a pressured choice instead of your choice. Stick with what you want.

Changes

20 years and Music.

It’s amazing how much music is out there. Equally amazing is how teens feel about music. When I was their age (after walking 6 miles up hill, both ways to school, in the snow without shoes because they didn’t exist) people were labelled as music type. There was the pop lover, the metal head, the tree hugging hippy and the raver etc etc. These poeple only listened to these styles of music. The genres of music still exis but the labels on the listener have lifted.

When I first started teaching I would ask my students what type of music they listened to. At first a few would reply, “everything”. And I mostly didn’t believe them, until I noticed that more and more students were responding this way. I would look at their Ipods and sure enough, they listened to EVERYTHING. From the Beasty Boys to Van Morrison to Abba to Zappa to Aerosmith to Taylor swift and so on and so on. And it would be little clusters of songs by those artists, not full albums.


So it got me thinking. If this is how they relate to music, so freely able to accept “what sounds good” and not what type/style of music it is, are they going to be responding and acting the same way to current events, politics, race, sex, business and marriage when they realize their place in the world? Because that would be cool.

Learning a new instrument

I have played guitar for 20 years and am the primary guitar instructor at Footprints Music and Learning. I started taking piano lessons. Playing piano is a first for me even though I sold acoustic and digital pianos for years.

I started taking lessons from one of my teachers, Jean Poynter, at Footprints Music a few weeks ago and it is really fantastic. It is difficult but also easier than I thought. Let me explain - I have found that actually playing the piano not as scary as I thought it was. Those black keys made me nervous! I'm not kidding. But I have tranferred over the knowledge I have from exploring guitar to the piano and it's not that scary! Also, I have used the basic tenets that I teach my students. First, take things slowly (which is actually sometimes challenging) and second, make it musical. I guess there's the third, "Have fun" but it's fun in a way I didn't realize. The resonance of the actual piano is my favourite part. I play the simplest of pieces and they sound fantastic. Who knew?

Speed Kills

One of the challenges almost all my students face is playing slowly. Everyone wants to play fast! It's exciting and impressive. Sometimes the desire to play fast over shodows the desire to play well. Most listeners don't really care how fast you play but they do care how good it sounds. I took up piano because it's something I've always wanted to learn but also to remember what it was like to be a student. To feel that frustration resulting from the "untainable" coordination of my fingers. I enjoy playing the piano slowly because I can hear the music in it. When I speed up I lose the music, notes get choppy and it doesn't sound like the song should. It did take 20 years of playing guitar to realize that playing slowly can be more challenging than playing fast but the pay-off is better music.

First!

Hello, my name is Alex Hobcraft and my company teaches private music lessons for piano, guitar and voice. In 2009 I was studying to become a home inspector while managing a music store and teaching guitar. The owner came to me on December 26, 2009 and said he was closing the store in 2 days. I was frantic about my family’s future. Within a week and after many discussions with my wife, I realized that I could open my own music school. My fear drained. I knew all the students who were taking lessons would need lessons and I knew that if I moved the location just a few blocks north I would get more students. So I researched it and created a business plan.



We went as a family down to city hall to talk with the very helpful experts at Enterprise Toronto, find out building code regulations and to register our business name. We even had meetings with our bank as a family. Our goal was to create a business that could be set up to run itself and expand into other areas of the city in 3-5 years.



Our biggest difficulty was finding a place. Many local businesses were closing down so there were lots of options but as a start up building owners were nervous about leasing to us. After months of negotiations, meetings and broken promises we found a place that wasn’t what we wanted. My wife and I changed how to look at business and found that this place was actually better. We’ve been open since October 2009 and have just finished our first school year this June. We started with 12 students and grew to almost 50 within 4 months.