How can I improve my technique on acoustic guitar while teaching the basics everyday?
I'm a guitar teacher that teaches beginners and intermediates almost 5 times a week. I've been teaching for 2 years now, mostly using a nylon strings guitar (I'm Brazilian, it's used in popular music here, students are not very interested in classical guitar hahah), recently with a Stratocaster as well, so the basic stuff has become automatic. But since I worked for so many hours a week, I want to improve while doing it.
To put some dynamics on it, I started doing the same basic chords using fingers I'm not used to (like doing C major with fingers 2, 3 and 4) and using my right-hand pinky when suitable.Yesterday I thought about doing chord inversions with intermediate students, but soon these will become automatic as well, I think.
Could you guys give me any tips for improving my technique while teaching and playing basic stuff, like those 4 chord songs? Thanks in advance!
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My reaction was the same as David Bowling's comment: If I was a student, I'd want my teacher to be focusing on what I was doing during the lesson and thinking of the best way to help me improve as quickly as possible.
Even while accompanying the student, you'll want to be focusing on checking every aspect of their playing and planning the next bit of teaching that you want to give. If the student is making mistakes, you'll be wanting to be thinking about the best way to correct those mistakes. Your accompaniment itself shouldn't be distracting you or the student.
One area that you can definitely look to improve during the lessons is your teaching skill - analysing deeply what your students' problems are, what the next bit of knowledge they need is, what songs and exercises will inspire them, and so on.
As a teacher, you can still be creative - but your creation is the musicians themselves!
Whilst teaching, your technique will improve at the same time, and you'll learn and understand things better at that same time. It's serendipity!
However - that's not what you should be considering during the lesson. Your student isn't there to help you improve - you're there to help him improve!
Any extra learning that need to be done by you ought to be done before the lesson. If you haven't sorted a particular technique out yourself, wait until you have, then teach it.
You can, of course, do things like play some lead over the chord pattern the student is learning to play - but be certain that it fits. You're the one who doesn't foul up - you're the teacher!
By having at least a vague map of what needs teaching in what order (Yes, it'll change for each student, as they arrive with new challenges and requests to learn something else) so that there's a thread running through that you're in charge of, and between lessons, make certain you know all about what will (probably) happen in the next lesson.
There are so many, many aspects to teaching, and students often throw curved balls in, that you can't be prepared for everything. But when an awkward question gets asked, if you can't answer it fully at the student's level, make darned sure you can for the next lesson!
I have a list of maybe 20 techniques used in guitar playing, and we work through them in no particular order, but I have to be certain that I know how each one works before that lesson. So there's homework to be done by teacher sometimes, as well. Be prepared!
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