tips on giving guitar lessons

[TKEblue]

Well my girlfriends step dad bought her step brother a guitar for his birthday, he just turned 15. Then he asked me if I could give him guitar lessons and I said sure. Does anyone who's given guitar lessons before have any tips on how to keep attention and get them learning? Im gonna start giving him lessons next week and im trying to prepare some basic stuff to cover, any tips on that as well? Im thinking a few chords and a simple riff for him to practice till the next session.

[Ward]

Aside from the basics, I have found that teaching them a song they like (or even just the riffs from it) helps to keep their interest. When my nephew started out he got bored with practicing chords quickly, but when I taught him how to play his favorite songs it gave him that 'I can play something I know' gratification (even if it was just the simple riff and not the whole song). Every week I would teach him at least one song (or parts of it) that he brought in. That got him a lot more interested in practicing than mangling basic chords did. Not being able to make a bar chord sound right week after week gets discouraging.

The tough part is getting them to spend time practicing the basics and not just the riffs...

[Twitch]

Feel him out first. Start with rudimentary stuff like coordination and how well he pays attention. Hes not gonna even be able to start to learn a riff until his coordination is good enough and he can pay attention.

[Twitch]

Aside from the basics, I have found that teaching them a song they like (or even just the riffs from it) helps to keep their interest. When my nephew started out he got bored with practicing chords quickly, but when I taught him how to play his favorite songs it gave him that 'I can play something I know' gratification (even if it was just the simple riff and not the whole song). Every week I would teach him at least one song (or parts of it) that he brought in. That got him a lot more interested in practicing than mangling basic chords did. Not being able to make a bar chord sound right week after week gets discouraging.

The tough part is getting them to spend time practicing the basics and not just the riffs...

The riffs are how I learned. You can learn a lot by playing other peoples music, in a sense, theyre the teachers. And to the OP, test his ears too, if hes tone deaf, its gonna be a bitch for him to learn.

[Twitch]

If hes a bit tone deaf, play a note where he cant see and challenge him to find it. It will help immensely. Eventually, the tones will stick in his head.

[Larz]

15 years old? He's gonna want to start with some sweep picking in drop C.

[Grim]

I substitute teach at a local studio on occasion. First, I would assess his musical taste. If he's into Blues, Folk, Jazz or Classical, you're going to want to start the theory path rather quickly. If he's into rock or metal, start by making the lessons involve parts of songs (The intro to "One", by Metallica, is a good first lesson.). Nothing too complex! seriously. Since we've all been playing for years what we deem to be simple can be utterly mind-boggling to a neophyte. Keep it very simple. I wouldn't introduce power chords for a couple lessons.