Hi all, looking for some ideas for putting structure around a newly formed guitar group session. The group has people from different levels.
The person who leads it is a great guitar player but has never taught. And despite the best intentions so far the sessions have been a little chaotic and random. I’ve never come away thinking I’ve actually learned anything, it’s been more of a free-for-all all and make it up as you go along approach. And I guess there’s benefits to this organic style, but I think it’s had more negatives. I actually left after a few weeks because I felt I’d be better off teaching myself. But I’ve come back and I’ve realised that a lot of people who were there in the beginning have also left and I suspect the lack of structure and direction has a big part to do with that.
I’ve been thinking about putting together a light-touch and flexible proposal for how the group could be structured to give direction and purpose. The sessions are typically 2 hours long. My proposal is to have the first half of the session structured and the second half can be free-flowing so that it suits all.
My structure would be something around the following (my ideas are still forming): the group agrees and focuses on one song to learn for 2-3 weeks, a song that suits all levels, and the 2-3 week turnaround means new members that come on board don’t have to wait long until the new song starts. another is a focus on one piece of technique that the group can agree and learn together, perhaps that’s 8th note strumming or it’s a riff. another is a focus on a scale. another is a warm up of some kind. i don’t want the structure to be too much. I’m thinking perhaps 4 parts or pillars max, but I’m still not sure how these could be categorised, for example, what falls into technique? should strumming and fingerstyle be separate pillars? I’m also thinking of a pillar for a clinic where people can seek help with something they are struggling with and the group gives feedback.
Sorry for the long and incoherent post but any ideas of how to structure this in away that focuses on the key things to learn, whilst keeping it fun and light touch would be greatly appreciated!
P.s I’ve more or less put the same request to Chat GTP to see what it would come up with but I’d like to get real people’s experiences and feedback!
Justin has the best method of learning guitar so if your really want to learn how to play you’re better off taking his lessons and sticking to them.
Group lessons are not the best way to learn. There will always be those who learn quick than others and those you don’t practice and hold the group back. If the teacher has no idea how to teach why would you waist your time. You’d be better off finding a jam or song circle if you need to play with others.
In my experience trying to get a group of people to agree on anythink is like hearding cats, you’re better off handing out work sheet and say here’s what we’re going to work on than asking for opinions.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, it does seem somewhat like herding cats and I’ve never found group learning sessions useful for all the reasons you’ve just outlined.
And agreed, Justin’s method is the best!
I must say though this is not like a traditional formal group guitar class. I think it’s just more a random coming together of people who play guitar (mostly beginners/intermediate).
It has ended up neither a jam session or a lesson class - I don’t know what it is!
I feel it needs a clear purpose and some sort of direction, but I’m not sure what
To me it sounds like it’s a casual get together and there’s nothing wrong with that. Go and have fun playing with the people there.
I was at a party last night with 5 other guitar players from beginners to 2 with over 45 years of playing. Everyone(there was about 20 people) did what they could, joined in singing and had some laughs. Sometimes that all it need to be.
Rick makes some good points but I think some one needs to take the initiative and steer the group in a direction where its going to be productive or fun. I’ve never been involved in anything like that and quite envious, down side of living in rural Normandy. But the fact you are asking the question suggest to me that you might be that person.
Guess you need to be honest with folk and say, look we all have different level of ability, none of us are teachers, so why don’t we get together and jam. Find out what folks like playing and then say do a round robin of the member suggesting songs for the next jam. Give folk time to work on the songs and prepare for the next “gig”. When you get together have a chat about the songs before you start playing. What issue did you have learning the song, have you explored different chord voicings or types (open, barre, triads, power chords) suggest that they do that in their learning. Maybe do 2 or 3 cycles of each song with members doing different parts/chord types.
Any my 2 cents and with inflation might be worthless but thought I’d brain dump, if I was ever in that situation.
I went to a couple sessions of a “guitar club” at my local library, and stopped attending for similar reasons. I think the group was well-intentioned, but lacked structure - even when the leader said “we’ll work on this song today,” we rarely actually ended up playing the song in the session. The leader was an intermediate player who was very enthusiastic about jamming/soloing/riffs. He meant well, but his format didn’t work for me (many of the other beginners I ran into at the group came once and were never seen again, so I don’t think it’s just me). I stopped going because I could make better use of an hour of practice time on my own.
For playing/learning songs as a group, one thing I might suggest is doing layers as a group - that way, say, the absolute beginners could play the chords with a strum on the 1 or on each beat, further-along beginners could strum a slightly more complex pattern, and those at higher levels could do more embellishments, harmonies, use barre or power chords, etc. If you’re trying to make it all-levels, I think making sure it’s a song with open chords is essential.
I have only experience of the club I am a member of, so not a wide experience but here are my thoughts.
The club or group needs a purpose, in our case it is to perform in front of an audience and we are very fortunate in having a leader who keeps it all on track and provides most of the song suggestions except when we split into groups for a performance, when the group decide on the songs.
There is a wide variety of abilities from beginners like me to advanced players and those more experienced are very tolerant of beginners like me and that is essential. We normally start the evening with a bit of learning, generally by the leader but not always. We then play through the songs for that week, then generally split into small groups to work on a particular song and each group performs it to the rest at the end of the evening. As we get near a performance we spilt into agreed groups and work on the songs, and again perform one or two at the end of the evening. Of course it you are going to perform you need some who are prepared to sing.
In summary the club needs a purpose and in our case is learn songs and perform them to an audience.
Aiden5,
I don’t know if this will help but I attend a weekly group jam session with communityjams.org. They offer a few different types of jams such as beginners, studio, and improv. This is a nonprofit organization, they offer a nice studio space with lots of equipment, instruments and a good sound system. They have a database of over 2000 songs at http://www.bsteele.com. This is open source so anyone can use it.
When we gather each week, everyone can choose to sing or not but if you do, you get to choose a song.
I go to the beginners group, and what I like most is there is no judgement or pressure. We just have fun. I’ve been doing this for almost two years, I have learned so much and have met many great people. Check out the websites, maybe it will give you some ideas. Many of the songs are simple cowboy chords and there are all kinds of different genres.
Our music club held a structured jam much like you are talking about. The leader was a good presenter and each week he’d bring a song that was there to be worked on together and what he typically did was to present the song in a particular key. He used that to point out the Major and the Minor chords which made more sense after pattern was clear the 2nd key that he taught.
That “lesson” would take up the first third or so of the jam, the rest was going around in turns which each person that wanted to lead a song being given the chance.
This was very popular and the feedback on it was great. So I disagree with the blanket statement made earlier that “justin has the best method”… I’m a huge fan of Justin and his approach and it’s certainly one of the best. But as Justin often says, there are no rules.
The difference with the scenario I’ve just described and the one described by @Aidan5 is we had someone who was very good at leading a training session.
