New lesson material: Common scales used in blues

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A new lesson plan has been added to the Lesson Materials Section to help your student learn to improvise using scales suitable for blues. Most students find it easy to learn how to play the blues and enjoy the fact that they can get a great blues sound using a few simple scales. The lesson plan will help you guide the student through how to pick out the right scale that fits with the key and which notes to focus on.

If your student wants to learn about the blues or simply wants to be able to jam with other musicians, this lesson plan will help them achieve it.

Access the lesson here: BLU-02 Common Scales Used in Blues

More lesson plans on the blues and other scales are available in the Lesson Materials Section here.

BLU-02 Common Scales Used in Blues

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About this lesson

This lesson plan will give your student three different scales they can use to improvise over a blues progression. Each scale has an in-depth explanations from the SCA series so this lesson plan focuses on how to apply the scales in different keys. Your student will learn the unique characteristics of each scale and when to apply them. This lesson should be used in combination with BLU-03 as it will show them exactly what to improvise over. If your student wants to learn the blues, this lesson plan will help them achieve a big part of playing blues.

This lesson plan will teach your student:

  • How to figure out which scales to use
  • How to improvise using multiple scales
  • How to change to different keys

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Related lessons

BLU-03 12 Bar Blues Shuffle

SCA-02 Major and Minor Pentatonic

SCA-03 The Blues Scale

New lesson material: The 12 Bar Blues Shuffle

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A new lesson series has been created to help you teach your student about the blues. This lesson series will introduce topics such as blues improvisation, jamming, licks, rhythm and more.

The first lesson available in the blues series is on the 12 bar blues shuffle. This is a great way to introduce your student to the blues and it teaches them important theory as well as how to apply it. The 12 bar blues shuffle is used in countless blues jams and songs. If your student learns this then they will immediately be able to start jamming with other players.

Access the lesson here: BLU-03 12 Bar Blues Shuffle

More lessons on the blues will be available over time and there are many other related lesson plans available in the Lesson Materials Section here.

BLU-03 12 Bar Blues Shuffle

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About this lesson

Blues is a fun style for beginners to learn because it doesn't take long to learn the basics of the style. Behind many blues jams and songs is the 12 bar blues shuffle. This lesson plan will teach your student how to play the 12 bar blues shuffle in any key. Once your student learns the theory behind the progression and how to apply it, they will enjoy being able to jam with other musicians and create their own blues jams. The included instructions will help you explain the theory in the easiest way possible. The material clearly labels the important points and demonstrates how the theory is applied.

If your student wants to learn how to play the blues, this is an excellent starting point.

This guitar lesson plan will teach your student:

  • How to figure out the chord progression in any key
  • Theory behind chords and keys
  • Applying chord theory to create new progressions
  • How to play the basic 12 bar blues progression

When you use this lesson plan in combination with other lesson plans on blues or improvisation, it creates a very effective way to understand how blues works.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

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New lesson material: The Major Scale and Key Signatures

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A new lesson plan has been added to the Lesson Materials Section covering the major scale and key signatures. Many guitar teachers use the circle of fifths as a way of explaining how key signatures work and how the major scales are all related. This resource takes a different approach and has been found to be more effective in teaching students the basic theory behind scales. The included lesson instructions will guide you through the lesson and cover all the important points.

Even if you have a limited understanding of music theory this lesson plan will explain everything clearly for you and your student.

Access the resource here: MTH-07 Major Scales and Key Signatures

There are more lesson plans available on the major scale in the Lesson Materials Section here.

MTH-07 Major Scales and Key Signatures

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About this lesson

This resource will help you explain the theory behind key signatures. Guitar teachers often use the circle of fifths to explain key signatures and major scales and this resource has been tested and found to be more effective and easier to teach. A simple grid is used to clearly show how each interval fits in to each key. The resource also includes information on harmonizing the scale as well as the major scale formula.

Once you give this resource to your students, they will use it again and again to figure out the notes in chords, scales, chord progressions and eventually write songs. The best part is you don't have to explain the theory, it's all mapped out clearly.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

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If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

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Related lessons

MTH-01 The Major Scale

Live and Teach Guitar now on Google Plus

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We're now on Google Plus and we'll be using it to share useful teaching tips and advice, ideas you can use in your lessons, links to relevant teaching materials and tools, updates on this site and more.

You can contact us on Google Plus with any questions you have about teaching guitar and we'll help you out. It's also a good way to stay up to date with new materials here as we will post every time a new lesson has been created.

Check us out on Google Plus here: Live and Teach Guitar on Google Plus

New lesson material: The Major Scale

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A new lesson plan has been added to the Lesson Materials Section on the Major Scale. This lesson plan will help you teach the Major Scale to your students in a very simple and clear way. The lesson will introduce the important points without going into any technical theory that the student won't understand yet. The lesson will also teach the student to figure out the notes in any Major Scale on the guitar. This application of the theory in a useful way will help the student understand why music theory is worth learning.

Access the lesson here: MTH-01 Music Theory

More lesson plans are available in the Lesson Materials Section here.

MTH-01 The Major Scale

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About this lesson

The Major Scale is a fundamental part of music theory that every guitarist should understand. Because the majority of music is written using the Major Scale, it's very important to learn. This lesson plan will help you teach the basics of the Major Scale without swamping your student with music theory they won't understand. The lesson touches on the important points and explains in a very clear way how your student can figure out the notes to any Major Scale using the guitar. The included lesson instructions will guide you through the lesson even if you don't feel confident with music theory.

Only Live and Teach Guitar Members have access to this resource and all other resources on the site.

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If you're not a member yet, find out how our professional materials, resources and support can help you succeed as a guitar teacher here.

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New lesson material: Three string sweep picking exercises

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A new lesson plan is available to help you teach your student sweep picking. The exercises will introduce simple arpeggios across three strings. These exercises are very simple to allow your student to focus on perfecting the technique. After they learn to play these exercises then they start looking at more complicated arpeggio shapes or they can start learning arpeggios across more than three strings.

The included lesson plan explains the technique but you can also use TEC-06 Sweep Picking to teach the technique. Using both lesson plans together will give you enough resources to teach it effectively.

Access the lesson material here: EXE-09 Three String Sweep Picking Exercises

More exercises and lesson plans are available in the Lesson Materials Section.