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Private Lessons

Since his first time working at a music summer camp at the age of 15, Carter has always had a passion for teaching music. He first started teaching beginner guitar lessons online during COVID.

Teaching Methodology

Textbooks and written methods are great, but both fail to inspire and motivate students to continue practicing through the bumpy learning curve of the guitar. By learning how to play guitar using a song of the student's choice, students are able to gain proficiency in all aspects of guitar playing while maintaining the motivation they need to reach key milestones in their abilities. The goal of this learning style is to set students up to discover the instrument for themselves early on, helping them to find their own voice on the guitar, and to ignite the musical passion within them.

Beginner Learning Curve

Learning Flowchart

Guitar Basics

Skills:

  1. Know the name and function of all significant parts of the guitar
  2. Know the name of all 6 open strings
  3. Know how to tune any 6-string guitar
  4. Know basic practices to keep a guitar looking, playing, and sounding the best

Theory:

  1. Whole-step vs. half-step
  2. The MAJOR scale!

Purpose:

Boring.... believe me, I know, but knowing these concepts is key to connecting future ideas, in addition to having a guitar that plays and sounds to the best of its potential. 

Open Shapes

C | A | Am | G | E | Em | D | Dm

Skills:

  1. Be proficient in playing and switching between all open chord shapes.
  2. Be able to strum basic patterns combined with switching between open chords.

Theory:

  1. Major vs Minor
  2. Chord degrees
  3. Chord scales (Intro to the Nashville Numbering System)

Purpose:

Bar Chords

Skills:

  1. Use the C-A-G-E-D system to play any Major, Minor, Major-7, or Minor-7 chord on the guitar.
  2. Combine Barre Chords with open shapes and strumming patterns

Theory:

  1. Keys (Transposition)
  2. The Nashville Numbering system

Purpose:

At this point in the learning curve, students should be able to strum along to virtually any song they desire using online resources. 

Improvisation

Skills:

  1. Use basic patterns of the pentatonic scale to "solo" over songs
  2. Understand the degrees of scales and begin to recognize the musical relationship with chords to train the ear
  3. Use slides, bends, hammer-on's, and pull-off's in playing

Theory:

  1. Major, Minor, Minor-Pentatonic, and Blues Scales
  2. Keys: tonics, dominants, and sub-dominants

Purpose:

At this point in the learning curve, students should be able to express their own musical ideas on the guitar and play basic guitar solos with any track they desire. 

‌Contact Carter Rosales

CarterRosalesMusic@gmail.com