The blues song form, chord progression, and signature melodic motifs are elements that inform many genre’s of music including jazz, rock & roll, country, and gospel music. The blues is of particular interest to guitar players as as it originated on the instrument. The tradition of guitar improvisation started with the blues and many of Read the Rest…
Advanced Warmups
Warm up drills for guitar serve a few purposes for both students and teachers: They get the left and right hands synchronized on a purely technical level without concern for the music that is being produced. This is especially important before learning or practicing a new song or skill. Warm up drills can also help develop technique because Read the Rest…
Using Consonus Backing Tracks in the Ensemble Concert
One of the benefits of Consonus Blended Learning Courseware for Classroom Guitar is that most ensemble arrangements come with online accompaniment tracks. These tracks usually omit the guitar part that is being practiced so that the student can hear her own part with those on the recording. Another feature of the accompaniment tracks is that Read the Rest…
Combine Chords & Melody
For most guitar students the early stages of their studies focus on learning the foundations of playing the instrument. These things include the mechanics of playing single notes, strumming patterns, and basic chord vocabulary. Sometimes teachers are so consumed with these building blocks of playing that students aren’t taught how to combine chords & melody into Read the Rest…
Lesson Structure
All teacher’s know how essential it is to have a lesson plan for the class period, but what constitutes a good lesson plan for guitar? In this week’s Classroom Guitar Teaching Tips video blog Mike Christiansen discusses the key aspects of lesson structure that you should understand.
Dwight Dodd
Bartlett High School “We really like the CMI product and … I anticipate using this curriculum for quite some time.”
Cami Jensen
Utah Valley University “This classroom guitar system will make my job as a teacher so much easier.”
Ruth Young
Lakeview Academy “I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your classroom guitar and ukulele curriculum here at Lakeview Academy. The kids stay engaged and have progressed much farther than I could have ever taken them on my own.”