Want to get the most out of your child’s guitar lessons for kids? In that case, it helps to think of getting in shape. That’s because music is similar to working out. Please stick with me, and it’ll all make sense.
If you want to build lean muscle mass and lose fat, you start with a fitness routine and clean up your diet. Do this over a long enough period of time, and your body begins to transform.
Likewise, the same is true for the guitar. Learning how to play the guitar requires focused practice over a long period of time. But what do you practice?
The Elements of Music List
The best practice routines focus on all four music elements: harmony, melody, rhythm, and repertoire.
- Melody refers to single notes. A great melody workout begins with finger exercises to warm up the hands and scales to develop your child’s technique and fretboard knowledge.
- Harmony refers to two or more notes played at the same time. While an in-depth study of harmony means studying the relationship between chords and melody, let’s keep it simple by defining harmony as chords for our proposes. Open power chords are an excellent starting point. As your child progresses through the Rock Dojo learning system, he/she can begin incorporating other chord types like moveable power chords, open chords, and moveable barre chords.
- Rhythm refers to groove. There are some great software solutions for improving rhythm, but the rhythm is best acquired through learning songs, also known as building a repertoire.
- Repertoire refers to a group of songs a musician can play by memory. I met some great guitarists with years of training who don’t know any songs. In fact, I made that same mistake myself in the past. Don’t let your child make this mistake. He/she should spend some time every day learning songs.
Sample Guitar Practice Routine
Now that you know the basic elements of a music, lets put together a sample guitar practice routine for your kid.
- Warm-Up (5-minutes)
- Play a fun familiar song to prepare your hands for the workout ahead.
- Melody (5 minutes)
- Finger Exercise #1 at 50 BPM.
- Minor Pentatonic Scale at 60 BPM.
- Harmony (5 minutes)
- Open Power Chords (E5, A5, & D5) at 80 BPM.
- Repertoire (5 Minutes)
- Power Chord Rock 1
- Power Chord Rock 2
For this purpose, there are tons of great songs that use open power chords include “TNT” by ACDC and “Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric.
In short, a great guitar practice routine includes the four elements of music. When you combine those four music elements with consistency, your child will have a winning formula for long-term musical success.
FREE Guitar Lessons for Kids
Now that you understand why practice is important and know how to help your child set up a guitar practice routine, it’s time to get started playing the guitar. Fortunately, you can now get a FREE guitar mini-course for kids designed to get your child started playing guitar the right way.
