kids guitar lesson 1

Jean Welles Worship Guitar ClassTM for Kids

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Jean Welles Worship GuitarClassTM for KIDS

Volume One

With

Jean Welles



ContentsIntroduction 4How to learn with this system 4The Practice Sessions 5TuningtheGuitar 6Tune with the video 6Tune with a piano 6Tune with a guitar tuner 6Tune a guitar to itself 7LessonOne 8Parts of the Guitar 8The rhythm pattern 9The rhythm pattern on the 1st string 10How to read chord charts 11Thank You Father 12What to play this week 13LessonTwo 14Thank You Father in Guitar Tab 14What to play this week 15LessonThree 16I Will Trust You 16I Will Trust You in Guitar Tab What to play this week 18LessonFour 19Pray Without Ceasing 19What to play this week 20LessonFive 21This Little Light Of Mine 21What to play this week 22LessonSix 23This Little Light Of Mine - with Thumb Strum 23What to play this week 24LessonSeven 25How Do I Love My Neighbor? 25What to play this week 26LessonEight 27How Do I Love My Neighbor? - with Goodies 27What to play this week 28



LessonNine 29I Worship You Lord 30What to play this week 31PracticeCharts 32Instructions for Using the Practice Charts 32PracticeChartFor_(kidsname)__ 33InClosing 34



IntroductionHowtolearnwiththissystem

Welcome to Jean Welles Worship Guitar ClassTM for Kids. This program is geared for kids age 5 and older. The lessons are focused on developing musical skills while helping kids worship our awesome God.

Music is made by combining pitch and rhythm. Since so many people have a difficult time developing a good sense of rhythm, Im using a metronome for the first few lessons to help students develop an inner clock.

In lesson one, note values are introduced with a special rhythm pattern. Arm swinging, then playing the pattern on an open string helps students learn the rhythm. This rhythm pattern is used in the first song.

Each song empathizes specific Christian values. The first song is about being thankful in all things. Students are encouraged to make up their own verses. Abigail, the young student in the DVD, made up the verses about being thankful for puppies and kittens.

Her father was present during the filming and I asked him to name a few things that he was thankful for. Abigail, helping him, said, Your kids. Every good gift is from God and its appropriate to have a thankful heart for all God has provided for us.

Kids learn best with lots of encouragement. When they make mistakes I dont suggest saying Thats wrong. I would suggest instead saying Are you sure thats right? or Thats close.

As a music student and teacher of many years I can tell you that its much easier to learn in an environment where you are treated as someone special. Students learn quicker in an atmosphere of praise.

Some children can watch the DVD and learn by themselves, but most will need some input from others. Some possible alternatives could be to have a few friends learning together with the DVD or even an adult or two learning at the same time.



ThePracticeSessions

To help kids learn these lessons, Im including a practice session in the DVD for each lessons. They all begin with prayer. Everything in life is easier when we bring it to God in prayer!

Ive found its not difficult to help a child play the guitar, but sometimes they dont want to practice. Here are some suggestions that can help.

Practice with them. I suggest around 10 minutes a day and it can be viewed as play time together.

Make a chart and have them put a sticker on the days they play. If they play so many days a week, they get a treat. Treats can be things like a balloon or toy. See the sample chart at the end of this book. Feel free to copy it and use it.

Ask them to play for you and then enjoy that time. Ask them to play for others.Turn off the TV or restrict viewing times. I have a brother who put their TV

in the closet. Didnt hurt the kids at all.Have them play for you after dinner. Have practice days earn points. With so many points they can get a special

event or a surprise. Kids love surprises.After they know a few chords, you can encourage them to make up their

own songs.Words of encouragement and affirmation are always appreciated.

Some kids love to play and just pick it up on their own, but most are encouraged by the interaction of others.

One benefit of playing a musicical instrument is developing both sides of your brain. Many studies have been done and parents have told me that playing an instrument helped their children excel in other areas. Their grades went up.



TuningtheGuitarTunewiththevideoOn the DVD of this program you can match the guitar strings to the pitches in the video. Youll probably need help in the beginning.

Tunewithapiano

Tunewithaguitartuner

Tuners are easy to use. Some even play the pitches of each string. Most tuners simply tell you when the string is in tune by watching the needle. When its in the middle, the string is tuned. Using guitar tuners is the easiest way to tune your guitar.



Tuneaguitartoitself

You can get the first pitch with a tuning fork, a pitch pipe or simply tune your guitar to itself.

Tune The 5th string by plucking the note on the 6th string 5th fret and then matching that with the 5th string open.Tune the 4th string by plucking the note on the 5th string 5th fret and then matching that to the 4th string open.Tune the 3rd string by plucking the note on the 4th string 5th fret and then matching that with the 3rd string open.Tune the 2nd string by plucking the note on the 3rd string 4th fret and then matching that with the 2nd string open.Tune the 1st string by plucking the note on the 2nd string 5th fret and then matching that with the 1st string open.

The diagram below shows where on the fretboard you hold down to tune the open strings. For example, there is a 5 on the 6th string, 5th fret to show holding down the 6th string, 5th fret is the same pitch as the Fifth string open.

As you can see, you hold down the 5th fret of the string above the one you are tuning, except for the relationship between the 2nd and 3rd strings. You hold down the 4th fret of the 3rd string to get the sound of the 2nd string open.

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2.

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LessonOnePartsoftheGuitar

Above is a picture of a guitar. Its good to know the names of the parts of your guitar. Can you pluck the strings and say each string number out loud?



Therhythmpattern

In music, the rhythm is seen or represented by notes. The most common notes are whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. They look like this:

= whole note, or 4 counts h= half note, or 2 countsThe whole note is the largest. Its lasts for 4 whole counts. The half note and quarter note look very similar. They both have a stem. The half note has an empty circle, like the whole note, with a stem. For the quarter note, the circle is solid black. The quarter note lasts for one count, but the half note is longer, it lasts for 2 counts.

The quickest note well look at is an eighth note. It lasts for only 1/2 count, or beat. Two eighth notes are the equivalent to one quarter note.

This lesson starts with up and down arms movements on a specific rhythmic pattern. The pattern is below:

Watch lesson one on your DVD. You will see the up and down arm movements demonstrated. To help you practice, on the DVD youll find practice sessions for each lesson. Just watch and play along with the DVD. Im using a metronome on the DVD. Its a little gadget that keeps a steady tempo.

For the arm movements, the metronome is set at around 80 beats per minute. See if you can swing your arms perfectly with the metronome. Try around 4 sets of the pattern above.

Now were going to try walking the index and middle fingers on the 1st string with this same rhythm pattern.

1 2 3 4 1 & 2 & 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 & 2 & 3 4

44

q= quarter note, or 1 counte= eighth note, or 1/2 count


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Therhythmpatternonthe1ststring

Its easy to read guitar tab. Guitar tablature has 6 lines that represent the 6 strings on your guitar. The top line is the first string, the highest sounding one. Here is a picture to help you visualize this.

The 0 on the first line of the guitar tab means that you play that string open. Walk the index and middle fingers on the first string. Its important to alternate your fingers.

We are going to learn how to read guitar chord charts next. You can see in the next page how the picture of a guitar matches up with the chord chart.

Here is our rhythm on the first string. The upper set of lines is the actual musical note and the bottom is using guitar tablature. Its often just called guitar tab.

Rhythm Pattern on E

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



Howtoreadchordcharts

On page 5 we covered the basic parts of a guitar. A chord chart shows the Nut, frets and strings of your guitar.

The top line is the Nut. The lines underneath the Nut are the frets. The lines going up and down are the strings. As you can see there are 6 strings. The first string is the smallest string. It has the highest pitch.Here are the chord charts for the C and G7 Chords.

X X X X X *Note: Dont play the strings with the X.

C Chord

(Strum 3 Strings)

G7 Chord

(Strum 4 Strings)



ThankYouFather

Thank You Fatherby Jean Welles

2007 Jean Welles

ThankThank

C

YouYou

FaFa

therther

--

thankthank

G7

youyou

--

forfor

youryou

Love.Word.

C

II

C

lovelove

youyou

Lord,Lord,

withwith

G7

aa

thankthank

fulful

--

heart!heart!

C

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5

X X X X X *Note: Dont play the strings with the X.

C Chord

(Strum 3 Strings)

G7 Chord

(Strum 4 Strings)

Our first song is a little song I wrote called Thank You Father. All through the Bible we are told to come before God with thankfulness. God can help us in ev-erything we do. We can be thankful even when we dont understand why things happen. We can be thankful knowing that God is Good and will make everything right in the end.



Pray First

Play the guitar for5 to 10 minutes a day,

5 or 6 days a week.

The arm/rhythm exercise 4 times

Walk i and m on the 1st string with the rhythm.

Sing and PlayThank You Father

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