By following the G4 GUITAR METHOD you are following the path of least resistance. Finding a great teacher with an effective system of learning is a lottery. Ask yourself. “How do I know if my teacher really knows how to teach?” Just because someone plays guitar does not mean they necessarily know the best way to teach. Teaching is a skill that actually takes training and experience. Add to that the actual method behind their teaching. Do they have a plan? Is there structure? Are there benchmarks?

Think about language. Just because I speak English does that make me a great English teacher? I wouldn’t even know where to start. At G4 GUITAR we take a research approach to everything we do. We want you to learn guitar as quickly as possible with out compromising technique. The G4 GUITAR METHOD is an ongoing research project. We see our schools as research facilities. We are always asking questions like; “How can we improve what we do?” and “Is this strategy actually working and if no why?”

Learning to play guitar is both fun and challenging. If you have arrived at this site you are no doubt looking for the right advice about the best way to learn guitar. Whether you are a complete beginner, intermediate or experienced professional this website will hopefully offer you some solutions, ideas and inspiration.

There is no one perfect way to learn guitar but there are some fundamentals all students of guitar need to be aware of. The G4GUITARMETHOD will cover the seven essential skills of Guitar along with structured levels and goals plus lots of motivation and sound advice. The G4GUITARMETHOD is about giving you all the tools, skills, tricks, theory and motivation you need to make it happen. We want this site to be a place of inspiration to keep you on track and moving forward with your guitar. So let’s dive in and get started.

All guitarists need to learn certain skills. Think of guitar playing like learning a language. To be an effective communicator in any language you should learn to speak, read and write. To be able to play guitar and communicate musically we need to learn the guitar equivalent. Teaching guitar is about being able to break down the complexed skill of guitar playing into simple steps. These steps will vary depending on the students age. For example if a 5 year old was to learn guitar there is not much point in giving analogies such ‘learning guitar is like learning to drive etc.’ Teaching young children guitar involves simple games that teach them basic rhythm and pitch. With adults it is a whole different ball game. Adults can range from the person who has no prior musical knowledge to the student who has been involved in music all their life. Both have pluses and minuses.

So what are the Seven Essential Skills. They are as follows;

Picking, Chords, Scales, Arpeggios, Strumming (Rhythm), Reading and Aural.

By learning and developing each of these skills you will have the foundation to go on and play almost anything. There are of course many other skills like slides, bends, hammer ons, pull offs, tapping, artificial harmonics etc. But these should be added after the you have done at least 6 months of foundation building on the Seven Essential Skills of Guitar.

Why is foundation building so important? Well think of it like a house. If you don’t take the time to build strong foundations your house will most likely collapse. With guitar the foundations give you the ability to go on and play much more difficult pieces of music. If you do not build solid foundations early you will almost certainly have to come back and relearn those skills. This is really not exclusive to guitar. I would say it is somewhat of a universal law. Take people’s handwriting for instance. Has your handwriting improved much since you were a teenager? My guess is not. In some cases it make in fact be worse. Reason being is your writing style is based on your early years of learning to write. If you had of taken the time to perfect each pen stroke early you quite likely hand very nice hand writing today.

The Seven Essential Skills are about developing these foundations from the very beginning. Lets look at picking. Picking involves a number of factors. Steady hand, accurate pick action, alternate picking action to name a few. It is not just a simple matter of hitting a string. It needs to be done with precision and accuracy right from the start. If you play golf think of it like a golf swing. A golf swing is not a natural action. We have to learn and develop it. Guitar picking is not exactly necessary for the survival of the human race so old mother nature did not build it in to her list of innate skills. It takes time to develop a good picking action but it is well worth the time invested if you are serious about playing guitar.

So I strongly recommend you stick the Seven Essential Skills to Guitar on your wall and invest a little time each day in improving them. Don’t get too caught up in being a guitar hero early on. Build those foundations and be patient. Let them develop otherwise your guitar playing will ultimately suffer. Remember ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing well’.

Testimonials

“Stephen is really enjoying his individual lessons and likes his new teacher Mauricio”.  -Felicity Brazel

“She  is really enjoying it and Blake is an absolutely wonderful teacher” - Paola Tamberlin

Nick is really enjoying the lessons with Blake and his playing has improved immensely, since he started.

Regards David Ferguson

"He (Zeljko) is a great guy and Dominic (son) has no idea how

privileged he is to be taught by him".

Regards

Tony Carnovale

General Manager

PlantWeave Technologies Pty Limited

*I would again like to compliment you on your school,

I am a guitarist and have had many teachers over the years but

none so thorough, organised and mindful.

Regards, Ken Granneman Director Star of the Sea Theatre Manly.

*I really enjoyed my time with G4 and the very talented Bojan.....I will keep practicising when I can and keep playing songs to the little one with the chordsI have learnt already.

Thanks again, Glenn

“He's loving it so we'll continue”.- Giles

 

“And by the way,  I can finally play Guitar Boogie fast enough to play with the recording.   I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about that!!!”

Sean Bumgarner

 

Hi David ….  Ella is really enjoying her lessons.

Thanks, Graham

 

Hi David

Wilton .

He enjoyed his first lesson with Rached very much, last Saturday. Wilton is very reticent with strangers, but Rached was very kind and patient.

Thank you and regards

Cynthia

He is really enjoying his guitar lessons, more and more, and loving building up the repertoire. Thankyou. Regards, Tina Mulholland

East Lindfield • NSW • 2070               

Hi David

“Louis is loving his lessons and his guitar and really looks forward to his next session.”

Angela Longhi

Brighid has really taken to the guitar and she's really enjoying her lessons

Regards, Emma