First, if you’re a mom, then I hope you basked in all the glory of Mother’s Day yesterday! I had a good, long, sweet heart-to-heart phone conversation with my mom yesterday. We talked about plants, veggies, varments, and just a splash of politics. She’s the best =)
Now, on to the guitar! I got a question from Margie, a percussion major who is preparing for graduate school in music therapy – exciting! She’s wondering about picking (no pun intended) up guitar skills. Click play to hear my answer!
Also, you can catch me pickin’ away at 3:35. (That one took a couple of takes, I admit. Whew!) 
Learning to play the guitar is a requirement for music therapists. I’m so glad I’ve learned how to play because it comes in handy ALL the time – at parties, campfires, at BBQs. I love that the guitar is so portable!
If you hang out with me on Facebook, then you might’ve seen this photo recently:
You’ll be relieved to hear that my boyfriend and I stopped in a music shop after Mother’s Day lunch, and I got a new guitar! I needed a “therapy” guitar… one that can be thrown around and jostled about. 99 bucks later, I’m a happy camper.
I’ve got a proper “performance” guitar at home, too. It’s got a pick up and great action. But I like to use a less formal guitar for day-to-day sessions.
Now, Margie and I are curious… How did YOU learn to play the guitar? What kinds of books, tools, and mentors did you have along the way?
What a great post, Kat! Love that cutaway Spanish you’re playing there. I wish we lived on the same continent at least, so we could have a jam … I’ve been playing the guitar since I was eight years old. My father taught me the basics of how to hold a guitar, tune it, and which fingers ‘worked’ which strings (he was a classical guitarist) and how to strum in the flamenco style.
Then I was given a copy of The Beatles Complete, Guitar Edition. As I already knew every single song in it, it was all I needed! It had all the chord diagrams I could eat.
I also make up my own chords, which I say is perfectly acceptable in our profession
You can see me playing a variety of botched-together hybrids, here: http://youtu.be/R9rnSqTnVtw
I still keep up with a variety of cool posters on YouTube (one I like a lot is called “rockongoodpeople”) because you can never learn too many tricks. But the best thing I can recommend is to play with other people, and just watch what they are doing – this is a great way to hone your technical skills as well as to polish up your improvising, which is pretty crucial too.
Holy moly – Yeah I wish we could jam so you could teach me a few tricks! You are awesome, and so cute when you giggle in your video, Laura! =)
Playing with others is GREAT advice. Thanks for chiming in here!!
Good Morning, Kat.
Great suggestions and recommendations to this question. Are you playing your new “therapy” guitar here? If so, it looks like you got a great deal! I hope you get your now “back-up” guitar re-glued and good as new
Nice solo on “Feelin’ Groovy”! I was thinking, this would be a great song to incorporate into this year’s National Nursing Home Week theme “Celebrating the Journey” happening now
through May 19th.
Enjoy your week!
Hey Toni! This one is my performance guitar. I’m soooo glad you can use this song for Nursing Home Week- fantastic idea!
Hi Kat! Great playing and great song! I don’t have a book to recommend, but I took classical guitar lessons for about 2 years when I started learning guitar in college. I can’t keep my chops up, but it really helped me feel comfortable playing just about anything for therapy groups.
I love the interlude you played! Well done! That’s what I need to do more of. Oh, and another guitar mentor I once had said you really have to work one song up at a time. Music learning is time consuming- I might work on an intro for a few hours before it sounds good. And that’s only 4 or so measures!
I need to start adding some interludes, too. Guitar is an ongoing process for me. As my fingers are a little shorter, I tend to do best on nylon strings or a 3/4 size guitar. Thanks for sharing your tips, Kat.
Hey Erin! Working one song up at a time is another great idea. Cool to hear what classical guitar lessons did for you, too – Thanks for tuning in and contributing here!
It seems that many discovered music therapy after deciding that performance or education wasn’t quite the perfect fit for them, which is my case. Of course, I had never heard of music therapy when I first started college, and only recently found out what it was all about and that I wanted to pursue it as a career. So, I guess that for the ones in this boat, unless they started out on guitar, it’s only natural to feel a little behind once you find out you have to be an expert on it!
I have made a lot of progress on my own, by treating the guitar like I would the marimba or vibes, when getting ready for a lesson at UAB. (No, not by hitting it with a stick!) For example, if I ever had a musical or technical issue, my teacher would not just give me the answers, I had to solve the musical problem on my own. In other words, I had to isolate the specific problem, and work it out using my own brain! Breaking issues apart, working them out, and then applying them as a whole sure does make an intimidating task like learning a new instrument seem a lot more doable! Thanks, Dr. Fambrough!
And thanks to you, Kat! This video made my day, and I can’t wait to see what everyone else has to say!
Hey Margie – Sounds like you’re doing great! Super cool that you are deep into learning the guitar. I bet you’ll do awesome in music therapy school =) Btw, thank YOU for the question! Helps me with content for my site!
Thanks for sharing this Kat! Great advice, great song, nice playing =D
I use this Aaron’s book as well. Great step by step, and the studies are helpful.
Right on, Twitter friend! Glad you like Shearer, too.
Margie,
I took a fingerboard theory class in college By Mike Christiansen at USU. It REALLY helped. You learn basic chord forms up and down the neck. You can adjust the chord form to play different kind of chords all up and down the neck (D7, Dm7, Ddim, Dm7-5, etc…). They are all just patterns. If you learn the notes on your two lowest strings (E and A) you can play most any chord anywhere on the neck. That, and learning my four string chords where immensly helpful in really understanding the guitar fret board and how to make chords. You will never need to look at a chord chart again if you master those two things. I reccommend Mike’s book “Fingerboard Theory” on his website. Click on “products” and scroll down, you will see it. http://mikechristiansen.com/products.html
I used the Classical book Kat mentioned too. Hang in there and give it some time. Your percussion skills will help you, The guitar is so rhythmic. YOur fingers just need some time to catch up!
Loved your Groovy song Kat. Another great post
Thank you, I will definitely follow those leads, Janea!
Awesome tips, Janea! Thanks for adding to the list!
hi there, thanks Kat! I love the song!
Althou here in Amsterdam I don’t play it a lot because the older people I work with don’t know it that well, but I do play the songs from the 1920 till 1940…
I started to play the gitar at music therapy school… and play it every day at my work.
with four chords i can play whatever song people want to hear.. I do have my favorite gitar.. i do love the app on the iphone called: ‘TouchChords’ althou there’s one from ‘Gibson’ as well.. easy to see how to learn chords (the first four or so) I do love the chord book with all the chords in them so you can pick the ones you like and mix them around in a song.
Thank you so much for all your advice, love reading it every week
Greetings Irene
Hey Irene! Thanks for letting us in on your work in Amsterdam! TouchChords and Gibson app sound like great learning tools. I appreciate your addons here, my dear. Thanks for tuning in =)
Hi Kat, another great post! Turns out guitar playing runs in my family: both my grandfather and uncle were superb guitar players; my dad tried but only got as far as “House of the Rising Sun”…and played it badly according to my mother!
So I suppose I was always naturally drawn to the guitar. I learned a few chords in college, but it wasn’t until my equivalency training that my playing really took off. We had a great class in “advanced functional guitar” that taught us all kinds of chords, strum patterns, popular songs. Then when I interned with Bobbi Adler I really got a hold of those bar chords and built up my repertoire.
While I have no specific book to recommend per se, I would say get a hold of the Ultimate Fake Book and start going through some of the songs. Also, you’d be amazed at how much you can play by just knowing 3-4 basic chords! BTW there’s a great video on YouTube by the Australian group Axis of Awesome that shows you just HOW many songs you can play with just 4 basic chords!
ha haaaaaaa – Yes! I know that video! It’s hilarious. The three-chord WONDER! Thanks for sharing Justine. You are cracking me up!
Hey Kat!
I learned guitar in the standard year-long guitar class at the University of Evansville, taught by Dr. Mary Ellen Wylie. The huge advantage of that class being taught by a music therapist is that we really learned functional skills – the stuff that is super-important for being able to work clinically. But, you can only learn so much in a year, and I feel like I have much room for growth on the guitar. Jay Jay Lim and Alan Turry also helped a lot with giving me light bulb moments to realize that I could apply all of the musical skills I have from other experiences to the guitar. That’s a huge advantage of a well-rounded music education, right?
Ah Jay Jay! Yeah! You know, I still take weekly jazz piano lessons with him =)
From all the names you listed, it sounds like you are very highly educated, my dear!
Hi Kat,
I recommend Peter Meyer’s book Guitar Skills for Music Therapists and Music Educators.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1891278568
I was supervised by Pete during my internship and I’m not just doing him a favor. I use techniques that I learned from the book everyday with my folks. The heft of guitar subject matter will surely give inexperienced guitar players the skills to sound slick and polished. Advanced players will go further. I hope you and your readership enjoy the book. I know I did.
Cheers.
Perfect! Thanks for your help and input!