Product Overview
Instrumentation: Guitar
Format: Book & CD
Author: Larry McCabe
The Easy Method For Little Guitar Pickers published by Santorella Publications is written by a teacher experienced with young students. The logical presentation of essential concepts and techniques is a perfect mix for any curriculum, private or classroom. The emphasis is on songs that are meaningful and fun for children. There are quizzes to enable students & teachers to review while monitoring progress. There is plenty of fretting-hand development before playing the low strings and the addition of an instructional CD, makes study and practice a breeze.
The Easy Method For Little Guitar Pickers by Larry McCabe has quickly become the method of choice for countless guitar teachers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Europe.Be sure to get the most out of your “little picker” approach and include the entire series of supplemental songbooks; Easy Songs, Easy Gospel Songs, Easy Bluegrass Songs & The Big Book of Children’s Songs; in your study program.
Some of these wayward treatises rush through the exposition of notes and chords under the assumption that small hands are perfectly capable-at the second or third lesson, and without sufficient training-of making big stretches to the E and A bass strings. Other books, pandering to the notion that kids are inherently dumb or lazy, keep teaching the same thing over and over, lesson after boring lesson. The design of this method avoids all those pedagogical errors.
The main focus through page 29 is to teach melodies on the first four strings. Most children, including those in early elementary school, can reach the first four strings with little difficulty-if their instrument is the appropriate size (A 3/4-size guitar is preferred for children with small hands as shown on page 3). We move forward to the fifth string on page 30.
While allowing the student time to build fretting-hand strength and dexterity, the lessons do challenge the picking hand with a sufficient variety of rhythms and picking patterns.
Because many young children have difficulty with “big stretch” chords, most of the chords presented in the text are relatively easy to play. However, twenty-one standard chord forms and fifteen common chord progressions are offered in the appendix for ambitious students and students with larger hands. These lessons can be utilized as supplemental studies anytime that the student or teacher feels the time is right to do so.
