teaching

October Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

I decided to rename my newly-created ROCK BAND page, so it is now called SONGS. I didn’t want it to be specific Rock music or to the Rock Band I’m teaching. Instead it is any genre of songs that I’ve come across and decided to transcribe. Also, the songs are suitable for many different ability levels, so there should be something for everyone. Since I want this to be a hub for all of the songs that I have music for, I moved “Songs with One Progression”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb / Hot Cross Buns Medley”, “Amazing Grace”, “Two Hanukkah Songs (Treble Clef and Bass Clef”, and “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” from the GUITAR, UKULELE, PIANO, MALLETS, and BASS GUITAR pages to the SONGS page.

With many of the songs I took multiple approaches to how I notated them. The “lyrics and chords” PDFs are similar to what you might find on most websites, except that I edited them and added a simple version of music notation using text (“|” is a barline, “/” is a beat or quarter note, “-” is a sustain, “X” is a quarter rest, etc.). For example, strumming a G Major chord for four beats (quarter notes) would look like this: |G / / / |. Strumming a G Major chord on beat one and letting it ring out for the remaining three beats (whole note) would look like this: |G – – – |. Strumming a G Major chord on beat one and then muffling/silencing it for the remaining three beats (quarter note, three quarter rests) would look like this: |G X X X |. This gives more clarity about what the harmonic rhythm is. The “tab” PDFs have text-based tablature for songs that go beyond chord-strumming and have simple riffs. The “riffs” PDFs use more detailed music notation for songs that have riffs that might be too complex for text-based tab. The “YouTube” links are so that students can listen to recordings of the songs. The “guitar tutorial” links are to YouTube videos of how to play more complex riffs and songs.

All of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the SONGS page. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

September Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

Since I’m going to be teaching the Fall Session of Rock Band at one of my studios, I created a new ROCK BAND page (under FOR MY STUDENTS). It includes materials such as “Notes on the Low E and A Strings”, “12-Bar Blues in G, D, A, and Am”, “Strumming Rhythms Index, Book 1 Summary”, “TNT by AC/DC”, and an easy version of “Nothing Else Matters by Metallica”. I will continue to add materials (mostly songs) as I finish them. All of the materials that are instrument-specific will still be found on my GUITAR, BASS GUITAR, and DRUM SET pages.

For Drum Set, I moved 12-Bar Blues from my Recital Songbook to my Method Book, since I have 12-Bar Blues in my Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar Method Books, not in the Recital Songbooks. There is a version at the end of each Level that incorporates what the students have learned up to that point. I posted new versions of Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The Guitar and Ukulele Recital Songbooks, Book 1 are now ready to sell. I posted a PDF of the first 6 songs so that students can still try try them out before deciding if they want to buy them. The PDFs also include some blank pages for songwriting, and there are still the recordings of songs 1 to 5 to listen to and/or play along with.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the ROCK BAND, GUITAR, DRUM SET, and UKULELE pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

August Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

Earlier in August I added the document “Songs with One Progression” to both my GUITAR and UKULELE pages. It includes the songs Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, Creep by Radiohead, Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver, Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, and Stand by Me by Ben E. King. In all of these songs the same chord progression repeats and doesn’t change throughout the entire song. I’m going to add more songs as I discover more that do the same, so check back often.

I also created the document “Guitar Chord-Strumming: Common Chords and Progressions” which introduces chords that either don’t fit naturally in any of my books, or I teach much later, but they show up in many songs. These chords include the 4-finger version of GM (for students who picked one of the 3-finger versions in Lesson 4), Cadd9, DM/F#, Em7, and B7. There are also familiar progressions with which to practice the chords, as well as the “pop progression”.

I spent most of the month writing and organizing songs for my Guitar and Ukulele Recital Songbooks (62 songs for each instrument). They are actually the same songs, but I presented them in the order that works best for each instrument. I also moved the Recital Songbooks and recordings of Recital Songs 1 to 5 to the GUITAR and UKULELE pages.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR and UKULELE pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

July Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

In July I started compiling songs from my Guitar and Ukulele Recital Songbooks to create a Beginning Band Songbook for Ukulele, Guitar, Piano, Bass Guitar, and Drum Set. Like the individual Recital Songbooks, it’ meant to teach beginners how to play songs using only a few, easy chords, and also how to play with other people (everybody plays the same chords at the same time), and to learn the difference between “practice” and “rehearsal”. The book itself is still very much a rough draft, but once I smooth out the edges, I’ll be able to post the first 20 songs, so stay tuned.

I added more songs to my Guitar Recital Songbook (23 songs so far) and Ukulele Recital Songbook (50 songs so far). PDFs of the sheet music are now only on the GUITAR RECITAL SONGBOOK and UKULELE RECITAL SONGBOOK pages, and no longer on the regular GUITAR or UKULELE pages.

After creating and posting the tracks for Ukulele Recital Songs 1-5 and Guitar Recital Songs 1-5, I decided that I’m not going to keep making tracks for all of the Recital Songs, but I will make a track if I have a student who wants to perform a specific recital song. Part of this decision was based on the time it takes to produce each track, but it was also because some students had issues with the tempo (100 BpM). As a compromise, I created 48-Measure Song Form Practice Tracks with Drum Set only at 7 different tempos (on the PRACTICE TRACKS page) so that students will still have something to play all of the recital songs along with if they want to.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR RECITAL SONGBOOK, UKULELE RECITAL SONGBOOK, DRUM SET, and PRACTICE TRACKS pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

June Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

Last month I had the fun idea to write a song for my students that is a medley of Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. The verses are Mary Had a Little Lamb (the three-both version) and the choruses are Hot Cross Buns, both with traditional harmony. For the bridge I used Mary Had a Little Lamb, but this time harmonized it in the relative minor key, and also used the version with the high note. It is intended to be sung and played on guitar or ukulele (words, melody, chords, and strumming rhythm), but can also be played by piano and bass guitar (if they know chords). I also transcribed I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You, as performed by Twenty One Pilots. Both of these songs are available in the keys of C Major and G Major on my UKULELE and GUITAR pages under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab.

In my last post I mentioned that I had created Recital Songbooks for guitar, ukulele, and drum set. One of the additions I’ve made since then is that I added 12-Bar Blues to the Drum Set Recital Songbook at the end of each section. There is a version with quarter notes on the cymbals, one with 8th notes on the cymbals, one with bass drum variations, and one that adds fills. The biggest addition I am making to those books is that I am making recordings of each of the songs in the Guitar and Ukulele Recital Songbooks (drum set students can play along with any song since the different chords don’t matter, as long as the drum set students use any of the songs in 4/4 time that are not 12-Bar Blues). I have already posted Ukulele Recital Songs 1-5, and I will continue releasing about 5 songs every week. Next week (the week of July 14th) I will release recordings of Guitar Recital Songs 1-5, the following week (the week of July 21st) I will release recordings of Ukulele Recital Songs 6-10, and the last week in July (the week of July 28th) I will release recordings of Guitar Recital Songs 6-10. After that I will continue to make new recordings as I add new songs to the songbooks. I’m also creating new pages for recordings called GUITAR RECITAL SONGBOOK and UKULELE RECITAL SONGBOOK under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab.

As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

Late April and May Lesson Materials

Leave a comment

For the second half of April and all of May, I spent a lot of my time finishing a number of my method books. For Ukulele I have Chord-Strumming Books 1 and 2, and Note-Reading Books 1 and 2. For Guitar I have Chord-Strumming Books 1, 2, 3, and 4, Note-Reading Books 1 and 2, and Riff Exercises (formerly “Beginning Riff Exercises”) Book 1. I also completed Strumming Rhythms Index Books 1 and 2 which can be used with Ukulele and Guitar.

I also overhauled my Guitar and Ukulele pages, partially because I removed all of the books which are now for sale. On both pages I added “How to Tune…” PDFs, updated the Karate Belt requirements to include pages from the Strumming Rhythms Index, and on the Guitar page I added the Blue and Purple Belt requirements. I removed all of my Chord-Strumming materials, except for the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard” pages (in case anyone loses theirs and needs to print a new copy) and “Unit 1 (part 1)” (so that any student can work on their White Belt requirements, even if they haven’t bought the book yet). On both pages I added Chord-Strumming Recital Songbooks (which I will talk more about later) and kept the Progressions Using Only Three Chords, so that students who are having a difficult time learning new chords can make the most of the chords they do know. I removed the Strumming Rhythms Index except for page 1, so that students can still sample it for free before deciding if they want to buy the book, and on the Guitar page there are finger-picking exercises. Like with the chord-strumming books, I removed all of my Note-Reading materials, except for the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard” pages  and “Unit 1 (part 1)” (also part of the White Belt requirements). Both pages still have PDFs of Two Hanukkah Songs and Amazing Grace, and the Guitar page has a sample of Riff Exercises and all of my Advanced Exercises.

My new project last month was to create Recital Songbooks for Guitar, Ukulele, and Drum Set (with Piano and Bass Guitar Recital Songbooks coming in the future). These will be ongoing and I will continue to add more and more songs as time goes on. The initial idea was to provide songs for beginners to be able to play in a recital, even if they only know a few basics. I use standard short song form (to also teach them about verses, choruses and bridges) and follow along with my method books to incorporate new concepts (chords, rhythms, etc.) as they are learning them, so no matter where they are in the book, they are able to utilize what they know in a musical context.

I finished my Mallet Instruments (Treble Clef) Book 1 and it is now ready for sale, but Unit 1 (part 1) is still available to print for free as a sample. Unit 5: The Key of B-Flat Major is also done and available to print, and I also started working on a Bass Clef version (Level 1: The Key of C Major is available to print).

Throughout all of my method books, I made a conceptual change and now instead of referring to each section as a “UNIT” I know use the word “Level” (there may still be use of the work “Unit” in older PDFs). I talked with a few colleagues about it to get their opinions and we all agreed on the switch. Some of their thoughts were: “Unit sounds like a chore. Level sounds like when I get to the end, I’m closer to reaching the candy in the top shelf of the cabinet.” “Unit seems like a larger chunk that may be overwhelming to try and accomplish. I think of level as just one more step or rung of the ladder to get to that new skill.” “…level in reference to video games.” “UNIT just signifies a section (and sounds like homework) but LEVEL implies improvement and ascending.”

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR, UKULELE, DRUM SET, and MALLETS pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

Sharps and Flats and Key Signatures (Oh My!)

Leave a comment

Recently, I’ve been doing the opposite of what I normally do: I started taking materials off of my website. I did this because I realized that if I have PDFs of 8 units of material, then I make a change to something later on, I have to go back and replace all of those PDFs. Also, with many of my materials, most of my students haven’t gone past Unit 1. What I’m going to do now is to upload Unit 1 of all of my books, and as students finish that unit in a particular book and the need arises, then I will add Unit 2, and so on (if there are some books that have more than one unit posted, it’s because I have students who are already that far along).

A small change that I made to almost all of my books is the addition of the words “Flat” and “Sharp” to chord and key names the first time they are used (“B-Flat” “F-Sharp”). I realized that I had been using only the symbols and never provided an explanation, so I wanted to fix that. I added  what sharp, flat, and natural symbols mean to the Practice Instructions for the Guitar and Ukulele Chord-Strumming and Note-Reading Method Books, so that students can have that as a reference at all times.

A big change that I made was to add key signatures to the songs in all of my note-reading books. Back when I did my Christmas Songbooks, I made the decision to not use key signatures for the melodies in my G Major books because I wanted the students to be more likely to play the right notes the first time through and have more fun. It recently occurred to me that this should not be the thinking for method books, though, and they should be learning about key signatures. Key signatures have been added to my guitar, ukulele, and mallets books, and they will be added to my piano and bass guitar books going forward.

Another big change that I made was to rearranged the order that the scales are presented in my Mallets Method Book. Originally I presented the scales in different octaves and positions from low to high, but then I realized that I should start every new scale on the staff first, not below the staff with ledger lines. The new order is: (1) the scale from low tonic to high tonic on the staff, (2) the scale with tonic in the middle on the staff, (3) the scale that goes above the staff, (4) the scale that goes below the staff. To make communication in lessons easier, I numbered the exercises/songs, and as mentioned previously, I added key signatures to all of the songs.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR, UKULELE, and MALLETS pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

More Guitar and Ukulele Materials

Leave a comment

Recently I realized that while I have Practice Instructions pages for my Guitar and Ukulele Chord-Strumming Method Books, I didn’t have a Practice Instructions pages for my Guitar and Ukulele Note-Reading Method Books, so I made them. Like the pages in my Chord-Strumming Method Books, it is meant to be cut out and referenced on every page that the student is practicing (like a bookmark). I will always leave a link to a PDF of these pages on my website in case a student loses them, even when the Note-Reading Method Books are for sale. In my Guitar and Ukulele Note-Reading Method Books I also added numbers to all of the lines so that it is easier to reference which line a student should be playing at any time (allowing the teacher to say, “play line 3” as opposed to saying, “play that line” and having to point).

I added a couple of new units to my Guitar Beginning Riff Exercises. Unit 3 deals with playing riffs using major pentatonic scales starting on the A string in I IV V progressions and 12-Bar Blues in various major keys (and uses Riff Rhythms pages v and vi). Unit 4 is playing riffs using minor pentatonic scales starting on the A string in i iv v progressions and 12-Bar Blues in various minor keys (and uses Riff Rhythms Pages vii and viii).

I also prepared my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book 4 to sell. As with my other completed method books, for now they are only available for sale through me directly, but soon I will add links to purchase them online.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR and UKULELE pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

More Guitar and Ukulele Method Books for Sale

Leave a comment

Lately I have been making it a priority to prepare more of my method books to sell. For a while I have been selling my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book 1 and my Ukulele Chord-Strumming Method Book 1, and over the past few weeks I also prepared my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book 2 and Book 3, as well as my Ukulele Chord-Strumming Method Book 2. As of now, they are only available for sale through me directly, but soon I will add links to purchase them online.

While my first Guitar and Ukulele Chord-Strumming Books are no longer available for free on my website, I did decide to make all of the materials for Guitar and Ukulele Karate White Belts available for free. On the GUITAR and UKULELE pages there are links to free PDFs for both the Chord-Strumming as well as the Note-Reading books “Unit 1 (part 1)”.

I also recently made some changes to my Guitar Beginning Riff Exercises (which was formerly known as “Guitar Beginning Riff and Solo Exercises”). I updated and re-formatted Unit 1 so that the Riff Rhythm pages are now “cut-outs” at the beginning of the book that are used with the progressions in different keys throughout Unit 1. This way I only had to print the pages of rhythms and progressions once. Since the Riff Rhythm pages are meant to be cut out and will become individual sheets of paper that might get lost, I’m going to leave the links to the PDFs of them on my page for free, even when I finish the book and start selling it. The other big change that I made was that I was originally going to have major pentatonic scales on the A string for Unit 2, but instead I changed it to minor pentatonic scales on the E string. My original thought was to do everything with major pentatonic scales then do everything with minor pentatonic scales, but I decided that it would be better to switch back and forth between the two. So to summarize, Riff Rhythms pages i and ii go with Unit 1: Major Pentatonic Scales on the Low E String, and Riff Rhythms pages iii and iv go with Unit 2: Minor Pentatonic Scales on the Low E String.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR and UKULELE pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

Guitar/Ukulele Note-Reading and Beginning Music Theory

Leave a comment

During the second half of February I made a push to finish almost all of my guitar and ukulele note-reading units, once I had decided on my overall plan of which keys to do and in which order. In my Guitar Note-Reading Method Book I finished Unit 5: The Key of F Major, Unit 6: The Key of E Major, Unit 7: The Key of B Flat Major, and Unit 8: 8th Notes. Similarly, in my Ukulele Note-Reading Method Book I finished Unit 5: The Key of B Flat Major, Unit 6: The Key of A Major, Unit 7: The Key of E Flat Major, and Unit 8: 8th Notes.

I recently also had a realization that if some people are struggling with music theory, it might be because they are having difficulty reading notes on the staff. Music notation can be a barrier between them and the overall music theory concepts, so I created some beginning music theory sheets that use only text. So far, I’ve done a unit on major scales, a unit on (relative) natural minor scales, and a unit on harmonic and melodic minor scales (all up to 3 sharps and 3 flats).

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR, UKULELE, and MUSIC THEORY pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Composer for Film, Television, Video Games, Theatre, and the Concert Stage. All content Copyright © 1994-2025 Timothy D. Girard. All Rights Reserved.