music people- I need advice about helping DS reach his goals w/guitar

[unsinkable]

Some background. DS took piano lessons for several years but didn't make much progress. I told him if he practiced piano 30 minutes/day for 5 days/week for 3 months, he could take guitar lessons. He did it and has now been playing guitar since Oct.

 

He is homeschooled but plans on going to the same high school as my son the year after next.

 

He loooooooves guitar. About a month ago, he told me he wanted to play in the Jazz band at the high school he plans on going to. At the same time, he told me he is going to practice 2 hours/day. He does do this now. Before it had been 30 - 45 minutes several times a week.

 

I want to help him reach this goal but I am clueless. It seems as if what he talks about is already over my head. I have never even heard of some of the guitar players he admires. We plan on talking to the band director at the end of the school year when things calm down. He is my older son's concert band teacher, too. The band director had told my guitar playing DS that there are many boys at the school who "think they can play guitar but they can't." Here are my questions:

 

Can he hurt his hands/wrists/fingers playing this much?

 

How do I know he is with the right teacher who can help him learn what he needs to know? We've told his teacher his goal. His teacher was talking about knowing jazz chords and not just regular chords. He says DS wants to be 5 steps ahead of where he is right now.

 

I'll probably have other questions based on your answers. :lol:

 

Already edited to add: He'll need another instrument b/c he needs to be in concert band in order to be in jazz band. The director is always saying he need trombone players but DS isn't really sold on the idea.

Edited June 5, 2011 by unsinkable

[CLHCO]

Here are my questions:

 

Can he hurt his hands/wrists/fingers playing this much?

 

Probably not, if using decent technique. I have a daughter who plays sometimes for an hour, then we have up to 2 hour programs in the evenings on an acoustic bluegrass guitar, though she uses some jazz techniques. I know of players going up to 4-5 hours a day. It will hurt your fingers, but my daughter has some Popeye calluses right now. I make her show them off. Pretty young fingers with massive Popeye calluses. :tongue_smilie:

 

Just watch for carpal tunnel on those young wrists. You should get some advice on gentle stretches, and playing without tension. It can usually be avoided.

 

How do I know he is with the right teacher who can help him learn what he needs to know? We've told his teacher his goal. His teacher was talking about knowing jazz chords and not just regular chords. He says DS wants to be 5 steps ahead of where he is right now.

 

The best thing to do is to ask around. First ask what this teacher knows about the subject, and what his experience is with jazz. If you're not satisfied, find out who plays jazz successfully in the area, and who he/she studies under.

 

Your ds can catch up to where he needs to be with that much work, if it's productive work and not just playing mistakes over and over again. Hopefully, with a good teacher, that won't be the case. Most kids studying hard on this are not studying correctly, giving sufficient time to practice, or with the right techniques, so if your son, even if he's behind, gets on the ball, he can do great.

I'll probably have other questions based on your answers. :lol:

 

Already edited to add: He'll need another instrument b/c he needs to be in concert band in order to be in jazz band. The director is always saying he need trombone players but DS isn't really sold on the idea.

 

Tuba. Just sayin'. ;)

 

Actually, any instrument that gets him reading music more will benefit him. The more he does it, even on another instrument, the more he'll improve musicianship.

[KellyGirl]

He isn't likely to hurt himself playing that much (dh and I both spent most of our teen years playing guitar). Like pp said, he needs to make sure his technique is good and that he keeps his fretting hand as relaxed as possible.

 

The guitar teacher is right, your ds needs to know lots of jazz chords. He should know all the diminished/augmented chord forms and how to build them (that the flat 5th makes a minor chord diminished, etc.). He should also know how to make a 9th and 11th of all the basic chords.

 

Reading a jazz chart is a little different from reading guitar tab or regular sheet music. You could probably ask the school teacher for some charts for your son and he can take them to the guitar teacher.

 

Usually in a jazz band, the guitarist needs to be able to solo, too. For your ds, that means learning pentatonic scales and modes (dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian...). If he isn't learning scales yet, he needs to be. After all the patterns are memorized his teacher should be able to teach him the art of soloing.

[unsinkable]

Here are my questions:

 

Can he hurt his hands/wrists/fingers playing this much?

 

Probably not, if using decent technique. I have a daughter who plays sometimes for an hour, then we have up to 2 hour programs in the evenings on an acoustic bluegrass guitar, though she uses some jazz techniques. I know of players going up to 4-5 hours a day. It will hurt your fingers, but my daughter has some Popeye calluses right now. I make her show them off. Pretty young fingers with massive Popeye calluses. :tongue_smilie:

 

Just watch for carpal tunnel on those young wrists. You should get some advice on gentle stretches, and playing without tension. It can usually be avoided.

 

How do I know he is with the right teacher who can help him learn what he needs to know? We've told his teacher his goal. His teacher was talking about knowing jazz chords and not just regular chords. He says DS wants to be 5 steps ahead of where he is right now.

 

The best thing to do is to ask around. First ask what this teacher knows about the subject, and what his experience is with jazz. If you're not satisfied, find out who plays jazz successfully in the area, and who he/she studies under.

 

Your ds can catch up to where he needs to be with that much work, if it's productive work and not just playing mistakes over and over again. Hopefully, with a good teacher, that won't be the case. Most kids studying hard on this are not studying correctly, giving sufficient time to practice, or with the right techniques, so if your son, even if he's behind, gets on the ball, he can do great.

I'll probably have other questions based on your answers. :lol:

 

Already edited to add: He'll need another instrument b/c he needs to be in concert band in order to be in jazz band. The director is always saying he need trombone players but DS isn't really sold on the idea.

 

Tuba. Just sayin'. ;)

 

Actually, any instrument that gets him reading music more will benefit him. The more he does it, even on another instrument, the more he'll improve musicianship.

 

Thank you! I really appreciate it!

 

I am not sure if DS is behind...because I am not even sure where he should be. :lol: I'll probably have a better idea after we talk to the director.

[unsinkable]

He isn't likely to hurt himself playing that much (dh and I both spent most of our teen years playing guitar). Like pp said, he needs to make sure his technique is good and that he keeps his fretting hand as relaxed as possible.

 

The guitar teacher is right, your ds needs to know lots of jazz chords. He should know all the diminished/augmented chord forms and how to build them (that the flat 5th makes a minor chord diminished, etc.). He should also know how to make a 9th and 11th of all the basic chords.

 

Reading a jazz chart is a little different from reading guitar tab or regular sheet music. You could probably ask the school teacher for some charts for your son and he can take them to the guitar teacher.

 

Usually in a jazz band, the guitarist needs to be able to solo, too. For your ds, that means learning pentatonic scales and modes (dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian...). If he isn't learning scales yet, he needs to be. After all the patterns are memorized his teacher should be able to teach him the art of soloing.

 

Thank you very much! I am going to show all these things to DS.

 

I appreciate your help.