About Neil Curry

MY METHODS

When I first meet a new student I find out what their goals are. I design the lesson plan according to what they want to achieve. I explain that if I teach them 30 minutes of something fun to show off for their friends then I expect them to practice the other 30 minutes on the technical things. The first thing I teach is the parts of a guitar. Then I teach them the definition of a chromatic scale and to use a metronome at low speeds to practice this for 10 minutes a day. I instruct my students to squeeze a tennis ball 10 minutes a day to build up hand strength. I draw a whole note, half note , quarter note and ask what is the name of the note, how many beats does the note get, what beat do you play on, and what beats ring out? I write the answers on the back so they can study them. I show the student how to play the rhythms. I use Hal Leonard book 1,2,3 guitar method to teach how to read music. I make cue cards of all the notes so we can study them. I show them how to curve their first and second knuckle and play on their finger tips between the frets to make a note sound correctly. I show them how certain fingers can stay down that are the same while switching chords, for instance, when switching from the G major chord to the E Minor chord ,the first finger on the 5th string 2nd fret can stay down for both chords. I show them with the right hand how to strum a simple pattern. Once they get that then we apply the 2 chords to make a simple chord progression. I use this approach to eventually achieve how to switch 15 basic open chords. I show them how to switch between two chords at a time using a metronome at slow speeds. I also show them the proper technique on how to curve their hand to get a chord to sound correctly. I choose simple fun songs like Brown Eyed Girl, Smoke On The Water, Iron Man, Amazing Grace to play. I teach bar chords and we find fun songs using them.

Then we start college reading Berkley book 1, 2, 3. In conjunction, I teach from Jon Brimhalls music theory book. I then go into four semesters of college music theory. I teach major 7th, minor 7th, minor 9th, dominant 7th, 7th augmented, 7th half diminished, 7th fully diminished chords. I go into the theory of how chords are formed using every other note of a major scale to form chords. I show the student also how the 3rd, 5th, and 7th are treated to give the chord quality of the chord. I teach pentatonic scales, modes, and arpeggios to improvise.

I have learned thousands of fun songs to teach my students from rock, funk, blues, country, reggae, classical, jazz songs, and Christian songs. I can teach specific songs the student wants to learn at the lesson. I enjoy teaching and love to spread the joy of playing music to my students. A school teacher told me that I was teaching her granddaughter that hard work equals success. I have had students tell me that they have learned more from me in a few lessons than they did with other teachers in months. I enjoy playing in front of audiences and connecting with them. I also enjoy writing songs and recording them in a studio.