Giving guitar lessons

I'm going to start giving guitar lessons to some people I know. I never have given guitar lessons, and I feel I'm way to disorganized, so to avoid frustrating someone, I've started making a program with the topics I'll try to cover.

Here's what I have so far:

Basic technique:
-Explanation (including guitar position, hands position, picking, fingering, open string notes, etc.).
-Picking exercises (4 downstrokes, 4 upstrokes, alternate picking, 4 attacks patterns throuht the 6 strings).
-1 2 3 4 fingering pattern variations (played up and down the neck).
-Some small exercises in 2 strings I have to polish alternate picking.

Basic theory:
-Basic interval explanation and note naming (I'm having some trouble with this one, because I take it too much for granted)
-Explanation of note distribution in the fretboard
-1 octave Major scale and explanation of it
-2 octave Major scale 1st position (berklee system)
-Basic major and minor, diminished and augmented chord positions (open and transportable)
-Explanation on the diatonic harmonization of the major scale (including the "stacking 3rds" concept)
-modes explanation

from there, I would like to develop into natural minor scale and pentatonic scale.

I'm thinking of many other things I can teach, but I want to order the basics first, because I feel there are some holes in this program. What do you think of it?

Also, I'm not thinking of making this a strict program. I'm just making it to have something like a guideline to know what I can teach next. I would really appreciate some advice on how to make my students get involved in the class (like getting songs for them to learn and that kind of things).

You also need to give people something that they can do and feel some sort of accomplishment. Id pick a song with them and get them playing the chords down at the nut and just strumming them and singing along.

be sure not to cover too many things in one lesson. your students wont be able to learn everything in one day.

I think you're on the right track, though, cowman. I think some teachers don't really have a clear lesson plan in mind, and they just make it up as they go along. Having a written curriculum will give you and your students a sense of direction and accomplishment, I think. You can even spend the first lesson planning out the curriculum; deciding approx. how many sessions to spend on each section, and regular evaluations and such. It would make the lessons seem more professional, IMO.

Iamthe_eggman makes a very good point. I took some professional lessons a few yeas ago as a refresher and eventually dropped them as the guy didn't have any sense of curriculum or where we were going.

Originally Posted by: Azraelbe sure not to cover too many things in one lesson. your students wont be able to learn everything in one day.

To add a point , if you teached your students everything in one day , they won't need anymore lessons , and you would lose your job if you were teaching in a music center or something.
Ugly Capitalism ! :p

Yeah I agree with eggman too. You got a good idea in planning it out, but don't forget to set goals. This will give the student something to strive for, and a feeling of accomplishment when they reach those goals. Figure of what kind of music they want to play, and ask them to learn something (not the entire song, but maybe a riff) from a song that they like before the next session. Listen to them play and look for bad technique, poor rhythm, and things along that line. If they have a problem, help them understand what they're doing wrong and guide them in the right direction. That's all I have for now... good luck

This is a must...GET THEM TO PLAY SOMETHING!

ive walked away from a lesson(out of like 4-5 ever)with paper in my hand and nothing new in my head.They will enjoy learning a few licks,runs,riffs(based on skill level of obviously)at first much more than memorizing scales,modes and progressions.

Their desire to learn theory will grow when they want to understand how they are playing the things they are(You know what I mean!).

Even if its just a simple power chord riff or something they will leave knowing they CAN rock and will desire to learn more.

Its kind of like being a kung-fu teacher.The student will come back if the teacher shows him a few killer moves the first few lessons rather than punching the air 50 times.