Our curriculum is constantly growing & evolving. We’ve made some noteworthy changes to the Scope & Sequence of our Guitar & Ukulele curriculum and have improved song selection across all three instruments.
Guitar
Recommended Path for Students
We’ve changed the default learning path for students from the Rock Path to the Pop Path. The purpose of this change is to reflect a better sequencing of skills & techniques at later levels & to highlight a more diverse range of artists in the form of Song & Riff lessons on Path.
Course Sequencing and Changes in Levels 1 & 2
Level 1
*Course 2- ‘Guitar 101: First Things Fast:’ We’ve added some updated & improved Set Up lessons on How to old the guitar & pick, learning the string names, & how to hold the guitar properly in a seated position.
*Course 5 – ‘Set Good Habits: Strumming:’ we’ve added an additional chord switch exercise on simple G & C chords.
*Course 6 – ‘Easy Reading: Chord Diagrams & Tablature:’ This is a new course which combines reading tablature as well as chord diagrams. Included in this course are two new lessons on reading & interpreting time signatures, with a focus on 4/4 time. On screen graphics are included. Measure/bar lines defined/explained.
NOTE: This new course replaces ‘Easy Reading Chord Charts.’ This older course focused on reading slash notation, which is rarely used on the platform.
Level 2
*Course 6 – ‘Read Chords in Tablature:’ New course which is a follow up to Easy Reading Tablature – including more detail on reading notes stacked up in a tab when representing chords. Measure/bar lines reinforced & repeat + 1st/2nd endings introduced as well.
Song Selection on Pop Path
*Songs by more current artists such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, & Twenty One Pilots are included in the Pop Path.
Ukulele
Course Sequencing and Changes:
Level 1:
*Course 6 – ‘Easy Reading: Tabs’ has been moved up to Course 3 with three Riff lessons immediately following.
*New Course: Course 7 – ‘Read a Chord Diagram: C, Am, F,’ which combines two courses to help better organize & reinforce learning their 1st 3 chords: C, Am, F.
*Course 5 – ‘Easy Reading: Chord Charts’ has been moved to Course 9, with their 1st song that utilizes chord charts immediately to follow.
Level 2:
Course 7: ‘ABCs. Know Your Notes,’ has been moved from Level 3
Song & Riffs:
*Songs by more current artists such as Vance Joy, Grace Vanderwaal, Tylor Swift, Billie Eilish, & Twenty One Pilots are now included in the Ukulele Path.
*More song options included on the path. Placed to highlight multiple song & riff options after a new chord or technique has been introduced.
For example: In Level 3 – following Course 8: ‘Syncopated Strumming,’ two songs immediately follow the course (‘Light the Sky’ Grace Vanderwaal & ‘Riptide’ Vance Joy). Both Song lessons use the same chords & reinforce the same strumming pattern at similar tempos. Teachers and students can choose to practice one or both of the song lessons.
Bass:
Song & Riff Sequencing:
*Based on instructor & student feedback from the Summer program we have re-sequenced some of the songs & riffs on path to better align with expected skill level.