ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the instrumental music teacher who has limited experience with the guitar. It provides guidance for delivering beginning instruction to secondary-level students in group settings. The guitar has been around for a long time and has been used in many forms of music: sixteenth-century fantasias; Romanticera chamber music; flamenco in Andalusia, southern Spain; blues on the Mississippi; jazz all around the world; and any combination of styles on street corners or at subway stops. The key to properly holding the guitar is to stay relaxed and in a natural position. Place the waist of the guitar on the right thigh with the neck on the left and parallel to the floor, the strings facing away and the back of the guitar body against the chest. The strings, soundboard interact to make the instrument’s sounds, and the player controls the amount and quality of the force applied to the soundboard by the manner in which the string is plucked.
