LESSON PLAN: G and C Chords with 1 Finger
Objective
Students will be able to play a classic chord progression used in hundreds of songs by using only one finger while keeping good musical time with a strum pattern
Resources
Guitars, picks, lyrics for “Feelin’ Alright”, “Imagine”, “Waiting in Vain”, “Drive My Car”, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, “Glory Days”, etc., handout from Teachers Manual on 3 String
Procedures
- Ask students to play the 1 finger G chord. Remember the tools available for simplifying the guitar as outlined in the lesson plan for beginner guitars. Then have them switch to the C chord. Switch back and forth a couple of times until finger placement is obvious.
- Strum the G chord at the same time you begin counting “1 2 3 4”. Do the same thing on the C chord counting evenly. Continue doing this until everyone can play along keeping time, only strumming on 1.
- Ask everyone to strum down on every number, playing a G while you strum down on 1, 2, 3, and 4. Switch to the C chord quickly continuing to count and strum down on each number. Make sure everyone in class can watch your demonstration of this. Encourage them to continue steady strumming even if the left hand doesn’t make it to the next chord perfectly on time—the steadiness of rhythm is more important than anything and will help this transition become successful.
- While this continues, have the class or volunteers from the class sing along using the lyrics to one of the famous songs that use this classic chord progression.
Extension
- Assign
some students to play the bass notes to these chords, letting each note ring as a whole note underneath of the strum pattern.
- Have a group of students play the backbeat to the song you’re jamming over to make the arrangement more fun.
- Use a more complex strum pattern while keeping the hand moving up and down (Figure A )
- Make a song writing exercise out of these 2 chords, inviting the class to
National Core Arts Standards (Music)
Anchor Standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Example: General Music MU:Pr5.1.3 b. Rehearse to refine technical accuracy, expressive qualities, and identified performance challenges. Common Core Correlation: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.