In Challenges Facing Guitar Education, music educator Eli Harrison suggests various reasons why guitar should be integrated into classrooms. Guitar can be used to lay out a foundation of Western harmonic theory, but it goes beyond the western world in regards to cultural exploration. Harrison lists examples of genres that are represented in guitar playing, from Celtic songs to South American folk music. Guitar, as an accompanying instrument, can be found in numerous genres, and can be integrated into genres that do not typically include guitar due to its versatile aspect of both its solo and rhythmic styles of play. Guitar can be used as a cultural scope and can also be used as an entry point for other classical string instruments. My personal foundation in music study is based on concepts that I learned through exploring and playing guitar. Harmonic direction, for example, is easily understood when moving through an octave on a guitar string. Though a technically complicated instrument, Harrison suggests that the use of movable chord shapes can invite students to break from the mold of pop and rock standards, and begin to learn genres such as bossa nova.
Teaching guitar in the classroom offers many of the same challenges found across general teachings of musical instrumentation, but also presents exclusive challenges. Perhaps the greatest challenge is found in teaching students how to read sheet music for guitars. In addition to the fact that guitar is written an octave higher than is considered sonically accurate, each written note can be performed on many different string and fret combinations across a guitar’s fretboard. Because of this highly fluid system of notation, guitarists must often decide for themselves which way is best to play a note. This judgement skill, which is made based on the locations of adjacent transcriptions, is not easily acquired by intermediate and even advanced students, let alone beginners. To simplify this, a system of musical notation system called guitar tablature (more commonly referred to as guitar tab) is taught to students without formal music training. Because of diverse learning differences, educational opportunities, and general difficulties in learning guitar, guitar tab is often times the quickest and most effective means of communicating visual to motor and audio information.
Multiple means of teaching guitar is a wonderful option for students who learn differently, but it also poses some challenges. Students with a formal foundation in music theory and sheet music tend to disregard guitar tab as a legitimate form of notation, since it defies classical standards and lends itself to the culture of rock musicians and self-taught play styles. Students with backgrounds in reading guitar tab, however, may struggle to understand formal concepts. Harrison notes the fact that guitar tab does not include a system that elaborates on the rhythm or time of musical pieces. Students who read tab are forced to develop knowledge of the piece that they intend to perform through first hearing how it is played, as opposed to the read and play style of sheet music readers. Though this fact can be observed as support for a student’s ear training, it leaves students at a disadvantage when attempting to perform in classical environments. As a self-taught musician who once relied heavily on guitar tab and chord diagrams, I personally wish I had been taught music theory instead and I imagine many other guitarists feel the same.
The guitar course that I took in college (Fretted Instrument Workshop) provided an overview of guitar techniques, performance aspects, and notation reading. As a self-taught guitarist, I discovered basic techniques that were unknown to me due to a lack of formal teaching. One such concept was that of the rest stroke. Though I had naturally found ways to apply rest strokes to bass guitar playing, I had never applied it to classical guitar playing. Learning by ear and with guitar tab is an excellent way to begin learning guitar. As a matter of fact, I learned most musical concepts in this way and have since applied those concepts while self-teaching myself other musical instruments. Harrison states that “guitarist themselves may wish to consider a brief foray into a second instrument” in order to study staff notation and harmonic theory in a more practical context. I agree with this notion. In fact, if one is to study guitar using guitar tab I would go as far to say that studying another instrument that does “not use multiple forms of specialized notation” may be necessary. I once recognized all of the notes on a fretboard only in relation to which chords can be played on each fret: a strange outcome that resulted from my habits as a self-taught musician.
While that information proves helpful in identifying notes, it is inefficient compared to simply being able to identify notes by their natural position. Such is the nature of informal development of guitar skills. When learning other instruments, namely keyboard, I was first introduced to concepts such as the circle of fifths and major/minor scales. Applying that knowledge to guitar has been a challenging, but hopeful experience. Without my foray into keyboard and the knowledge offered to me by my Fretted Instrument Workshop professor, I imagine a far less hopeful experience. Having taken a formal course on guitar, I feel as though I can truly understand guitar. With that revelation comes takeaway pieces of advice. As Harrison said, guitarist should explore other instruments that adopt the fundamentals of music theory. This is especially true if a student’s guitar foundation is in reading guitar tab. That being said, I believe guitar tab is a viable form of music notation and is especially valuable to students who struggle with reading tradition sheet music.