Guitar Lessons in Singapore

Guitar lessons in Singapore

6th September 2014

Wow, it has been almost a year since I've updated this little personal blog of mine which I created around 2011 when I first started as a private guitar instructor. Things have come a long way - I've moved on to co-found TravelClef, a company that provides music lessons to many corporate organizations, primary/secondary schools and even child care centres. We also conduct teambuilding with music programmes for many companies. We are proud to be featured last week on Sunday Times Classified! Took a snap shot of the article below :)

Anyway, I guess most of you happen to stumble upon this blog while you are searching for guitar lessons for either yourself or your child. I'm glad you are reading this because I love to help people get started with learning the guitar!

Some time back I designed a Guitar Crash Course in 8 lessons that was designed to help anyone get started with playing the guitar in just 8 weeks. I have many requests for that (almost weekly), however, I'm sad to say that currently I'm unable to take in anymore students due to my packed schedule. I really wish I could, but there is only that limited number of hours we have per day. But, what I can do for you is to assist you in finding a private guitar tutor who is experienced and qualified if you are looking for private guitar lessons in Singapore. I run an online guitar agency where we find private guitar tutors for you and rest assured that your guitar learning journey will be an enjoyable one. :)

Thank you for taking time to read this blog. (it's not as updated as I would want it to be, but have fun browsing around what I've blogged over the past 2-3 years lol)

Do contact me if you need help with anything related to learning the guitar (like what type of guitar to purchase, is learning the guitar super hard, where to purchase guitar etc) If you happen to be looking for piano lessons in Singapore, or violin lessons in Singapore, or even drum lessons in Singapore, just let me know and I will do my best to help you!

Playing music or learning music is something that I feel very passionate about because playing music brings you a kind of enjoyment that is amazing and is hard to describe. I've helped many adults learn music, and personally held many Ukulele Workshops at corporate organizations for working adults who have zero musical background. Every time I see them pick up the Ukulele to play, it brings me so much satisfaction. Playing music helps you discover so much about yourself. It helps you to express yourself, it helps you to relieve stress by bringing out positive emotions. I can go on and on about the benefits of learning music. If you are reading this, and have always wanted to play an instrument, then I'd suggest you make the decision to start learning an instrument now!

19th Nov 2013

Just watched the movie 3 Peas in a Pod and I really like the theme song You and I. I've figured it out the guitar chords here. Have fun!

Happy Mothers Day 2013!

On Thursday 9th May, my partners and I went around Singapore to play live music and performed for 3 mothers who won our Mothers' Day Contest. Personally, I felt that it was probably the most meaningful thing that I've have done so far in 2013. I feel really happy that we were able to help the winners express their love to their mothers. To be honest, during the last performance when the mother teared, I was really touched too. I have never felt so touched while playing the guitar before.

Do take a look at the video! For more enquiries on mobile dedication service, visit us here.

April 2013

Congrats to my 3 students for passing grade 1 ABRSM!

Learning music is not about just having the paper qualifications, but, to enjoy the sound that you are producing and the positive emotions that it will bring you.

March 2013 - Classical Guitar or Acoustic guitar?

Difference between learning the Classical guitar and Acoustic guitar

I hope to clear a little confusion that most beginner guitar learners have in common and the questions that I get asked most frequently. What most people do not know is actually the difference between learning the classical and acoustic guitar.

When you learn the classical guitar, you will be exposed to reading musical notations. As for playing style, you pluck a lot more than strumming at the start. This means you get to play melody lines, and overtime, you get to play with the bass notes as well. It is almost the same as fingerstyle guitar, like those you see on youtube.

As for learning the acoustic, you start learning the basic chords and strumming patterns. Thus, you get to learn how to strum along to your favourite pop songs leisurely. You get to learn various types of strumming patterns, chord theory, and for the more advanced ones - improvisation and the various modes.

Therefore it matters on what you hope to achieve. For parents looking to sign up for guitar lessons for their child, I will definitely recommend learning the classical guitar. It gives them a good technical foundation and they also get to learn the skill of reading music (and playing it of course). For adults looking to have a more relaxed leisure style of guitar, learning how to strum along to pop songs sure is awesome.

I hope I have helped cleared some of the questions you may have as almost everyday I have people asking me what is the difference.

If you are looking to engage me for private lessons, do note that I'm left with afternoon slots as my schedule is pretty full now.

Cheers!

A picture of my classical guitar student from France.

It is good to start learning the classical guitar at a young age as it exposes a child to a different kind of music style and the versatility of the guitar helps to hone the creativity of the child. He will learn to read musical notes and pluck along to simple melodies at the start.

Oct 2012 - Congratulations to Jing Tong for passing the grade 1 classical guitar exam! Way to go!

(Gift for Teachers' Day from a classical guitar student)

Latest Update Sept 2012:

Happy Teachers' Day! Received this certificate from one of my classical guitar student. I am really touched for her appreciation of my efforts in teaching her. After learning for 2 years of private guitar lessons, she can pluck and strum along most of Taylor Swift's Pop songs! Of course with all the basics of classical guitar as well.

Check out below for more write up about myself. For people looking for a "Crash Course", I have designed a 8 lessons guitar syllabus. Click here for more info.

Have you always wanted to learn how to play the guitar?

Wanna learn it in an easy and effective way?

Here's a video of my student and I strumming to Coldplay's

Viva la Vida. Listen to what he can strum after 8 lessons :)

Hi there!

You probably chanced upon this blog because you want to learn how to play the guitar.

Perhaps you really want to strum to your favourite songs but might be having worries about picking up the new skill because you feel that you have no musical background and you are afraid that it is difficult.

Well, I'm here to tell you that learning the guitar is totally simple and fun! And I can show you how.

My name is Edmund and I'm a guitar teacher. I have been teaching people how to play the guitar and I've seen so many times how they managed to pick up the skill from scratch and eventually start strumming to different kinds of songs!

Just a little bit more about myself, I have been giving private guitar lessons in Singapore for the past 3 years when I started schooling in university. Along the way, I have also co-started a music business called TravelClef where we bring music lessons to corporate firms.

I have taught kids as young as 6 years old to adults of all ages and professions. I specialize in teaching beginners and my teaching experience has enabled me to guide beginners in the most effective way to learn how to play the guitar. I teach both the classical guitar and pop acoustic guitar.

Why engage a private guitar teacher?

Self-learning the guitar is exciting! Many people can do it and have been doing so. There are many instructional websites around teaching people how to play the guitar through online tutorials. I feel that these are really useful -- but what if I tell you that having a private teacher to guide you will double up the effectiveness of learning and will save you much time? All your learning struggles can be easily overcome when you have someone who has experience guiding you.

Therefore, I'm here to offer my services as your private guitar teacher, be it for you or for your child. If you are looking for guitar lessons in Singapore, feel free to contact me at 91076602 for queries. :)

By the way, this blog contains basic information about the guitar and how to get started playing it. Links can be seen on the right. So if you're self-learning the guitar, I hope you are doing great and that I can be of some help to you by reading those tutorials! Good luck and have fun learning the guitar!

You and I Guitar Chords (3 Peas in a Pod Movie Theme Song)

Caught the movie 3 Peas in a Pod by Michelle Chong last week and I really like the song that was sung by the Taiwanese actor. There's also the Korean version which sounds very good as well.

I decided to figure out the chords for the song and the lyrics are in hanyu pinyin. Pardon me if some of the "yin" are wrong lol. I tried uploading onto ultimate guitar but the alignment just keeps running off so I have no idea how to fix it.

Enjoy!

You and I - 3 Peas in a Pod Movie Theme Song (Mandarin Version)

[Chords figured out by wk http://guitarlessons-singapore.blogspot.com]

主唱：辰亦儒

作曲：林倛玉

作詞：莊米雪

Intro

C Em F Fm Em Am7 F Fm

Verse

C Fm

Wo yu ni, ru guo neng zai yi qi

Am7 Gm C

Wo yu ni, ru guo you ai qing xiang xing xing

F Em Am

Gei bi ci yong qi, zai ying he ying zao yong heng mei li

F G

Kuai le zi you, xing fu wu bi

C Fm

Wo yu ni, hui yi zhi zou xia qu

Am7 Gm C

Wo yu ni, jiu suan mei ai qing mei guan xi

F Em Am

Ni wei rao tai yang, wo mei you tai yang de li liang

F G

Dan wo hui yong yuan wei ni zhao liang

Chorus

C Em

Jiu suan zhi neng zai ye li gei ni dian guang mang

F Fm G

Wo ye hui ji xu wei ni zhuan, ni yu wo jiu hao xiang di qiu yu yue liang

C Em F

Jiu suan yong yuan bu neng geng kao jing, zhi neng zai ye bu neng zai ming,

Fm G

Wo zhe ke xin yong bu li kai ni zhe ke xing

Passing Chords: C Em F G

Verse

C Fm

Wo yu ni, hui yi zhi zou xia qu

Am7 Gm C

Wo yu ni, jiu suan mei ai qing mei guan xi

F Em Am

Ni wei rao tai yang, wo mei you tai yang de li liang

F G

Dan wo hui yong yuan wei ni zhao liang

Chorus

C Em

Jiu suan zhi neng zai ye li gei ni dian guang mang

F Fm G

Wo ye hui ji xu wei ni zhuan, ni yu wo jiu hao xiang di qiu yu yue liang

C Em F

Jiu suan yong yuan bu neng geng kao jing, zhi neng zai ye bu neng zai ming,

Fm G

Wo zhe ke xin yong bu li kai ni zhe ke xing

Passing Chords: Fm C Fm G

C Em

Wo neng zai ye li gei ni guang mang

F G F G

Wo yuan yi yong yuan wei ni e zhuan, xiang di qiu yu yue liang

C Em F

Jiu suan yong yuan bu neng geng kao jing, zhi neng zai ye bu neng zai ming,

Fm G

Wo zhe ke xin yong bu li kai ni zhe ke xing

Ending (similar to verse)

C Fm

Wo yu ni, ru guo neng zai yi qi

C Fm

Wo yu ni, ru guo you ai qing

Guitar Course for Beginners (8 lessons)

Learn the basics of Guitar in 8 lessons

Recently, I've designed a course for beginners who wants to pick up the guitar. The course consists of 8 lessons and I have personally written a syllabus for the 8 lessons. The syllabus will be given to students who sign up for the course. The 8 lesson course has been proven effective as I've used them to teach before.

Look at my happy beginner students who completed the guitar course! :)))

Here's a quick peek for lesson 2's material on strumming patterns:

Main Objectives of the course:

To learn how to read chord diagrams and guitar tabs

To be proficient in strumming different patterns and develop your rhythmic sense. This is done by strumming along to pop songs of your choice.

Learn basic theory. (What are chords, how are they formed. What's major, minor, augmented etc)

To be able to pluck chords with the correct right hand position and fingering. (Similar to classical guitar)

Learn how to pick up different strum patterns for pop songs

Course Details

Update as of 2014 August:

Hi everyone who is reading this post, I would just like to let you guys know that currently I am not able to take in any more private students as my private teaching schedule is full. I wish I could take up interested students like you, however, time is a limited resource :/

But, what I can do is to assist you in finding a experienced and qualified private guitar tutor as I do run an online agency finding guitar teachers for students! Click on this link if you are looking for guitar lessons in singapore and I can help you get started learning the guitar in no time.

What to look out for when buying a guitar?

If you just took up guitar lessons and you are looking to buy a guitar here in Singapore, you might be wondering what is important to look out for. Here is an article written by my mentor Mr Ernest Kwok. [Taken from www.tpjc.org]

How many of us remember the day we stepped into a music store and were dazzled by the vast array of glossy coloured guitars of all shapes, sizes and sounds? Accompanied, if we were lucky, by an ‘experienced’ guitarist who could play at least 3 chords, we relied on his judgement to select a good quality instrument. If we were not so lucky, the choice was determined by the amount of $$ in the pocket.

Here are some points to check on when purchasing an instrument.

The beauty of the classical guitar is in its graceful shape and the selection of woods. The front or top of the guitar is usually made of spruce or cedar, and is quite thin, between 2mm and 3mm.Underneath this top, there is a system of struts which support it and help transmit vibrations from the bridge over the whole area of the front, strengthening the sound and determine the basic tonal character of the instrument. The grain in the front should be straight and fairly even. Spruce and cedar tops have different sound characteristics, the tone of spruce tends to be clear, firm and more focused. It improves with age and playing. Spruce top guitars often continue to ‘grow’ for many years. Cedar front guitars need less playing in, and is capable of its full power almost immediately after construction. The characteristic sound of these instrument being crisp, brilliant and powerful.

Laminated fronts should be avoided if possible, as the glue joining the layers tend to dry out after some time, and the guitar’s volume and tone suffer quite markedly.

The sides and back should produce a vibrant and resonant tone chamber. While a variety of woods and even some laminates can be used, the most effective timber is rosewood, either Indian or Brazilian. The neck greatly influences the playability of the guitar. To prevent warping, a straight grain wood is needed. This type of wood should be resistant to moisture, and as rigid as possible to resist warp. Necks are generally mahogany or cedar. The fingerboard should be of ebony, although good quality rosewood is acceptable. This area is constantly being scuffed so it has to be hard, dense and wear resistant, yet smooth enough for easy playing. Check warpage by sighting along the edge of the fingerboard looking along the ends of the frets from the nut to the bridge. Make sure the bridge is not lifting away at any point. Tap the front and back of the guitar for any rattling sounds which may be a result of poor gluing of the struts.

Check to see that all joints are secure. All edges firmly glued together without gaps between the sides and the front or back. All frets should be fitted firmly into the fingerboard.

Machine heads have a critical job to do. Any inefficiency here can ruin an otherwise musical performance. The tuners must be easily adjustable and yet firmly locked when the required pitch of the respective strings are reached.

The final check is the height of the string above the frets or ‘action’ as it is called. There is an ideal height for each player(mine is 4mm at the 6th and 3mm at the 1st string 12th fret).The action can be adjusted by either lowering or raising the bridge saddle height. Too low renders the guitar useless whilst too high makes it difficult too play.

To conclude, I would like to suggest certain aspects relating to the tonal qualities, noting again that the quality of an instrument is largely governed by the price one pays. The criterion as to what constitutes a good guitar would probably not vary much from one player to another. What would be different would be the order of priority. Sound is very much a personal taste, and it is difficult to describe. Muddy to some might well be rich to others. Thin to one could be clear to another. However, there seems to be a concensus among professionals as to those properties and characteristics which are desirable, namely balance, projection, clarity and a wide range of tone colour. A balanced guitar is one in which every note come across with the same amplitude. Projection relates to loudness and the ability to be heard clearly in today’s concert halls. Tone colour can be defined as the inbuilt potential of the guitar to allow the player to express himself to the best of his ability.

Obviously there’s much more to a guitar than meets the eye. Playing and enjoying the right guitar will enable you to experience musical moments that are among the most satisfying.

So… happy shopping!

Guitar-Related Info

What to look out for when buying a guitar?

Where to buy acoustic guitar

Photos

Here are photos taken with some of my students

Guitar Lesson #4 - The Finger Exercise

This finger exercise is what I will usually tell my students who are new to the guitar to always practise. This exercise is important because it works your fingers on the left hand and it helps to familiarise your finger movement around the fretboard.

As you can see from the video, this exercise involves all fingers (except the thumb). Start by plucking the low E string on the 1st fret using your index finger, then pluck the low E string 2nd fret using your middle finger, so on and so forth, then moving on to the A string and eventually the rest. The video explains it all. Practise well!

蒲公英的約定 - Finger Plucking

Videos

Will be posting up videos in my free time. Enjoy and hope you get to learn something out of these videos. :)

Pu Gong Ying De Yue Ding (Tabs)

Guitar Lesson #1 - The Big Picture

I've been thinking for many days about how to come up with the simplest way to help you guys learn the guitar online in an easy and effective way. Well, I don't think I can come up with a solid 100% foolproof guide so I will just try my best to help you all out. I will explain everything as if you all are complete beginners that don't know anything about the guitar (even though some of you already have the basics). So pardon me if I appear to be insulting your intelligence! wa haha... if you feel that I missed out some stuff that are important,

Guitar lesson #1 will just be an introduction to guitar and music - basically I want to give you the big picture of the guitar.

Types of Guitar

As we all know there are different types of guitars and different styles of guitar. Basically there are 3 main kinds of guitars that people play, the classical guitar, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. Im sure you know how does the electric guitar looks like so I wont have to explain much. Electric guitars can only be heard while playing through amplification. Unlike the acoustic guitar and classical guitar, they do not need amplification as their body are made hollow and sound can be produced. What's the difference between the classical and acoustic guitar? The first difference is that classical guitar uses nylon strings while acoustic guitar (folk guitars) uses steel strings. Thus the sound produced are different. Acoustic guitar produces a brighter tone than classical guitar. Another difference is the neck. Classical guitars have a wider neck as compared to acoustic guitars. Reason is because as classical guitars are used to play classical songs, chords/arpeggios, strings have to be wider apart so that single notes can be played and heard more efficiently. For acoustic guitars, necks are narrower and acoustic guitars are usually used for music like folk, country, jazz, pop and blues. Lastly, acoustic guitar usually have a slightly bigger shaped body. Therefore they produce louder sounds.

Types of playing

There are many ways to play a guitar but personally I would catergorise the types of playing into 2 broad groups - Plucking and Strumming.

Plucking is where strings are plucked to form melodies. In guitar plucking itself there are many ways to pluck. You can pluck it with fingers (like how classical music is being played) or with a plectrum (guitar pick) like how electric guitarists play. There are also techniques like hammering, pulling, tremolo.. But basically you just have to know that plucking can be done by fingers/plectrums. ;)

Strumming is when a few notes are pressed together to form a chord, and then the strings are strummed to produce a nice sound. You've seen how people sing with a guitar, and that's called strumming. ;)

So after knowing these little fundamentals, what do you have to learn to start playing the guitar? Of course it depends on what kind of music do you wanna play from what kind of guitar. If you want to play classical music, a set of techniques have to be learnt. If you want to play acoustic/electric, well other different techniques are used.

How about let's just say you want to learn the very basics of a normal acoustic guitar? Here's what you need to learn:

-How to read chord diagrams

-How to read guitar tabs

-How to form different chords (open chords, barre chords, power chords etc.. )

-How to strum nicely to a song

-How to pluck to a song

After learning the above, it's more than enough to start playing songs that you like. So that's what Im going to help you all in the next Guitar Lesson #2 - How to read a chord diagram

Private Guitar Lessons

I personally believe that learning music should be something that is fun and enjoyable. To me, playing music = fun. That explains why lessons with me are at a relaxed pace and suited to the student's learning progress. Im a very dedicated teacher and my student's willingness to learn is the motivation for me to give my all in guiding them throughout the course.

I play both the classical and acoustic guitar and I teach both. For beginners who learn the acoustic guitar with me, you will learn how to read guitar tabs, how to form chords (open chords, power chords, bar chords), different kinds of basic strumming patterns, how to pluck effectively. As we move on, you will learn how to finger pluck songs. I will also cover basic music theory to enable you to understand why and how chords are being formed/played. Materials are designed by me personally.

For classical guitar students, it depends on what level you are at. For beginners, we will start with basics like note reading and the left and right hand techniques for classical guitar. I am using Christopher Parkening's book for most of my classical guitar students.

After a few lessons with me, you should be able to start playing or already know how to play the songs that you like. I cater to the student's needs and guide him along with the basics and techniques. So you might be strumming along to Jason Mraz's Im Yours in the 3rd lesson or playing Oasis's Wonderwall after 2 months or whichever. :)

Below are information to guitar lessons:

Guitar lessons are usually 1 to 1 duration of lessons are 1 hour sessions, but I will usually extend duration of the lessons if syllabus for that lesson is not completed.

Lesson fees varies from $50-$70/hr depending on location and duration of lessons.

Lessons are usually conducted at student's place.

Materials will be provided by me each lesson.

Students are recommended to have their own guitar.

For more queries please email me at weekangrox@gmail.com or text me at 91076602 stating that you got my number from my personal blog. (reason is because I have many different queries each day, so it'll be good if you tell me you got my contact from this blog)

Thanks!

Guitar Lesson #3 - How to read guitar tabs??

Yo! Today's post will be about reading guitar tabs.. I hope it helps! Well, what you generally see in guitar tabs is:

E--------------

B--------------

G--------------

D--------------

A--------------

E--------------

I hope by now you should already know which note is what. Once again let's refresh, E A D G B E, the thickest string, or the string nearest to your eyes when you look down the guitar, that's the low E. After which the second thickest string/second nearest string to your eyes is the A string. Followed by D G B E. :)

Looking at the tab, you see six horizontal lines which represents the guitar strings. And then we see numbers. Now the numbers you see represents the fret number on the fretboard. So if you see a number 1 on a low E string, you have to press that note on the guitar. We read guitar tabs from left to right. Let's take for example the diagram above. From the left, you see a number 5 on the low E string. Therefore you press the note down on the fifth fret, and then you pluck it. The next note would be on the same string, but this time as the number is 3, you place your finger on the 3rd fret, and once again you pluck it. Moving further, you'll see that on other strings there are other numbers, so you do the same. If you see a number 0, it means you dont have to press anything but you have to pluck the open string. And there, you'll form a melody.

I hope you understand what I just tried to explain. If you do, let's try to play this simple tab:

E---------5--5--6--6--5--1--1--0--0----------

B---1--1-------------------------------2--2--1-

G------------------------------------------------

D------------------------------------------------

A------------------------------------------------

E------------------------------------------------

Did you get it? What song is it? I hope your answer is Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. Wahaha.. It's pretty simple.

Ok let's move on.. If you see a tab that's like this with the numbers in the same vertical row:

E-----

B---1--

G-----

D---2--

A---3--

E------

This means that you form all 3 notes together, and play it at the same time. If you figured out, this is actually a C chord. What you have to do is to form the C chord, and then strum it.

So I just went through the basics of reading tabs. Hope you learnt something today!

Online Guitar Lessons

In this section I will be writing up a series of guitar lessons to guide you if you are learning the guitar by yourself through the internet. I hope to provide information and are useful to you. :)

In any case if you happen to play or want to learn left handed guitar, take a look for more information by clicking on the link.

Guitar Lesson #1 - Introduction

Guitar Lesson #2 - How to read a chord diagram

Guitar Lesson #3 - How to read a guitar tab

Guitar Lesson #2 - How to read a chord diagram?

Hi to all again, today's post will be about how to read a chord diagram and form a chord. Chords are basically a group of notes played together and they form a nice tone. Therefore a few notes have to be pressed on the guitar at one go and when strummed - they produce the magical sound. Chords are like the background music for all songs..

That's why you see people strumming and singing, the strumming part is like the background music, and their voices are the melody. :)

Ok so let's get started.. Here's what you'll usually see on a chord diagram:

Now that's a C chord. Before we learn how to form the chord, let's take another step back and look at this:

This picture shows how a chord diagram should be read. The diagram you see is exactly the same position as it is shown on the real guitar. Meaning - The six vertical lines you see on the magnified diagram represents the six guitar strings on the guitar as shown in the picture of the real guitar. The horizontal lines represents tho

se metal-like lines on the guitar which are called frets. Frets are the spaces between the metal you see on the guitar, so on the diagram, the horizontal lines represent the frets.

So now you know how the diagram represents the guitar, we can try to read the C chord diagram again and try to form it.

EADGBE

You can see that below the diagram I typed EADGBE. That is the standard tuning of a guitar. The first E on the left which means the most left string you see now on the diagram, is the thickest string you see on the guitar. (Recall how the diagram rep

resents the guitar above) The A string would then be the 2nd thickest, followed by D, G, B and E where the GBE strings are thin strings. Therefore the E at the most right of the diagram represents the thinnest string on the guitar.

Now that you know how it works, let's try to form it. The black dots are notes that you must press/put your fingers on, on the guitar fretboard. Let's start reading from the left side of the diagram. The first black dot you see is on the 3rd

fret, A string, am I right? Try searching for it.. I hope you can find it! The next black dot we see is on the 2nd fret D string. The last black dot we see is on the first fret, B string. Now these are the 3 positions you must press on to form the C chord.

Ok you must be wondering which fingers must you use to press the notes. I guess showing a picture would be many times better than trying to explain with words. So here's how the C chord looks like:

There you have it, the C chord! Use your guitar pick, and strum it downwards and you'll be able to hear it. Take note for the C chord, do not strum the E string (thickest string). Because it simply doesnt sound good in lay man terms. :) In musical terms, we wouldn't want to have an E note as a base for the C chord, unless we are playing chords like C/E. So keep in mind.

For the rest of the chord diagrams you see, try forming them, it should be easy now that you know how to read the chord diagram.

I hope you did learn something out of this post! Will be posting up on how to read a guitar tab soon. Bye!

If you are interested to take up private guitar lessons in Singapore, feel free to contact me.