I’m spending the morning revising Rob’s Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook, still on track for an October 3 release. Writing a first draft can be a slog, but I love revising. I just turned a terrible paragraph in the book—my introduction to my Teaching 101 chapter—into one of favorites:
Old:
Teaching is a complex art, and it takes a lot of practice to be really good at it, but you’ll be off to a great start if you use the roadmap that I’m about to lay out for you.
New:
Aristotle calls teaching “the highest form of understanding.” What does that make the act of teaching about teaching? I don’t know, but it sounds like it could create a black hole.
To avoid obliterating the universe, I won’t try to teach you everything…
Much better.
Update: The Handbook is now available for purchase here.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Rob,
Congradulations!! I look forward to reading your book. Any young person who writes a book deserves to have it read. My hat is off to you young man.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I have often thought of teaching the guitar. I think you have to be the right kind of person though. Being able to play well is a very different skill to being able to pass it on well.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Hallo - thank you for many chords, it help me a lot, I am a vocal teacher in BERLIN - EUROPE
so - have fun - i love to teach - like you do.
Jana
October 1st, 2009 at 8:38 am
You might be interested in a book I’m working on. It’s meant to teach the reader how to teach teachers.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:50 am
Cool Joe, I’ve been diggin your site. When will your book be done? Can you let me know when it’s for sale?
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Yes congrats on the book, hope you sell many.
I am a medeocer guitar player and have tried teaching my son. I must say it is a lot harder than I ever figured it would be.
Kirk
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Thanks Kirk! Teaching a family member is a lot harder than teaching someone you have more “emotional distance” with, I’ve found.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I’m really waiting for your book.
I hope you ship, I live overseas. =D
Today, I gave my brother his first guitar lesson. Went of a lot better than I thought it would, but like you said, the emotional distance is a bit hard. There tends not to be the general ‘WOW he’s awesome’-ness that you give to your guitar teachers, and hence tend to listen to them much better.