Carter Huang(黄承煜)
Learning to play the Guitar

Supervisor: Mr. Jason
Changchun American International School
2013-2014
2527 words

Table of Contents

The Goal 1 My Process 3 Selection of Sources 3 Application of the Information 6 Achieving the Goal 7 Reflection on Learning 8

The Goal

My topic includes two aspects: learning to play the guitar and the comparison between guitar and piano. The guitar is a musical instrument that is quite popular in China. In my opinion, there are two reasons for this popularity: one is that it’s easy to sing a song with guitar accompaniment, even if the player has a limited musical ability and knowledge. Another reason is that the guitar is very versatile; it can be easily used to play music in a wide variety of styles. Guitar is also easy to study. I have studied piano for seven years, so I'm very familiar with that instrument. However, there are many categories of instruments, such as orchestral, percussion and woodwind. I have been interested in learning to play another non-keyboard instrument for a long time, so I chose to learn to play the guitar. Another reason for me to make this decision is that I think I can learn the guitar faster than other instruments because I have the basis of the piano. In my opinion, the area Approaches to Learning fits my topic best. I was learning guitar and during this time I could learn something more. Learning approach is always much more important than what you’ve already learnt. For example, in this chance I learned a lot of things in addition to guitar playing skills. I also learned how to manage time well, to practice the instrument, and to take notes. I also improved my communication skills by talking and asking questions with my supervisor. The reason that I chose this Area of Interaction is that I really wanted to learn another skill when I am still young. I am sure that someday I'm going to use this skill. I determined the goal of my personal project was to learn some basic skills on the guitar, and compare it to another instrument which I have been playing for a long time — the piano. Finally, I measured my achievement in two respects:
Guitar learning, and here are my specific achievements:
1. Play a song named “那些花儿(Those Flowers)” as well as possible on guitar
⊙Medium-level
⊙Takes about 3 minutes
⊙Includes two basic guitar skills- strumming and Pizzicato
⊙Sing while playing the guitar
⊙Show a video at the same time that I was playing the accompaniment of the song on the piano
2. Be able to play other guitar songs that are lower than level six (all guitar songs are categorized by level of difficulty from one through ten) if I have access to the musical score
Another one is to learn about guitar knowledge and compare it with the piano. Here are more details.
3. Introduce the guitar’s structure and knowledge on paper ⊙Use diagram to show how the instrument is designed
4. List the differences and similarities between guitar and piano in performing music. ⊙Use table to show ⊙Give examples

My process

I took three steps in order to achieve my goal. First, I found a place called “Rolling Stones Music Store” and a teacher who taught guitar in the store. I paid him for 15 lessons. I took lessons once a week for 15 weeks and I practiced at home three times a week. In the lessons, I learned new skills and songs. The more lessons I took, the more difficult the songs were. When I found any difficulties on the guitar during my daily practice, I would ask my teacher about that and he would explain them to me specifically. In the end, I chose a song called “Those Flowers” and I recorded a video about