Lesson Plan:
| Name of Student: | Daisy Brown | Name of Tutor | Finn Johnson | |||
| Date | 1/05/2026 | Time | 4:00 – 4:20 | Room | 413 | |
| Aims | To develop the student’s familiarity with basic barre chord shapes |
| Objectives | Be able to cleanly fret and perform the minor and major barre with roots on the E string and A string |
| ExtensionIf the learner progresses particularly well they may also be able to: | Introduce extended shapes such as major and minor 7th. Introduce chord progression that alternates between open chords and barred shapes, D – Bm – G – Em |
| Time | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 5 mins | Start with a warm up exercise that we have covered in a previous lesson, ascending and descending the chromatic scale on the lowest four frets using all fretting fingers. This will help the student both warm up their fretting hand, but build strength and dexterity in their fingers | Assess the fluidity in the transition between notes and making sure they are evenly spaced, offer visual feedback. | Two acoustic guitars and chairs, plectrum if desired by the student. |
| Time (approx) | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 10 mins | The main portion of the lesson will cover the basic barre chord shapes that are most common in popular music. The student has already been introduced to the concept of barring, but we will now incorporate the other fingers. The student will be given a chart that displays the shapes and will have the diagram explained to them. We will go through the process of correctly fingering the shapes and be able to have the barred notes ring out clearly without muting. We will cover the four shapes on chart, though if the student is able to learn them quickly we can move onto more complex shapes introducing chord extensions. | Assessment will be based around the audible qualities of the barre chord, if notes are muted or deadened then a revaluation of the technique will be needed | Acoustic GuitarsChord chart displaying the shapes for the barre chords |
| Time | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 5 mins | To end the lesson we will recount each of the different shapes that the student has been taught, with the chord sheet as a helpful reference. To work on at home I will give them a basic chord progression that contains barre chords, D – Bm – G – Em, for them to practice and start incorporating barre chords into their playing, as well as developing confidence in moving to the shapes with an increasing dexterity. | Assessment will be done at the start of next lesson where to view the improvement in the exercises. | Acoustic Guitars |
Tuition Commentary
During my first lesson with Daisy it was important to first establish how familiar she was with the different elements of guitar playing and if there was anything specifically she wanted to develop during our lessons. This would allow me to better plan our future lessons in ways that would be specifically tailored to her abilities and lead to her getting the most out of these sessions.
Daisy explained that she was already frequently playing rhythm guitar to accompany her vocals, and was familiar with common open chord shapes, but had little theoretical knowledge of scales, note names or more complex chords. She specified that she wanted to specifically learn how to play barre chords as she felt that this was a significant roadblock to her development on the instrument. She was also interested in discovering more strumming patterns, as she felt that her current playing was very repetitive in that regard.
By having this starting conversation with Daisy it allowed me to get an understanding of how to shape our lessons and also build a sense of familiarity between teacher and student, I felt it was important to establish a dynamic where we could talk to each other casually and create a more chilled environment which I believed would be more productive in teaching a student who is of a similar age to me. We also established that in these lessons we would both be performing on acoustic guitars specifically, as they fit the style of playing Daisy wanted to pursue.
Early on in our lessons I wanted to establish a continued warm-up exercise that we could use to begin each of our sessions, as well as being something Daisy could work on in her own time. The exercise I had devised for her consisted of a simple movement ascending and descending the chromatic scale across all the strings on the first four frets, I choose this specific exercise as it incorporates all of the fingers equally and builds dexterity in the fretting hand, something that is extremely important for developing guitarists, and would assist in her introduction to barre chords later on in the lesson. The activity is also simple and straightforward compared to other warm-up exercises, lacking any complicated patterns that would overwhelm a student, and making it easier for her to recall and practice in her own time.
In order to teach her this exercise I first demonstrated the exercise myself, as we both discussed that visual learning was an effective method for us. I made sure I was going slowly through the scale, making it clear how I was fretting the notes and what pattern I was doing. Daisy would then join in, following along with each note individually as she became more familiar with the activity. We also made the pattern easier to remember by recounting the numbers of the frets we were playing as we were going up and down the scale. By taking this slower approach and using a combination of audio and visual learning, Daisy was able to quickly grasp the exercise and perform it herself at a slow pace, though she was having some trouble with her fretting hand, specifically her pinky finger’s dexterity. I assured her that this was expected, as she won’t be used to using that finger in that way, and repeating this exercise would gradually build up her dexterity over time, and for now she could still take it very slowly.
After the warm up exercise we then moved to the main section of the lesson which was based around strumming patterns, this was something that Daisy had previously expressed a desire in developing, having explained that she would often resort to the same repeated strumming patterns in her playing, making songs lack rhythmic variation.
I felt that a good way to introduce new strumming patterns to Daisy in a way that would be easy for her to recall and practice would be to teach her the pattern to a song she would already be familiar with. I prepared the track “Zombie” by The Cranberries, a well known track that features a distinct strumming sequence with a variety in downstrokes and upstrokes, along with held chord segments, while being based around a simple four chord progression, meaning when teaching the song we could spend the bulk of the time working on the right hand technique instead of the chords.
To help Daisy with comprehending the strumming pattern when I was demonstrating it, I would accompany the individual strums with a spoken “Down” or “Up”, to indicate the pattern of downstrokes and upstrokes that occurred in the progression. This created a vocal rhythm that we could repeat that made the pattern a lot easier for a vocalist like Daisy to recall. We also approached the pattern in individual blocks, getting her to repeat each section after I did a demonstration. This made for a more effective method of teaching that allowed her to grasp the pattern without overwhelming her with information.
When going over the chords used in the pattern Daisy found the first three easy to understand and replicate without much guidance, as they only involved the use of two fingers. However she had some trouble transitioning to the last chord of the progression, which was a more uncommon shape. As today’s session was prioritising the strumming patterns over chord knowledge I suggested an alternative shape that only required the use of a single finger, this made the transition a lot easier and allowed us to continue developing her right hand technique.
Lastly we looked at the variation in the strumming pattern found in the last chord of the sequence. This was part of the reason I chose to use this progression in our lesson, as I wanted to demonstrate to Daisy how you don’t have to restrict yourself to a single pattern in a chord progression. Following our teaching method used for the rest of the pattern she was quickly able to perform the entire progression with the correct strumming pattern completely fluidly.
To end this session I requested she spend time on her own practicing the warm-up exercise which we could then revisit in the next lesson. We also discussed what she wanted to focus on specifically for the next time, so I would have a good idea what to plan for her. We agreed that the most beneficial thing for her to learn next would be barring, which she felt was her biggest roadblock.
For our next lesson we started with a recollection of what we had previously covered, specifically I wanted to assess how well Daisy recalled the chromatic scale warm up I had taught her. Daisy noted that she had practiced the exercise in her own time as I had requested and was able to demonstrate so by performing the exercise with a significant improvement in speed and dexterity compared to the previous lesson. I was able to offer constructive feedback on how to further develop her performance of the exercise by working on making the transition between notes more fluid, as when she performed the exercise she would often play the notes individually. After demonstrating to her how to keep your initial finger on the fretboard even after playing the next note, we went through the exercise again, this time focusing on reducing the gap between notes. Already Daisy showed she could adapt to feedback and develop her ability.
With this being our first lesson to cover barre chords, I first focused on developing the sensation of “Barring”, as in using the first finger to play notes across the fret, as this was the most important factor of understanding the chords, with the additional notes being secondary. There are numerous ways that I find make barring more effective, starting with using your arm muscles to pull back on the frets instead of your wrist and make a “squeezing” motion on the neck, allowing you to apply more pressure onto the strings and have them ring out cleaner. Another way to make this process easier for Daisy was to position the chord at a higher fret, as the thinner frets higher up the neck require less hand stretching. I started to introduce additional fingers to the chord, however I found that Daisy was still struggling with getting the barre to ring out clean and was muting some of the notes so I prioritised getting her first finger technique correct. We looked at getting her finger running parallel with the frets, and that she was pressing down with the harder side of her finger. It was important to slowly guide her through these different techniques to ensure she was as comfortable as possible when performing the chord shape.
To help build up strength in her wrist and hand, something that would help her improve her barring, I demonstrated a simple repeated exercise. This involved just pressing down on the strings with the barring finger, holding for a short duration, then lifting off completely. By repeating this motion it both helped the fretting hand become accustomed to the movement of barring as well as quickening the time it took to fret the shape. I had Daisy follow along with me for this exercise and noticed a significant improvement already in the clarity of the notes in her barring. Daisy noted that she found using her thumb as a pressure point on the neck helped her fret the notes better, so I encouraged her to make note of the sensations that made playing easier for her, explaining that it is common for guitarists to have different approaches to their instrument and that “whatever is best for you” is important in one’s development on the instrument.
To end the lesson I started the process of introducing the third finger as an additional note to the chord, as this was the most simple way to proceed and would provide us with a starting point for the next lesson, where we would introduce more fingers and start playing common chord shapes. For homework I requested that she spend time practicing the chromatic scale warm up as well as the barring exercise, noting that if she felt comfortable doing so she could start adding new fingers in preparation for the next lesson.
For our last session, we started by revisiting the chromatic scale warm-up exercise from our previous lessons. By making this exercise a constant starter in our lessons it allowed me to observe Daisy’s progress over time and helped us feel comfortable in the lesson before moving onto the core subject. Daisy was confident enough now to perform the exercise on her own without assistance, showing her development. There was still room for improvement in the fluidity of her note transitions, which was something I had noted in previous lessons. With this being a clear weak spot in her playing I offered additional feedback on how to shorten the gap between changing fingers, demonstrating visually on my own guitar the technique. With that she was more capable when reciting the exercise again. Daisy demonstrated a clear understanding of the importance of the exercise in developing dexterity in her playing and showed a keen desire to keep practicing the exercise in her own time.
Moving onto the main focus of the lesson, I provided Daisy with a printed out sheet that displayed the four most common basic barre chord shapes. Having visualisations of the chords we would be covering would help the student have a reference for the different positions. I asked Daisy if she was familiar with chord charts such as this, so I would know whether she needed guidance to understand the sheet. Daisy said she had used charts like this before when learning songs and knew how to read them, but did not understand the purpose of the blue lines. I explained how this was a visual representation of finger barring, with all the notes covered by the blue line being barred with the same finger and the other numbered dots being the additional fingers.
We revisited the initial process of barring, with some guidance needed on the importance of the hand shape behind the neck, as I believe that positioning the thumb so that it is pointing up the back of the guitar’s neck assists the student in applying pressure to all strings evenly when barring with the first finger.
When introducing the major and minor barre shapes, we found it most effective to have Daisy make the shape with her additional fingers first, then applying the first finger barre, this helped her keep the fingers in the right position and avoid the accidental deadening of strings that often occurs when applying additional fingers to a chord shape. With this method Daisy was quickly able to grasp the performance of the major and minor barre chord shapes with the root on the E string. We were also able to cover the major and minor shapes with the root on the A string, though Daisy found these shapes slightly more difficult to fret, especially the two-finger barring found in an A string major chord shape. Though her technique wasn’t yet perfect, Daisy had a good understanding of the shapes, and was able to get into the different positions quickly, and with the chord chart for a reference it was something she would be able to practice at home.
To end the session we revisited all the chord shapes we had covered, and assessed her accuracy in performing them. As this was the final lesson we had a discussion on how she felt she had progressed throughout these sessions. Daisy remarked that she had enjoyed the time and felt she had developed her ability significantly, indeed her performance of barre chords were already an extreme improvement compared to beforehand, and would now open up a lot of songs and chord progressions for her. I expressed the importance of keeping up practice of the exercises we had covered, as they would assist her in building left hand dexterity and encouraged her to seek out more barre chord shapes when she felt prepared.
Evaluation
The early sessions were not as planned out as they could have been, due to me still being unsure on the best way to approach tutoring Daisy. I did not have many topics for us to cover and didn’t have any physical aids to provide like I did in later lessons, which made the teaching sometimes more difficult for Daisy to remember as she had no visual reference. I rectified this by including charts, such as the diagrams of barre chords, in our later lessons, which proved to be extremely effective in helping Daisy understand the shapes we were covering.
I found that, because the majority of our time was spent on covering more practical and physical aspects of guitar playing, focusing on technique over knowledge, there was a lot of time spent on correcting small physical adjustments that I found difficult to communicate to the student, however I overcame this by becoming more familiar with terminology and providing clearer depictions in my own performance for the student to follow.
Overall I believe that my tutoring of Daisy led to a significant improvement in her ability. By focusing on topics that she expressed interest in, the lessons were more engaging and directly beneficial, and helped encourage her to practice outside of lessons. I strived to engage with Daisy in a friendly and approachable manner, making her feel like we could discuss things casually and not create any stress or tension in the lessons.
I aimed to be encouraging and rewarding when noting Daisy’s progress, offering verbal praise and constructive feedback to exercises and performances. Daisy often proved to understand my teachings swiftly and with a great understanding for the concepts we studied. She developed her ability in barring from complete unfamiliarity to confidence in multiple different shapes in only a couple of lessons. She also took to the developmental exercises quickly and frequently practiced them, proving that she understood their significance to her playing. The end product of the lessons was a significant development in her ability that would lead to many new avenues of guitar performance being opened to her.
Video Footage:
Strumming Patterns
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=431a1f21-050c-4543-a408-b4420095c352 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=13027d8a-9f6f-44d2-8fef-b44200964a7dLesson Introduction and Warm Up
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=5e65f550-97f0-4a84-a4d2-b442009b2045Introduction to Barring
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=d6061ed7-c021-4fe2-bd91-b442009b7aa4Final lesson Warm Up
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6c1dd25d-a8cf-4223-836b-b44200977b3eIntroduction to Barre Chord Shapes
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1d9d9654-791a-40cb-b244-b4420097f730Barring Technique Development
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=bef1a1f4-f543-437d-a6b2-b442009be41dWrap Up of Final Lesson
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=ffa64cd0-5f1e-4f2b-8a95-b442009c6776