Elephants and Deer Grow Big Ears

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Learning the Order of Guitar Strings

No, this isn’t a lesson in zoology.  “Elephants And Deer Grow Big Ears” is actually the sentence I teach my guitar students to help them memorize the order of strings (lowest to highest) on the guitar.

When I first started learning to play, I just memorized E-A-D-G-B-E.  But in the middle of a 7-year-old student’s first lesson, I realized I was going to need to find a way to make it stick.  So I came up with my sentence on the spot, wrote it down for my student, and have been using it ever since.

I was curious as to whether anyone else uses that same sentence, so I googled it.  I didn’t come across my sentence, but I did find these:

  • Every Ant Does Good Bad Everyday
  • Elvis Always Dug Good Banana Eating
  • Every Apple Does Good Being Eaten
  • Every Athlete Does Good Before Events
  • Every American Dog Growls Barks Eats
  • Eat All Delicious Green Beans Everyday

How do you remember and/or teach the order of strings on the guitar?  Some people go the opposite way, starting with the highest string.  In either case, I’d be curious to hear other mnemonic devices for guitar.  Please share yours in the comments!

Sunday Singalong: Mia’s Composition

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This week’s “Sunday Sing-Along” is more aptly titled a “Play-Along” since there isn’t actually any singing involved. But anytime I have a chance to showcase my students’ creativity, I’ll take it! Mia came to her lesson this past week bursting with excitement; she had composed this tune over the summer break and couldn’t wait to share it with me.

As important as it is for my students to learn the songs in their lesson books and do their theory exercises, I think it is equally important for them to create, whether it is through songwriting, improvisation, or otherwise.  I have one student who comes to almost every single lesson with an original song, transcribed on notebook paper on handwritten staves, and another who has written not one, but two songs about bugs (her favorite subject).

Mia wants to add to her composition, and we’re turned it into somewhat of a summer project.  Once the music is finished, we’re going to use Sibelius to create sheet music (a hidden theory lesson), Mia is designing cover art to be scanned, and then we’ll print the final product out to look like a “real” song, as she says.

How do you encourage your own students’ creativity?  Fill me in…I’m always looking for new ways to do so!