Teaching Classroom Guitar: Habits of the Successful Beginner Guitarist
Date
February 9-May 1, 2026
Online
Asynchronous
Course Code
MECA: 7935A | MMEd: 528I
Credits
MECA: 3 | MMEd: 2
Tuition
$1194
Course Description
This course equips music educators with the skills and strategies needed to confidently teach guitar in a classroom setting using Habits of a Successful Beginner Guitarist. Participants will not only learn effective teaching techniques but will also develop their own guitar-playing abilities to better support their students. Educators will work hands-on to build foundational skills, including reading music in the open position, playing open position chords, strumming patterns, and basic melodic studies. Additional topics include blues improvisation, rhythms up to the sixteenth note subdivision, and selecting songs for concerts. By the end of the course, teachers will have the practical experience needed to both play and teach guitar with confidence in a structured classroom environment.
The course is entirely asynchronous.
*This course is available at two levels:
- MMEd Program Students: If you’re enrolled in the MMEd program at VanderCook, register for the 500-level course.
- MECA Continuing Education Students: If you’re not in the MMEd program but wish to earn graduate credit, register for the 7000-level course.
The difference in credits earned and tuition costs reflects the varying tuition rates between the MMEd and MECA Continuing Education programs. If you’re unsure which section is right for you, feel free to reach out to [email protected] for assistance.
Instructor
Matt Hudson (MMEd ‘10) is a jazz guitarist from Erie, PA, currently teaching guitar and band at Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. Hudson began his formal music studies at the University of Pittsburgh in 1999. He won the Mellon Bank Jazz Scholarship, which gave him the chance to study with saxophonist Nathan Davis and world-renowned guitarist Joe Negri. Hudson has a voracious appetite for jazz improvisation and studied many eras of the form with a particular emphasis on blues and bebop. He became a regular fixture at jam sessions in Pittsburgh and by the time he graduated in 2003, he was performing in many top venues with artists such as Gene Stovall, Reggie Watkins, The Marvelettes, Jay Willis and Curtis Fuller. By the end of that year, Hudson decided to settle in Chicago to pursue creative opportunities that blended r&b, hip hop, jazz and rock. This began a fertile period for Hudson marked by collaborations with William Kurk Enterprise, Siji, Aaron Getsug, Scott Hessy and Karl E.H. Siegfried. In 2006, Hudson met producer and DJ Anthony Nicholson and his son Quincy Nicholson. This began his affiliation with the jazz recording group Scientific Map. Over the course of five years, this group recorded and toured in support of releases for the Imaginary Chicago Records label.