Help request: Guitars 4 Vets

[Aitrus]

Hey everyone. I'm posting in a personal capacity for this, not as a mod for TSPCenter.

I'm a volunteer instructor with my local chapter of Guitars 4 Vets. G4V is a non-profit organization that hosts beginner guitar instruction classes. The target audience is vets who have PTSD, anxiety, depression, or other service-related trauma. Learning to play the guitar gives them a goal to strive towards, and gives them an outlet to use to help manage and cope for the rest of their lives.

Each chapter is usually in close communication with the closest VA center and checks that each student has a legitimate need to attend. We do allow non-vets to attend as well if the need is there, they just won't get graduation gear like the vets will. Such non-vets usually have some kind of connection to the military - one of the students in my most recent graduating class is a social worker from the local VA who wanted to know about the program so she can better serve her patients.

Last summer I attended a G4V class on the advice of a VA counselor, and it has worked wonders for me. I decided to give back to the program, and worked to become good enough to teach the basics. I'll never be good enough to give up my day job, but I can play "Simple Man," "Margaritaville," and "Stand By Me" well enough to sing along to around a campfire. I've already had one student tell me that attending class has helped his mental health significantly, and every instructor we have has said the same thing.

Each class is 12 weeks long, and each student gets a practice acoustic guitar and assorted gear for the duration. At the end, they turn in all their gear and get awarded a new guitar (a Yamaha FG800 is the standard issue at our chapter) and assorted odds and ends (t-shirt, gig bag to store the guitar in, picks, spare strings, tuner, etc.).

G4V is run completely on donations. This year, G4V had to cut a bunch of classes due to lack of funding. They've already announced that next year will see more cuts. For our last graduating class of eight students we had enough new guitars to go around, but some money had to come out of instructor's pockets to pay for graduation goodies for the students (very basic gig bags, t-shirts, some picks, and a tuner).

If you're looking for a good cause to support that sees real change in the lives of vets, head over to https://guitars4vets.org/. Every little bit helps, even if it's just passing word around that there's a need.

Thanks

[Archibald]

Great write up, Aitrus! I am on the waiting list for G4V!

[Aitrus]

You're going to love it.

Remember: you get out of it what you put into it. We can tell within a couple of weeks which students are practicing and which ones aren't. My advice for practice: devote a few small 10-minute sessions a day. Pick a specific thing to work on during each session - fingering, strumming, chord changes, finger stretching exercises, etc. You'll get more done in three or four small sessions than in an hour-long marathon session because your fingers don't have calluses to play for very long, your skills aren't at the level where you can be consistent for that length of time, etc. And don't be afraid to look outside of class for inspiration and additional hints. Lauren Bateman on YouTube helped me out immensely, and is my #1 recommendation for raw beginners (I still watch her videos and lessons all the time, especially for new songs).

It's not hard, you just have to put in the time and try to stay focused on improving the basic skills without feeling a need to compete with others. You go at your own pace, but if you can learn three basic chords then you can play hundreds of songs. Add in a couple more, and now you're looking at thousands of songs.

Above all: enjoy the process. It's fun, low stress, and before you know it you'll see your guitar sitting there on the stand, saying "Dude - let's play!" every time you walk by. When that happens, you've caught the bug and there's no going back.

[PhilJohn]

I started 3 years ago. It’s therapeutic to me. It was always something I wanted to learn and now that I’m in the process it’s pretty amazing. Wish I would have started earlier.

[Chulke]

This is so awesome! I wonder if my local VA (where I just so happen to work) has an offering? I know they do wood turning classes and some classes on 3D printing....but this would be a cool addition!

Thanks for giving of yourself Aitrus to help my fellow vets!