Five Card Flow

Every kid deserves a motivating first guitar lesson!

A simple system that lets anyone teach a kid to improvise their own song in their first guitar lesson.

4 Chord Cards

1 Solo Card

Instructor Guide

How Does FCF Work?

Learn The 4 Simple Chords

Each Chord card shows your student how to play a simple chord using one or two fingers. Let them experiment and, when each chord makes a decent sound, move on to the next step.

Learn The 4 Solo Notes

The Solo card shows your student how to play 4 simple notes. Let them experiment playing every note — any order, any speed. When each note sounds decent, move on to the next step.

Create a Chord Progression

The student arranges the four color-coded chord cards in any order. Every combination will sound good. They should practice playing the chords in the order they chose — any speed or rhythm.

Improvise A Song

When the student is ready, you play the chosen chord progression (or play the video below) while they improvise a song using the four solo notes in any order! There is no wrong way to play!

Improvise Another Song

Arrange the cards into a new progression and improvise a new song using the four solo notes again. There is no wrong way to play and each new improvised song helps them build their confidence playing the guitar!

Who Created FCF?

Hi, I'm Zoya! I’m a high school student in Westchester, NY and I've been playing guitar since I was seven.

I volunteer as a guitar teacher at Songcatchers, an after-school music program in New Rochelle.

I keep seeing the same pattern: kids walk in excited to play guitar, immediately struggle with a chord, and decide they’re not musical enough to continue.

I created Five Card Flow to change how kids first learn guitar so they’re less likely to quit too soon.

Why I Created Five Card Flow →

Helpful FCF Videos

How to Play the Chords & Solo Notes

An introduction to Five Card Flow and a step-by-step walkthrough of all four simple chords and the four Solo notes. You can watch this with your student and help them learn the basics.

All 24 Chord Progressions

Video recordings of every possible chord progression your student may choose. Each chord progression is time-stamped in the description. Let your student solo along — no guitarist needed.

Want to Try FCF?

Download the free PDF. Print the five cards and the instruction sheet. You can run a first lesson in 15–20 minutes — no guitar experience required.

Download The Free Cards (PDF)

4 Chord Cards

1 Solo Card

Instructor Guide