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.
Download The Free Cards (PDF)Who Can Use FCF?
Five Card Flow is designed so that anyone can teach a kid’s first guitar lesson — no musical experience required.
Teachers
Give your students a first guitar lesson that ends with a song not frustration. No musical experience required.
Counselors
Run a guitar activity in 15 minutes even with no music experience. The cards and videos do all the work.
Parents
Your kid wants to try guitar? No problem. Follow the steps and they’ll improvise a song in minutes.
Volunteers
Helping out at an after-school program? Hand a kid the five cards and a guitar and they'll improvise a song in minutes.
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!
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.
Ready 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)Who Created FCF?
Hi, I'm Zoya! I’m a high school student and have been playing guitar since I was seven.
I volunteer as a guitar teacher at Songcatchers, an after-school music program.
I keep seeing the same pattern: kids walk in excited to play guitar, struggle with a chord, and decide they’re not musical enough to continue.
I created Five Card Flow to change how kids learn guitar so they’re less likely to quit too soon.
Why I Created Five Card Flow →
Help Me Make FCF Better
Five Card Flow is a work in progress. Every lesson with a student teaches me make Five Card Flow better. If you teach a lesson with FCF, I would love to hear how it went and how I can make it better.
The Access Problem
Five Card Flow helps keep kids from quitting guitar but most kids never get to start.
No Guitar = No Lessons
Most community programs don’t have a guitar. The Five Card Flow cards and videos are free but, without a guitar, none of that matters.
A Simple Guitar Kit
One half-size guitar, one set of printed Five Card Flow cards, and an adult. That’s everything a program needs to give kids a first guitar lesson.
Start In My Town
My goal is to donate guitar kits to after-school programs, summer camps, and community centers that need one in Greenburgh, NY.
If you can help me donate guitar kits to programs in Greenburgh, please get in touch.
Email Me Below