Five Card Flow

First guitar lesson. First original song.

A simple system that lets anyone — even a non-musician — teach a beginner guitar student to create and improvise their own song in a single lesson.

Download The Free Cards (PDF)
4 Chord Cards
1 Solo Card
Instructor Guide

How It Works

1

Build a Chord Progression

Lay out the four color-coded chord cards. The student arranges them in any order they like. Every combination sounds good. No wrong answers.

2

Learn Each Chord

Each card shows how to play the simple chord. Let your student try it and, if it makes a decent sound, move on. Speed and form comes later.

3

Introduce the Solo Card

Teach your student the four notes on this card. They all work over every chord. There are literally no wrong notes. Your student can experiment freely — any note, any order, any speed.

4

Improvise a Song

You play the chords (or use the videos below) while the student solos on top. That’s it — they just performed their first original song.

Helpful Videos

How to Play the Chords & Solo Notes

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 along.

All 24 Chord Progressions

Video recordings of every possible chord progression your student may choose. Hit play and let your student solo along — no guitarist needed.

Hi, I'm Zoya!

Zoya teaching guitar

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, and to kids in my neighborhood. I keep seeing the same pattern: excited kids walk in, struggle with a chord, and decide they’re not musical enough and quit. I created Five Card Flow so that every kid’s first lesson ends with a song, not a sigh.

Why I created Five Card Flow →

Ready to Try It?

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