My goal for your guitar lessons is to teach you how play the music you want to play—as soon as possible
Guitar should be fun. That’s why I teach a song-based approach for learning to play guitar that gets you playing real music early on.
How do I do that?
I’ll ask you about your favorite music and curate a selection of songs you like. I will implement music you love in your guitar lessons to teach you fundamental guitar skills. Then, from your first lessons, I teach you the skills that will help you play the songs you love as soon as you can. My measured teaching approach keeps you challenged enough to stay motivated while avoiding feelings of frustration or being overwhelmed. My pedagogy experience allows me to help you quickly find solutions to overcome obstacles, thus fixing problems that hinder your progress. I’ll be guiding you each step of the way while you learn to play music you love in a fun, low-pressure environment.
Fundamental Guitar Skills
- Fretting notes for the best sound
- Strumming patterns
- Playing chords
- Singing while playing
Additional Skills
- Tuning the guitar properly
- Changing chords efficiently
- Playing with a pick
- Finger picking
- Using a capo to play your song in a friendly key for your voice
- And a whole lot more…
Musicianship
Even from our earliest guitar lessons, I teach you more than just guitar playing—I show you how to become a musician. I teach creativity from the beginning by showing you how to make musical choices, including improvisation, making your own music arrangements, and if you really want to, writing your own songs. A lot of this training happens gradually while you learn to play beautiful music in various styles—without me making a big deal about it. Down the road you will look back and discover how much you’ve learned without realizing it.
- Finding your expression in the music you play
- Rhythmic feel and groove
- Ear training
- Creativity
- Playing with other types of musicians (starting with duets during lessons)
- Musician etiquette
- Sensitivity to music
- Musical histories
- Technique and music theory that supports your musical goals
Repertoire
In addition to teaching you the songs you want to play, I teach songs in a variety of styles: folk, rock, blues, jazz, ragtime, Latin, Celtic, and classical—songs that represent every region of the United States, as well as songs from Mexico and Canada. I introduce this wonderful variety of music using the Hal Leonard Guitar Method by Will Schmid and Greg Koch. This method includes songs and riffs in various musical styles as well as recordings that allow you to sharpen your skills while playing along with full-band tracks. This music is both instructive and artistically enriching and opens gateways that will help generate a lifelong love of music-making.
The Concert Jam—Be a Performer
Playing music and sharing it with others is amazing… Playing music for other people with other musicians is exhilarating! I host the Concert Jam for my guitar lessons students twice a year in Spring and Fall. You’ll get to play your song for a supportive and appreciative audience. You will also have the opportunity to play with a full band. If you’d rather play as a duo with me, or even solo, you will have those options, too.
- Spring Concert Jam
- Fall Concert Jam
- Opportunity to play with a band, as a duo, or solo
We spend some of our regular lesson time preparing for the Concert Jam. In addition to teaching you how to play, I teach you how to take the stage and be entertaining. I help you develop your performing skills from the ground up.
- Musical Preparation
- Stage Presence
- Ensemble Skills (making music with others)
- Anxiety Reduction (aka Keeping Cool)
- Stagecraft (knowing the gear used to play on stage)
This isn’t a competition… These performance opportunities are all about you having fun on your journey of learning to play guitar and your joy of making music.
Recording yourself
Recording yourself is a low-pressure way of preparing to play in front of an audience. Therefore we record audio and video at your guitar lessons. By listening to yourself and watching yourself play, you will discover ways to improve that become self-evident. This increased awareness often leads to discovering the cure for things that you probably didn’t even realize were getting in the way of your playing.
Become a Recording Artist
A unique opportunity that I offer you, as my student, is to make your very own Christmas record. It all starts with you learning to play and sing your Christmas song. Once learned, I will record you singing and playing your song. Then I produce your song with a full band backing you up on the recording. Your Christmas record is a musical snapshot of your year as a music artist. It’s also a lasting memento that you can bring out year after year for the holiday season. And if you want to release your song, I can show you how to do that, too.
- Opportunity to record your Christmas song
- Learn how to record your music
Seeking the right teacher for your guitar lessons? Please contact me to unlock your inner guitarist and music artist.