Lessons That Make A World of Difference

The instructional techniques I employ are a culmination of the many years I have been teaching, as well as staying open to trying new ideas and studying the results. New innovations are constantly coming to mind and are implemented. Many teachers get locked into a particular routine and never change, add, or improve their curriculum. I would like to think my success with students is partly because of my own constant desire to learn and to be better. I want to be better at something each and every week. If I did not, I would not be happy with myself. I always think that I am my own worst boss. My perseverance towards new ways of teaching and the caring that I show to my students has earned their loyalty. Many students still stay in touch from all over the world and keep me updated on their professional or amature musical advances.

Important Reasons For Taking Lessons

By taking lessons people can avoid forming bad habits. Learning the correct
techniques can save a lot of lost time and the frustration of trying to learn on your own. The guitar is the one instrument that needs the right technique to play with any degree of accuracy. I spend a good amount of time in the early stages teaching the proper use of hands. I can only think of a very few students around (2), that did not need a lot of work in the proper use of their hands in all the the years I have been teaching. This includes students with several years of lessons. If the student¹s hand use is not working efficently they can¹t play without making mistakes and looking at their hands fairly often. Keeping constant time and playing with any degree of speed is another problem when proper technique is not used. The sound quality of the notes also suffer.

Students of violin and viola have problems when they don¹t use their hands efficiently. The left hand has similar problems as the guitar and the right hand problems are due to the bowing techniques that have not been perfected. Poor sound quality is a common problem for violin and viola students due to problems with both hands.

On the brass and woodwind instruments, the bigest problem is due to the students not breathing properly and not using the air flow effectively. Proper breathing and breath control is very important for a good sound and a contributing factor for your overall playing and control of the instrument.

I teach the Guitar | Bass | Piano | Violin | Trumpet | Flute | Clarinet | Saxophone | Viola | 4 -string Banjo | 5-string Banjo | Mandolin | Harmonica | Organ | Drums | Trombone | Flugelhorn | Cornet | Accordion | and others...

Musical Styles Taught: Rock | Blues | Funk | R&B | Rockabilly | Jazz | Classical | Folk | Country | Bluegrass | Raggae | Gospel | Metal | Latin | Brazilian Style | and more...

Training Available In: Theory | Harmony | Improvising | Arranging | Music Transcription | and more...

Misc. lesson information

• Home and studio lessons are available
• Lessons are private and generally last for one hour
• In order to get started, you would call the studio, and we would discuss the status of your music background, if any, what your needs are and what you want to accomplish with the instruction. As a beginner, I will assess your needs, make recommendations and give you some insight on what to expect. If you already have a music background or some special needs, I will give you more of an overall view of your future lesson program. When a decision is made to start lessons I would fill out the enrollment form over the telephone, go over the directions to studio and what you should bring with you.
• An extra half hour of time for first lesson is added in at no additional charge. I do this so I can get our lesson program off to a more organized start. I have found, from experience, that a first lesson needs more time in order to look at an instrument condition, set up a personal written assignment book, go over amount due for the variables and time to get acquainted. I find that on average, one in every three fretted instruments has some kind of defect or adjustment needed. For a more detailed explanation see item 2 on our Interesting Facts page. One of the many problems that I look for is the spacing between the strings. People buy guitars that are not correct for their hand and finger size. Manufacturers seem to get careless in the way that they groove the nut (the piece that separates the strings on the fingerboard). They do not make good use of the fingerboard width. This problem makes it impossible to play all notes on even simple chords. It is important to get these insruments checked within a very short time after purchase so that you can conform with your stores return policies.
• All students will have a personalized book with all their assignments, records and an instrument condition report. These records will be updated each week.
• Gift Certificates are available.
• I will be happy to help students in between lessons, on assigned material that they might have a problem with. Just call me, It would be my pleasure.
• Students who take the summer off from lessons not only loose that two and a half months time, but loose time to get back to where things were again.This usually means another month and adds up to a total of three and a half months lost. This gives the results of eight and a half months for a twelve month year.
  

• Learn what you need to know in order to play in garage bands.
• Learn to play in Rock, Blues, Pop, Country, Jazz or other types of bands
• Learn how to play in a lounge setting
• Gather with co-workers or friends to play music
• Play at parties and holiday gatherings
• Be able to play with your religious group
• Be able to play in a chamber group
• Play in an amateur or professional orchestra
  
  

Lessons Taught 7 Days By Appointment