Guitar & Voice Lessons

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Make sure the teacher is a good fit. If you want to learn shred guitar, learn from a teacher specializing in metal guitar. If you want to play acoustic, learn from someone specializing in acoustic and finger-style.

Go to your first lesson and see how you feel after the first lesson. Was the teacher interested in the same music you are interested in or were they into rock while you were into blues? Did they have a space that helped you focus on learning music or were you just thrown into a spare bedroom? Did they respect your lesson time or were they taking calls during your lessons or attending to animals?

I know some of these might seem weird, but I had some teachers that did some strange things during my lessons.

I offer a free introductory trial lesson to all of my new students. This allows you to meet me and decide whether or not I am the right teacher for you and whether the learning environment provided is the right environment for you.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. I always tell students that if they can afford to buy a more expensive guitar it is worth it. Cheap guitars, especially cheap acoustic guitars, are made of lower quality materials and are much harder to play than a slightly more expensive guitar.

Does this mean you cannot learn on a cheap guitar. Of course you can, but I let students play my guitar versus their guitar and they immediately feel the difference.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I work with students in making their guitar experience personalized and enjoyable. I provide information to learn not only in your lessons, but also materials for you to learn outside of the lesson format.

Most teachers provide you with lessons and that's it. You are left on your own for a week to see if you can remember correctly what you were taught in your last lesson.

I am also flexible in my teaching and your learning. There is no one size fits all and I enjoy helping you discover new music and skills, but I also encourage students to help me discover new music as well. If there are songs you have always wanted to learn, let me know and we can work on the together.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. I love helping people learn. I love when student reach that "ah ha" moment when they really start to get something and realize that things are actually making progress.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. There are a few questions, the first is usuallly: Am I the worst student you have ever taught?

The answer? No. Everyone starts out at the beginning. I started out playing the guitar not too well. I think my mom wore ear plugs half the time. It really is a work in progress and as long as you stick with it and do not get discouraged, you will become a better player. You are like any other beginner that has started learning guitar or how to sing.

Is it better to take half hour or hour lessons?

I always tell people, half hour lessons are great if you are on a budget, but if you can really afford the hour lessons it's in your best interest. Why?

With half hour lessons you spend 5 minutes getting yourself settle in, tuning your guitar, telling me how your week went, and asking me any question you might have. Then, we go over the materials you learned the prior week to make sure you are understand what you learned and correcting any mistakes. We then get to learn new material. Then, you take a few minutes at the end of your lesson to pack up.

As you can see, you can learn A LOT more in a single session with hour lessons as opposed to half hour lessons.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I wasn't always a musician. I actually used to be a scientist that worked in a lab researching cancer drugs.

Why did I leave?

Because I loved music more. It really is the passion in my life. Besides, doesn't everyone say follow your passion and be happy?

If I had it to do all over again, I would never go back to working my old job.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I learned to play the guitar when I was 16 and started writing songs shortly after teaching myself some chords. It's something I always enjoyed. I'm a very creative person and music was such a great a lot through my high school and college years.

I worked for a pharmaceutical company for 4 years and learned that I wasn't really happy in the line of work that I was doing. I was getting worn down, stressed out and found myself longing for the 3 weeks of vacation I got each year.

I didn't have time for music, never mind practicing or writing songs. I went on a cruise one year that was a music festival as well. I brought along my guitar and played and sang onboard whenever I could. I even got to perform for one of my idols Brandi Carlile.

I felt so alive. I had never had a feeling like that before. I decided that I was going to leave my job and pursue a life of music and I have never looked back.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I am always learning new things whether it be new guitar tricks, new songs, or developing performance. I continue to educate myself in guitar, voice, and music career and business marketing. The great thing about music is that you never really stop learning. There are so many great things to learn that music really does take a lifetime to master. If I stopped learning myself, I would not be a good teacher for my students.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. My last music project that I worked on was recording my debut album "I've Been Waiting". It was released in Spring of 2010 and took about 2 months to record (about 7 years to write) and cost a few thousand dollars.

I learned so much during the recording process and it really has helped me with my students in giving them advice about recording and writing music.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. Pricing varies depending on the service you are looking for as well as how long you want your lessons to be.

I offer both half hour and hour lessons for guitar. I also offer combo lessons for those looking to sing and play the guitar at the same time. It really saves you time and money as opposed to finding to different teachers in separate towns with different lesson times.

Feel free to call for lesson rates and pricing. I would be more than happy to discuss all your options and find the right lesson plan for you.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Becoming a professional musician takes a lot of hard work and dedication. It isn't one of those things that comes easy or happens by stroke of luck.

You get out of it what you put into it. If you practice a lot, work hard, and have amazing dedication to yourself and your goals, you will be successful in life and in music.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Why should I choose you over other teachers?

I am dedicated to giving my students a great learning environment. I have a 500 sq. ft. music studio that I teach out of. I provide materials during lessons and even provide materials outside of lessons including video instruction, extra exercises, music career tips and more.

You will definitely save time and money with an experienced teacher who developed a system that has helped a number of students become great guitarists, great singers, record their own albums, perform live, and write their own songs.