FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
My pricing is $35 per 30-minute lesson, $50 per 45 minute lesson, and 70 per 1-hour lesson. Independent contractors like myself pay taxes, social security, medical, dental, sick, vacation & personal days and workmen's compensation out of what we earn. That's reflected in our pricing.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
The first thing I do with a new student is find out what their goals are. Then I ask a few questions and ask them to show me things that let me know what their current ability level is. I know what to look for, so I can figure it out quickly. Then I do some teaching, and pay attention to how they respond so that I can see how they LEARN. Some students are visual learners, some need detailed technical instructions, some respond to descriptions that relate more to feelings than intellectual concepts. I cater people's lessons to them as unique individuals. As soon as possible, I ask them to bring in a song they want to work on, and I use that song as a way of teaching them the important stuff. Most songs have much more in common than people realize, and they can be used to provide a student with a basic musical foundation.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I earned my living exclusively for nearly 20 years as a freelance lead and rhythm guitarist -- either you're good at your job or you starve! I eventually decided I wanted to spend less time on the road and work on my recording projects, so I started teaching. Along with giving private lessons for over a decade, I taught beginning and intermediate guitar classes for the cities of Long Beach and Lakewood, CA as part of their parks and recreation departments. I developed those courses myself, and put together my own handouts to make progress easier and more straightforward for those classes and my private students. People from my classes frequently said, "I learned more from you in 6 weeks than I did in a year with my last teacher!" I also attended the Guitar Institute of Technology at Musicians Institute in Hollywood -- it is a highly-rated and highly-intensive one-year course in guitar, guitar, and more guitar. It was 5 days a week, 5 hours per day, MINIMUM. My own teaching style has partly evolved from what I learned about teaching from the excellent instructors at that school. They were incredible.