James Swetland

Introduction: I am an experienced musician with several thousand hours of deliberate, mindful practice in addition to extensive live performance experience. I have recording and live performance experience as a guitarist, vocalist, and bassist, along with five years of teaching under my belt. I am a self taught guitarist and have taken five years of voice lessons. I am a dedicated, reliable teacher who has a passion for teaching students about their selected instrument and music of all genres. In addition to guitar/singing/bass, I also play piano, drums, harmonica, and mandolin as well as various other instruments. Music is absolutely the one thing I am most passionate about in life. I began teaching five years ago around the age of 20. Now, at 25, I have had the opportunity to teach people from all walks of life, with ages ranging from 6 to 60! I encourage students to practice "perfect practice", which means they are as relaxed as possible when practicing (mentally and physically). Daily practice is also something I cannot emphasize enough, even if only for five or ten minutes a day. That serves the student better than one day a week for an hour because short bursts of concentrated practice develop the correct muscle memory to play the instrument. Being interested in devouring all genres of music, I have found myself teaching all styles from blues to pop to metal to video game music! At the start of the first lesson, I give each new student a questionnaire to fill out that tells me their musical background, influences, goals for the instrument and what music they are interested in learning. If the new student is a younger child, I begin them with Hal Leonard's Guitar Method Book One. Once they have grasped the simple chords and melodies of the book, I begin to introduce simple songs that they are interested in learning. I encourage students to practice "perfect practice", which means they are as relaxed as possible when practicing (mentally and physically). This type of practicing is also known as deliberate practice, which I have found to be the most efficient type of practice (which can be applied to any instrument or skill) for students to progress quickly on the instrument. I am a laid back instructor that knows when the setting is right to encourage the student by leading them in the right direction to achieve their specific and unique goals. Each student is different and what works for one will not always work for another. By reminding the beginning student that we are all human and even the best musicians have started as complete amateurs, they can feel more comfortable making mistakes freely, that are bound to happen without feeling self-conscious. My favorite part of teaching is seeing the smile on the students face when the make a new discovery, have an epiphany, or play something difficult correctly for the first time!