Introduction: In our lessons I will:
#1 Teach you how to improv, and play jazz chord progressions and songs, and from the start of lessons (or at least soon after starting), without you having to wait forever to play them.
#2 Explain in plain English to you how jazz works.
#3 Teach you only music theory that is absolutely necessary for you to be able to play what you want to play and not get you too bogged down in it.
Hi! My name is Mark Meronek, I am a jazz piano teacher who has been teaching for around 15 years privately and I would love to help you learn jazz and how to improv if my teaching style is a good fit. Here are some details about the lessons and myself:
I have been playing piano for 20 years and my playing experience includes that I played in a duo and as part of a trio for 4 years for bars, weddings, parties and music events in southern California playing mostly jazz chords and improv on modern (hip hop, funk) and jazz drum beats. I created a beginner jazz piano course in 2012, and 100+ Youtube and course videos where I teach piano have been viewed millions of times and helped hundreds, if not thousands of people learn and get better at playing piano (you can find performance videos taken from my Youtube channel in the video section).
If you take lessons with me, you will learn jazz songs, chord progressions, and how to improv. Most of all, my goal is to guide you to that feeling of improvisation that you see when you see jazz pianists play. I will give you the tools to do that with chords, theory and techniques from scratch (or in addition to the ones you already know) and more so help bring out the ability to improvise that you already have. If you are interested in other genres like pop, jazz hip hop, R&B, soul, and lo-fi I can also teach those too.
You might be afraid to get started and I know taking on jazz can seem intimidating, but I teach step by step and am patient and when I see a student is getting overwhelmed even slightly I know not to go over that limit from about 15 years of teaching and you can expect to feel like you are learning jazz at your pace, where you are relaxed, when taking lessons with me.
You might be afraid too of having a boring teacher or boring lessons and with a teacher who doesn't listen to you and talks over you, and you can expect the opposite of that with me, someone who really listens to you and lessons focused on fun and the MUSIC. But better than me telling you that, here is a student's review to support that:
"...Mark always encourages me to play music I enjoy and, when I am having trouble wrapping my head around a certain chord or scale, he is a tremendous resource. I did not think any single instructor could strike this balance of practicality mixed with musical joy but Mark somehow managed it. This is a rare and welcomed trait.
I couldn't have asked for a more friendly and patient teacher. He is congenial, honest and has a passion for music that is downright infectious. I have such a supreme amount of satisfaction in not only being able to play these deep, elegant chords and musical arrangements but in working with someone that always gets me excited to play piano."
Jonathan F.
(I have reviews on websites other than Thumbtack in addition to the ones you see here for piano teaching, and have received many emails thanking me over the years, but have not used the Thumbtack platform as much)
Of course, you do have to practice. You might not feel you have that much time or it will be enough to learn jazz, but as long as you practice at least 30 minutes ~3-4 times a week, that should be good enough to continue making progress (if you are not looking to be a pro and are playing as a hobby), and of course the more you practice, the faster you will progress.
The lessons are taught in-person or online (online uses Skype with a clear overhead piano camera view). For in-person lessons, I travel to my students and from $5 up to around $20 is added for gas and driving time depending on distance.
Also, I offer a free trial for all new students.
If you have any questions just let me know, or if what you read here resonates with you and you would like to try out lessons in a free trial lesson, I would be happy to schedule one. If you simply click the "Message" button and submit 2-3 ideal times in your schedule, I will get back to you about setting up a lesson and once I do and it is scheduled, you will be taking lessons, learning jazz and how to improv, as early as this week! Thank you for reading and looking forward to talking with you!
Mark
