Guitar Lessons
The guitar was my first instrument, and it’s still one of my favorites to teach and play. I previously taught private guitar lessons at Reed College from 2015 to 2017. I like to teach my students guitar the same way that my guitar teachers taught me when I was growing up: by basing our studies on the student’s favorite songs and preferred musical style.
The guitar is a very common instrument in popular music, so my students usually want to learn the guitar parts of their favorite bands and favorite songs. I try to make my lessons as personalized as possible, so I will often transcribe guitar parts for my students since sheet music is rarely available for contemporary pop music. The lessons can also focus on improvisation, reading, and music theory. It all depends on the interests and goals of the student. For younger students who may not have any preference in style, I have plenty of resources to help get them started on what will hopefully be a lifelong musical journey with the guitar.
Piano Lessons
The piano provides a strong foundation for musical understanding. It’s a wonderful choice for anybody, old or young, who wants to learn their first instrument. For good reason, parents often want to enroll their children in piano lessons to get them started in music. Learning piano will work wonders for your reading, rhythmic coordination, and understanding of harmony.
For my beginner piano students, I like to start off with collections of progressive piano pieces such as Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos or the Faber Piano Adventures. For more advanced students, there are many pieces I can recommend from the classical repertoire. For a student more inclined towards jazz and popular music, we can learn to create our own arrangements of songs from lead sheets. This is a great skill to develop and will reinforce your understanding of harmony and music theory. As with all of my lessons, the material we study will ultimately be determined by your musical goals.
Bass Lessons
The bass guitar provides the rhythmic and harmonic foundation for nearly all contemporary popular music. In my time touring as a member of the Scott Pemberton Band, I performed over 200 shows as a professional bassist.
When playing bass it is essential to develop a strong sense of internal rhythm, which musicians like to call “time feel.” Rhythm is the most important aspect of any musical performance, but with bassists in particular I like to stress the importance of practicing with a metronome. Bassists are also responsible for outlining chord changes, so it’s essential for a bassist to have a basic understanding of chord structure and music theory. The songs my students bring in often become examples for study, showing how bass lines are constructed by targeting chord tones. The time we spend in bass lessons will usually be split between reading music, going over the songs you want to learn, and creating our own bass lines from chord charts.
Voice Lessons
Singing is one of the most essential skills for any serious musician. Learning to sing will help to develop your relative pitch and musical intuition. Best of all, it’s good for your soul and you can do it anywhere. While attending Reed College I sang regularly with their Chorus and Collegium Musicum ensemble, and in my time touring with the Scott Pemberton Band I performed over 200 shows as a professional vocalist.
I like to help my voice students develop a daily routine of vocal exercises. Some people tend to think you’re either born with a good voice or without one. But, in reality, strong vocalists develop their skills through hard work and daily practice just like any other instrumentalist. I like to develop my students’ relative pitch by teaching the solfège system from the classic Melodia course in sight singing. Finally, we’ll put it all together by focusing on the songs the student wants to learn.
Other Lessons
Do you want to learn ukulele? Do you want to make beats in Ableton Live? Need a tutor for your music theory class? Want to self-produce a record? Want to learn to write a fugue? There are lots of different directions we could take in music lessons beyond what was listed above. Please feel free to contact me if you have an inquiry about other types of music lessons, and we’ll see if we can work something out!
Interested in lessons?
Contact me today and we can discuss scheduling your private lessons. I offer the first session with any prospective student free of charge!