Drum Lessons in Menlo Park, CA

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Despite my young age, I've had extensive experience in Early Childhood Education as well as one-on-one music lessons. I gave my first lesson as a high school graduate to a neighbor who wanted to learn drums and start a band. I was able to provide a technical foundation for him to feel comfortable playing with others. In no time I was working with his band on learning songs to play at a school performance. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar

I like to use familiar songs as vehicles to teach. In my UCSC class, I start with Beatles songs because everyone knows them and they're well-liked. I always like students to suggest songs they want to learn as well, since they will be more likely to practice and be more engaged in practice if the song is something they enjoy. I use these as vehicles to teach chord voicings, theory, intervals and technique. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Organ

For beginner students who are pursing music on the tonal instruments, I typically start with learning the names of the notes on the instrument and the major scale in every key as it relates to the piano. For the bass guitar I start of with basic finger strength techniques and exercises while incorporating the major scale fingering form and Nashville numbering system for all tonal instruments. For voice, I start off by finding the range of the individual and then teaching warmup techniques while building the individuals technique through finding a song and learning how to sing along.  Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

When I begin with any student, I like to ask what they love, what they wish, and what they'd like to do during their lessons. Depending on the answer, I may start the student with tape on the fretboard, under the strings, outlining the chords for a guitar player. Or I may start with a book outlining the fundamentals of music and focus on sight reading. I like to have the lesson be a mix of what the students want, and what I believe to be useful information. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Drums Music Keyboard

My lessons are student driven. I typically assign some technique, repertoire, and theory assignments each week. I often try to include a “student challenge” most weeks in order to gauge how much a student is understanding during the lessons. I modify my styles based on what seems most effective for the student. Sometimes a student really needs 5 pieces to work on over a longer stretch of time. Other times, a student can only reasonably work on one piece for the week. Read More

Instruments: Drums

I take each student's personal goal and gear their lessons toward this goal. By giving each student a realistic short term goal that feeds into their ultimate aspiration on the drums, they will get to see the progress they are making and are encouraged to keep practicing and improving. I use a mix of different instructional texts depending on what we are working on, and will sometimesprovide custom made exercises for a student if needed. Read More