Guitar Lessons in Bellmawr, NJ

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

It is important to be musically ambidextrous: chances are, in your band's rehearsal, your other musicians will share ideas using tabs, not traditional notation. You can be the best note-reader on planet Earth, but if you cannot communicate a language others use, you find yourself stuck. I always incorporate music that my student likes to listen to, and frequently request Spotify or iTunes playlists for reference. I try to adapt pop songs into my curriculum (from their playlists) to teach chord theory and songwriting structure, and encourage students to write their own music. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Lute Music Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My Teaching Methods (or those which I employ) are based on the needs of the particular student. Each student is different, and hence, my method is essentially pick and choose depending on the talents, needs, and advancement of the student. For complete beginners, I use a selection of publications from Gendai Guitar (Japanese method book), Frederick Noad (Classical Guitar Playing Volumes 1 2; his three volumes based of historical periods: Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical respectively); tried-and-true Historical Methods (Carcassi, Aguado, Padovec, etc.). Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums

My teaching style relies heavily upon training the ear to dissect what it is hearing. Developing the ear is crucial to being a self-reliant musician. In drums, the visualization how a rhythm works in time is essential to being able to perform that rhythm. Dissection and mapping are the key to furthering one's abilities on the drum kit. In guitar or in piano, being able to isolate frequencies with your ear will lead you to a more accurate understanding for chord structures and progressions than simply looking up tabs, which are often deeply flawed. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Trumpet

Fun but tough. I can tell when a learner hasn't practiced, and it affects the lesson and growth. I always try to make sure that the learner ends the lesson feeling accomplished. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Clarinet Bass Guitar Double Bass

I started teaching friends various instruments and general music theory as a freshman. Then I continued my teaching with tutoring my fellow bass students with more difficult material. Now, after having graduated from Rowan University, I teach with the Resonance School of Music teaching guitar, clarinet electric bass and upright bass. While Resonance is certainly a more traditional approach, I like to think I balance it out by also teaching at a School of Rock, giving instruction on both guitar and electric bass. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I like to start with learning the Pentatonic scale in it's 1st position and show how it can be played in 5 positions based on the components of the scale being built on 5 notes, or intervals. We'll look at the C major/A minor scales on every string to show where all of the natural notes are on the individual strings and then expand upon playing them in modes, and move on to another key to show how these scale patterns are inter related with all 12 keys followed by learning the chord shapes in open and closed positions and how and where to utilize them in songs or in a blues/jazz sensibility. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar

I have a love for teaching students of all levels and ages. My specialty as a guitarist is in jazz, but I bring that love for improvised music to a number of other styles: blues, rock, funk, acoustic/fingerstyle, country, folk, ska, reggae, RB etc. I graduated from Duquesne University in 2013 with a degree in jazz performance. Pittsburgh is a great jazz town with a fantastic local scene, which was a very fun and nurturing environment for me as a student. Read More