Guitar Lessons in El Cerrito, CA

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Double Bass

In my teaching style I ask students to explore specific aspects and material that they would like to learn. As I cater to this approach, I compliment it by incorporating fundamentals, theory and improvisation into my lessons. I am a competent teacher and enjoy teaching and continually learning through music. I also enjoy helping students with song writing, arranging and singing as their interest warrants. The lessons are usually guided by the interests of the student based on his or her goals. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My methods for teaching are very adaptive depending on your experience, skill level, and what you'd like to learn. For beginner students, I usually go over basic knowledge of the guitar and a bit of music theory, and guitar finger exercises. For students more interested in playing songs, I will aid them in reading guitar tabs and also how to set up an amplifier to achieve the right tones, i.e. reverb, distortion. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin

I started learning piano in first grade. I learned music theory, and it helped me learn other instruments quickly. In Middle School, I learned violin very quickly because I had the fundamentals down. After high school, my parents wanted me to have a financially stable career. I studied business in college, but ended up becoming a Middle School teacher. Not only did I teach math, I was also their music teacher for their after school music teacher. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Voice

For voice, I like to start with making sure the placement is good and that the tone begin produced is nice and full. After that working on moving smoothly though notes while keeping the voice aligned, handling vowels and consonants, and gradually extending range. Repertoire is used to help support the lessons and gradually increases with the ability of the student. For guitar, in either the styles that use a flatpick or the finger-styles, I like to build a library of chords and progressions linked to an understanding of keys and scales (music theory). Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar

For beginners, I typically focus on teaching straightforward open chords, along with scales and exercises to improve finger dexterity. Following that, I guide them in incorporating melodies or soloing over chords. We delve into strumming patterns and cover fundamental techniques for warming up. With intermediate players, my approach involves introducing chord inversions and delving into basic music theory. Topics include understanding how to stay in a key and identifying the diatonic chords within it. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Voice Ukulele Acoustic Guitar

Since my graduate degree days 25 years ago , I have been steadily teaching both as a private instructor, and in classroom situations... I'll confess that, while group lessons do foster an energy that can be exciting, the reality of dividing my teaching attention between multiple students is not quite as exciting at putting ALL my effort and attention int one private student! As a choir director, I not only have the opportunity to teach "voice," but "musicality," and I find that to be an highly satisfying experience! Read More