Guitar Lessons in Greenbelt, MD

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Music Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I really enjoy and endorse Hal Leonard's guitar teaching books. They are widely available, affordable and easy to read and comprehend for beginners. I like to develop a personalized lesson plan for each student beginning with an evaluation during the first lesson. I like to ask a lot of questions pertaining to the students' musical background, learning preferences and musical tastes. I then focus on fundamentals, practice regimens and music theory. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Lap Steel Guitar Ukulele Double Bass Music Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I sincerely believe that even the most basic material can be made to "sound good", and I stress this from the beginning. I'm big on playing duets. I'll tend to toss in tidbits about the physics of sound, or how muscle memory works. I like to engage the curiousity of the student in this way. I like to ask students about what music they like, and what they would like to do--play in a school talent show? Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Bass Guitar Synthesizer Ukulele Keyboard

I am very easy to work with and incorporate FUN into my lessons. My primary goal is to see my students enjoying music and liking what they are doing. This will get them to work more towards their goals as they grow through adolescence and into high school and college. Since each student is different I try to focus on reading their reactions to the material in order to to determine what they are understanding and what they are not. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Music Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Lessons start by gauging the student's goals. Through customized lessons we will incorporate music theory and techniques based in many genres. There will be a correlation between the skills we work on and the student's musical interests. However a weekly lesson plan (pdf can be sent each week) will help the student develop a practice routine. All ability levels will have fun during their lessons and be able to develop skills at a individual-specific pace. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginner students who have never held an instrument or don't know anything about music we'll go over basic guitar fundamentals we'll talk about different types of guitars, how to hold the guitar in classical and folk style positions, how to press your fingers on the strings (because there is a way), body parts of the guitar, basic music concepts such as beat and rhythm, how to read music both standard and tabs, basic guitar exercises, and a few fun songs once the fundamentals have been practiced enough. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Firstly, I teach the student the anatomy of the guitar and how to tune it, along with how to hold a pick. After that, I start teaching students how to identify notes on the fretboard. When they have a good grasp on that, I start to teach the basic modes, such as the major, minor, pentatonic, blues, lydian, mixolydian, and dorian modes, and while they are learning these, I give them exercises that use these modes to increase the student's mechanical skill, such as going up and down the scales in patterns of three/four/etc. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Keyboard Acoustic Guitar

My methods and approach to teaching a student all depend on the student (or group of students). I like to find out what attracts my students to music, and more specifically, why they want to learn to play piano. By investigating the motives of my students, I can better tailor a lesson that delivers both what they want to learn and what they need to learn. Once the goals are known, we begin to build a foundation of technical and creative exercises to increase skill and comprehension within the realm of playing piano. Read More