Guitar Lessons in Manville, NJ

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My teaching style is patient, thorough, and persistent. For beginning students I start with a simple five note scale, how to hold or sit with the instrument, and an easy tune such as mary had a little lamb or happy birthday; Some students get that in the first lesson and some take a couple weeks everyone has their own process. I like to students to work with method or etude books and have a folder or music notation notebook to keep notes and lessons, organization is up to the student. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar

I believe that students thrive in learning environments that are individualized, so I tend to use a combination of custom lesson plans and materials. My curriculum includes performance studies books, ear training, sight-reading exercises, proper technique, improvisation skills, and songbooks from a variety of genres, all of which Ive found to be incredibly helpful in my personal music education. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar

I like to divide my lessons in two parts: first we address the most formal aspects of the lesson, most of the times using a method book or given hand-outs or whatever relevant material was suggested to the student; the remainder of the lesson is dedicated to work on the students choice of a song or anything less formal suggested by myself. This scheme for lessons might be different regarding the level and commitment of the student, but it is in general the outline I use. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I do believe in the fundamentals of music and ultimately, no matter what you hear, learning music is not re-inventing the wheel. There is technique, reading music and understanding the basics of how the particular instrument works. I like the Essential Elements for Guitar or bass for guitarists and bassists and Alfred's Piano method books. Ted Reed's Guide to Syncopation is a good drum book. Ultimately I like to get the know the student as much as I can as soon as I can so I can help them get to what they want as soon as possible with a few laughs along the way. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginning students who are children, I typically start with simple chords and teach them a few fun songs. If the student is interested in learning how to read music, I will use Hal Leonard's Essential Elements. Once the student has progressed to have a grasp of the fundamentals, I will begin to introduce solo repertoire appropriate for their first recital performance if they are interested in performing live. For adults, I like to find out what they are most interested in, whether it is a specific genre, (jazz/classical) or if they are more interested in learning songs (classic rock/pop/etc.) or songwriting. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Music Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My goal as a teacher is to avoid any type of dogmatic "one size fits all" curriculum.  I always want to know what music the student enjoys and build my lesson plans based on their tastes.  Chords can be physically challenging for beginners so I like to work with single-note melodies early on so that the student isn't quickly discouraged.  Learning chords becomes the medium-term goal.  As for the long-term, I will then use specific songs as examples for how music theory works in the context of their favorite bands. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar Synthesizer Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I am passionate about anything and everything music-related. I have studied and teach the guitar, piano, bass and also have an in-depth knowledge of music theory. I am particularly interested in the genres of metal, jazz, jazz-fusion, and ragtime music, although I have experience teaching other genres like classical, pop, funk, and blues. Some of my favorite bands/artists to name a few are Dream Theater, Allan Holdsworth, Jacob Collier, Tigran Hamasyan, Meshuggah, Alex Machacek, Animals as Leaders, Polyphia and Chick Corea. Read More