Guitar Lessons in Saint Paul, OR

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele

I've been teaching on and off for about 10 years, I enjoy helping students obtain their goals, whatever their age or skill level. I think it's important for guitarists to learn some basic music fundementals we can communicate with other improvisers outside of guitar-centric music. I am not against guitar tablature sites altogether, but I do believe that tablature can be more useful if it at least indicates the rhythms. I believe learning how to read and notate rhythms can help enrich and empower students and help them develop as performs, composers and teachers in their own right. Read More

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

With new students, my first goal is to surmise what they have learned thus far. I then "fill in the gaps" to get them up to speed, which depending on their skill level, can take one lesson or many lessons. For younger students who need more inspiration to be able to do that sort of catch-up work, I attempt to balance the fun with the learning. Learning instrument technique can be tedious, so I do my best to help my students be aware of their weaknesses and play to their strengths, to work smarter, not always harder. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele

Patience, as well as my depth of experience, are characteristics of my teaching style. I'm as happy as the student is when he or she achieves an understanding of a musical concept or mastery of a physical technique on the instrument. The achievement will reinforce more effort toward the next step, but it must be "relaxed" effort. "Slowly but surely" is my motto as the challenges become greater and the success sweeter. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele

As much as possible, I usually try to make custom lesson plans for each student. For beginning guitar or ukulele students I will usually begin by teaching them to play a familiar song using only a couple chords. This gives them something tangible to work toward right from the beginning. We can then add more chords and more challenging songs as we go, as well as learning to play scales and melodies, etc. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Synthesizer Ukulele Keyboard Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I like the aphorism by British guitarist and educator Robert Fripp "We begin where we are". It means to me that at any given point we are all beginners. So if we come with an open mind to explore and learn something new, perhaps what it could be challenging might become easier if we apply the right mind set. So if we are learning a scale...perhaps we begin with a note at the time, then add a second and third, so on, until we have all eight notes or sixteen. - Slow down: If you want to play fast you gotta be able to play it slowly with accuracy and precision. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Bass Guitar Synthesizer Harmonica Ukulele Recorder Electric Violin Fiddle Double Bass Euphonium French Horn Tuba Piccolo Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Oboe Bassoon English Horn Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I am a passionate music teacher with a focus on student success. I graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2018 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. I have taught music in one-on-one lessons and classroom settings with many different age students. I have been playing trombone for 15 years and love teaching it to beginners and experienced players. I am a huge music theory and composition nerd, spending my free time analyzing musical scores or doing research on why a composer composed something a certain way. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Ukulele Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I firmly believe that every student is different and deserves their own personalized lesson experience. I do my best to get an understanding of what a student's musical interests and goals are tailor their lessons towards those goals. I teach lots of songs, because that's what we want to play! I also do my best to make sure you understand WHAT you are playing so that you can take elements of one song and know how to re-use them later. Read More