Music Lessons in Atwood, CA

Instruments: Bass Guitar Double Bass Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I like to take each of my students on a case-by-case basis. I learn a little about them, what their goals in taking lessons are, and what kinds of music the like to play. When I reach for a method book, it is usually Mel Bay or Berklee Music Press for electric bass and guitar, or The Simandl Method for upright bass. I like to gauge what level the student is at and go from there, making sure that they have a strong foundation of fundamentals regardless of what the student's ultimate goal is. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Music Keyboard

The most important is to undersrand what a new student's goals are with their music education. I wouldn't want to push someone to do something that they simply aren't interested in, but I usually am able to help someone develop interest in areas that they don't already have an interest in. For example, many beginning drummers are sure that they only have interest in playing drum set for a band. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Violin Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Music Acoustic Guitar

Drums and Percussion: Alfred's Kids Drumset Course-Dave Black and Steve Houghton Elementary Drum Method-Roy Burns Intermediate Snare Studies-Mitchell Peters Alfred's Beginning Drum Set Method-Sandy Feldstein and Dave Black Primary Handbook for Mallets-Garwood Whaley Violin: Suzuki Method Guitar: Hal Leonard Guitar Method-Will Schmid and Greg Koch Ukulele: Kid's Ukulele Course-Ron Manus and L.C. Harnsberger Bass: Hal Leonard Bass Method Ed Friedland As students begin to grasp more on fundamentals, they will be introduced along the way to various repertoire relating to their skillset or challenging them to go to the next level. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone

With private students, I customize my teaching methods to how each student best learns. I have several methods to teach most music concepts and saxophone technique so that I can better connect with each student’s learning style. I find students have a more enjoyable experience when I give them the chance to learn what they would like to play. For jazz students, I first have them identify a musician they enjoy listening to and begin exploring what makes that player unique. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

The number one priority I have towards my students is to get them playing a lot of the time, and with proper technique. In the end, it is the student that "teaches" themselves through proper training and not the teacher. The teacher cannot give the student finger dexterity, strength or the ability to read and interpret music directly. The learning process during lessons includes demonstrating, making mistakes and correcting those mistakes so that the student can learn and practice efficiently. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My methods are specific to a student's goals. For beginners, I usually like to use Hal Leonard's Guitar Method series to get them reading music and playing guitar in the first (or open) position. Beginners need to learn fundamental music theory, such as the major scale and how to build chords. Intermediate students that already understand basic theory usually desire to learn the techniques and vocabulary specific to a certain genre. Read More

Instruments: Bass Guitar

I have had the honor of studying with many great teachers, and also I'm a graduate of Berklee College of Music. I am able to use many resources and teaching material from many of the great teachers I have studied with. Being a Berklee graduate I use a lot of their teaching materials, from the Harmony 1- 4 books plus the arranging books, and many exercises to build up your technique and harmony knowledge so you can compose your own bass lines to any style. Read More