Leonard W
Instruments: Guitar, Electric Guitar
Styles: Rock, Blues, Country
Leonard W
Instruments: Guitar, Electric Guitar
Styles:
Rock, Blues, Country
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
I am about 95% self-taught. Except for occasional tips from others, I have never had any formal music lessons. I started playing guitar at age 12. I'm now 65 so I have been playing over 50 years. Nevertheless, I am still trying to improve my playing and learning more about music theory and guitar construction. I started playing basic chords using a system that had a sticky sheet to paste onto the neck at the first position. This sheet had different colored dots showing where to place the fingers to form basic open chords. I went on to learning country instrumentals, Surf music instrumentals, blues and 70's rock songs [Allman Brothers etc.]. I was amazed by the Chet Atkins style of playing so I buckled down on that. Fingerstyle playing on acoustic has become my favorite style to play. I am happy to share any bit of knowledge I have with someone who loves the sound of the guitar as much as I do.
My teaching experiences started shortly after I started playing. My younger brother, Joe. wanted to learn to play so I taught him basic chords as well as how to play rudimentary bass guitar. He stayed with bass for a year or so then went totally to guitar, eventually becoming a touring musician for several years, owned a music store and recorded with Christopher Cross, Molly Hatchett, Irons in the Fire and others. Other teaching experience came during jam sessions and other informal settings. During the height of the COVID pandemic, I played guitar during a Zoom gathering with friends, A little boy listening in wanted me to teach him guitar, so I have been teaching him weekly for the last 18 months.
I believe in creating individual course plans for each student. I always ask what the student wants to learn and if he has any particular songs he wants to learn to play. I try to teach him something basic as soon as possible that he can share with family and friends. This helps keep him interested. I teach how to hold and tune a guitar, left hand positioning, using all four fretting fingers and other basics. I teach basic information on tonality, reading tabs and chord charts. Occasionally, I will direct them to videos online so they can review these anytime between lessons.
I realize that each student is different, so I treat them as individuals. However, I do stress regular daily practice, even for short time periods. Regularity in practice is more important than long practice periods in my experience. I try to apply the three T's in my own playing and gradually incorporate these into my teaching, TASTE, TONE and TECHNIQUE. I enjoy seeing students progress because it reassures me that I understand the subject well, You have to know a subject 3 times as well if you teach it because a student will always ask a question you never thought of before. Or they will face a roadblock that you never faced. In addition, as a student progresses, he can teach ME a new twist of a song or a lick!
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