Steve W
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Drums, Bass Guitar, Double Bass, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Spirituals, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Punk, Avant-garde
Steve W
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Drums, Bass Guitar, Double Bass, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Spirituals, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Punk, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
BM, University of Alabama, Double Bass Performance w/concentration in Jazz Studies
I am a professional musician living and working in the city of New Orleans, who is extremely passionate about his work and loves to share that passion with his students. I have been playing piano since the age of 5; started learning guitar and drums at age 10; started playing electric bass at age 12; and have been playing upright bass since age 19. I played in rock, pop, alternative, reggae, and ska bands in high school and played electric bass for my schools pep band.
I started out college at the University of Alabama as a Music Therapy major with piano as my primary instrument. After a year playing electric bass in a jazz combo, I decided my true passion was in teaching and performing music, so I bought an upright bass and switched to a Jazz Studies major with upright bass being my primary instrument. After a year of studying and practicing upright bass I became the principal bassist in the Huxford Symphony Orchestra and in UA's top Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Standards Combo.
I graduated in 2017 and while there I studied jazz and classical bass, jazz and classical piano, composition/arranging, theory, and recording among other things. While living in Tuscaloosa, AL, I also became an active part of the music community (within and without the university), playing in blues, folk, funk, and jazz bands all around the town, as well as being the bassist for many musical theater productions and the bassist for Beulah Baptist Church in Northport, AL. A year after graduating I moved to New Orleans to pursue a more active gigging scene, and have been working as a freelance musician here since August 2018.
I began teaching at the young age of 16, while still in high school. At that point I had been playing electric bass for about 4 years and had played in a few bands and excelled at the instrument, and I knew a family friend who was looking for a bass teacher, so I volunteered. I had weekly lessons with him for about 2 years, until I went away for college, and quickly realized that teaching is one of my many passions. Since then I have taught piano to a student for 2 summers while home from school. I also volunteered for the nonprofit Alabama Blues Project camp in Tuscaloosa, where I met a student eager to learn guitar and drums, and I taught weekly lessons to him for a summer on both instruments. The last 3 years that I lived in Tuscaloosa I taught weekly lessons to a friend on both bass and piano. Due to my own experience with the instruments, I can teach electric and double bass to students of all skill levels; piano to students of all skill levels short of advanced; and guitar and drums to beginner students.
I cater each lesson to each individual student and their needs/desires, therefore no lesson or student has the same lesson plan. I can teach for different instruments and various styles, so those as well as the student's personality/skill level all factor in to how I will teach them. However, 3 things that I pretty much universally teach to all students of all styles are 1) scales, the fundamental building blocks of all music; 2) music theory, every style has it's own version of music theory and it is immensely helpful in understanding how to play it; and 3) learning songs that interests the student, because nobody is going to want to stick with music if they are forced to play songs that someone else wants them to learn.
I have had extensive lessons on all ends of the music education spectrum. I took informal guitar lessons from rock n roll musicians who couldn't read music while I was in middle school/high school, and I took classical lessons while in college from professors who couldn't improvise in more than one or two styles (or sometimes none). I believe there is a happy medium that is the ideal way for music to be taught. As previously mentioned, I will cater each lesson to each individual student, but I always strongly encourage them to learn the material inside and out, and truly master it before moving on. I believe that this, along with choosing music that the student is interested in and ensuring that the student has practice methods that they truly enjoy, is the key to students continuing their music studies.
Check out our A+
Rating from the Better Business Bureau
100% Risk-Free Trial Lesson
If you are not satisfied after your trial lesson, you will not be charged and we can match you with another teacher.