Lessons
General Lesson Information
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Links to a number of lesson materials and general information have been moved to the Blueprints tab on the top of the screen. (Just look under “Guitar Lessons – Practicing – Tips”).
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While the online posts don’t really convey the experience of one on one instruction – they at least give examples of the investigative process I use in my pedagogical approach.
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As a starting point, I have a series of posts about practicing that may be beneficial to you as well.
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Post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5, post 6 and post 7
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About my approach:
While every student is unique, I believe there are fundamental technical and theoretical approaches that can benefit any player. Having spent an excessive amount of time working on various musical exercises of one type or another, I have come to the conclusion that for most players, the strongest technical and theoretical gains come as a byproduct of challenging repertoire and aural immersion.
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The point of repertoire, and of any musical technique, is to develop a musical language to allow the musician to express him or herself. As an educator, my specialty lies in helping students identify and develop their own unique voice. Everything I present is in service to that goal.
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Private Lessons
I currently offer private, group and online lessons (via Skype). Please e-mail me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com for rates and availability.
Before e-mailing me about taking lessons, it would be helpful if you could read the following questions and answer as many of them as you can in the e-mail. This will help shape my idea of what you are looking for in terms of information and the best things for me to give you.
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1. What style of guitar do you play? (Mainly fingerstyle or pick style, but if there’s a certain style of music you’re into like jazz, or rock or whatever that may help as well.
2. Who are your favorite bands, musicians, (or fill in appropriate term).
3. How long have you been playing?
4. Have you studied with anyone before? If so, what did you study?
5. What are your goals on guitar? Do you want to be able to play in a band? Do you want to learn some songs to play around the house? Do you have specific songs you want to play on guitar? Also - do you have any interest in writing music or just performing music? (Please be as specific as you can.)
6. Are you a self-motivator or are you someone who needs structure in assignments?
7. What steps have you taken so far to achieve your goals? i.e. where do you see yourself now compared to where you want to be?
8. How much time will you have to practice this material? Don’t say 2-3 hours a day if your schedule is completely full and you can only squeeze in a 1/2 hour. Try to be as realistic as you can here.
9. If you could pick up a guitar and could play any song (or solo) you wanted -what would would it be?
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It may seem like a lot of questions – but the answers will give me a sense of how many of your goals we would be able to work on.
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Please feel free to contact me with any questions at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com.
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Finally, I’ve been asked, “There’s a lot of information on your site – don’t you worry about losing students?”
Dispensing knowledge isn’t like dispensing money. If I have $4 in my pocket and give you a dollar – I now only have $3. But if I transmit information to you, I do not lose the information and I gain an even deeper insight into the information in having to present it.
The information here is really only a drop in a bucket. As a teacher, I have a lot more I can help people with than I can in the confines here..
-Scott
