Lessons are guided by the student’s goals.
“Yeah…I don’t want to take lessons. That’ll mess up my style!”
I can’t tell you how many times I heard that from aspiring musicians as I was developing as a guitarist and writer. But no less of an iconoclast than Charlie Parker was known to say, “Learn the rules, then forget them.” The benefits of music education for cognitive and social development are well known. But I believe a foundation in the basics is the only way to truly develop a solid, understandable voice as a musician. I don’t think about the rules when I play or compose…until I get stuck…or bored. Yes, knowing the rules can actually lead you out of boredom when your own imagination seems to have failed you.
You want to play…
…and if you’re here reading this, you want a few tools that will get you there. We’ll get in to it as deeply as you want or as I can entice you to go! If you want to learn “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” that’s fine. I may teach you Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” simultaneously to show similarities. And we’ll probably discuss how Nirvana uses the same four chords for the verse, chorus and pre-chorus and differentiates them by dynamics and subtle changes.
For guitarists, we’ll learn scales and how to construct and name chords.
Want to write a hit song?
For songwriters, the learning process isn’t much different. We’ll listen to songs, analyze songs to learn their structure and see how this knowledge can lead us to being better songwriters both musically and lyrically. You may write a hit. With these tools of analysis, hit or not, you’ll be able to express yourself musically in a way that will make it easier to write and more engaging for your audience.
I’ll meet you…
…wherever you are on this journey of music and help you to discover tools that will lead you to more solid foundation as a musician. I love working with engaged children and adults of all ages. We will have fun and most likely unlock the doors to greater creativity as artists…as we learn the rules we may later choose to forget!
Children and parents:
I started playing guitar when I was seven, but didn’t get serious until I was nine. Maybe my hands weren’t ready or it was what I was learning. What did eventually inspire me was the song. I started writing poetry based on ideas I heard around my house. I started writing songs after learning that the folk tradition was based on borrowing melodies (and lyrical ideas) from previous work, altering them to create something new. Again it comes down to setting up a structure from which one can creatively develop. If you’ve ever misheard the lyrics to a song and been sure that was the story, you’re on your way to writing a song. Creativity develops in a series of stumbles within an educated framework. I’ll help you and your child fortify that framework through guitar skills and analysis.