Welcome to my site! I have been giving guitar lessons in the Boston area since 1998. I live in Jamaica Plain and I currently travel to Brookline, Newton, Needham, West Roxbury, Dorchester, and to other homes here in Jamaica Plain for guitar lessons. I consistently have a wide variety of students. I've worked with many young children and teenagers as well as adults who are recording albums and performing across the country. In addition to the testimonials on this site, I have plenty of references available; many happy guitarists, kids, and parents, so feel free to ask.
Philosophy
The only dogma I have about teaching guitar is that I feel that listening to the needs of the student is the highest priority. Guitar lessons can take on many forms depending on what the student seeks to achieve, and everybody is different.
Some people want to write songs, while some are thrilled to just play along to the songs they like to listen to. Some people want to push themselves to excel in their technique, improvisation, and general musicianship while some people cringe at the thought of having to practice a scale or learn a bit of music theory.
I'm sensitive to all these different needs and desires and am committed to listening to my students, paying close attention to the feedback they give me, and using that feedback to structure each lesson. I see it as my responsibility to take notes on each student's progress and come to each lesson with material prepared and ready for anything that may come up.
This is my profession: I am not a musician on a quest for fame and fortune who gives lessons for some extra cash. I love learning and improving as a musician and I am consistently pleased to see that I can help others do the same.
I help the adult beginner meet his or her personal goals with the guitar and I avoid spending any time on anything that is not relevant to those goals. I know how hard it is to have so many responsibilities and to still make time for the instrument, especially when you're just starting out, so I try to focus the lessons to make them fun and direct, and to get the student playing some real music as quickly as possible.
KidsI work with younger students to develop their technique and general musicianship to get to a point where they can have their own musical identity and personal appreciation for music. I work hard (and encourage them to do the same) so that doors will be open for them no matter what path they might choose with the guitar, even if their goal is simply to play for their own enjoyment.
Intermediate and Advanced Lessons
With more experienced players, lessons become even more varied and specific. I aim to keep lessons and my suggested practice material as musical and relevant as possible with all students, but doing this is even more important with an experienced player who is dedicating time and money and to improving their music.
I've often had guitarists come to me wanting to push things further with their own music and guitar playing. In addition to simply showing them music they haven't played before, there's a lot of ground that can be covered, depending on the directions things might go:
-ear training
-understanding modern and traditional harmony
-intervals, scales, and arpeggios and how to navigate them on the fretboard
-voicing chords and voice leading (too often overlooked!)
-improvisation in a wide variety of styles
-sight reading and working with lead sheets
-flatpicking techniques and exercises
-fingerpicking techniques and exercises
-rhythmic accuracy and rhythmic vocabulary
-songwriting tips, tricks, and games
-arranging for a group
We can focus some or all of these things into lessons to make them directly applicable to the music you want to play, whether you are a composer, songwriter, guitarist in a jazz, rock, metal or folk context, or simply aspiring to be one!