Nathan L. TakeLessons Instructor music, guitar San Francisco, CA

    I first started playing guitar at the age of twelve. Over the years I have studied with several private guitar teachers. In high school I was in the school’s jazz band as well as in the pit-orchestra for several musicals. I grew up on classic rock and jam bands, and decided to study jazz in college. At the University of Oregon I studied under Don Latarski, the Head of Guitar at the university. Recently, I have gotten into blues, bluegrass and world music.
    After graduating from college, I moved to California where I joined the rock band “As A People”. We play our own songs and perform around the Bay Area. Our first full-length album should be available by October 2008.
    I enjoy working with all ages of students, my youngest student has been eight and the oldest fifty-four. I strongly believe that there is no one-way to learn music and that the best approach is to work with individual students’ strengths. I really enjoy working with beginners. I think it’s really fun to watch someone make music for the first time.

    I have a very easy-going approach to teaching. I try to nurture my student’s desire to make the music that they want to make. I believe that when a student becomes fully engaged in and excited about learning to play their instrument the desire to practice comes naturally. It is my opinion that trying to force a person to practice is pointless. However, I still strongly stress with all of my students that meaningful practice is the only way to improve. 
    When dealing with younger students I make sure to focus on the skills that they will need if they wish to participate in music in there schools. This primarily means learning how to read standard music notation. While it is in no way the most exciting part of learning an instrument, being able to read standard music notation is incredibly valuable and essential if one wants to pursue music at a college level.
With my adult students I focus more on what they specifically want to do musically. This usually consists of learning how to play their favorite songs or how to write a song. With adults I do not usually teach how to read standard music notation, unless this is something they would like to learn. Instead, I focus more on reading TAB (this is a form of music notation that is specific to the guitar and arguably easier to learn to read).
    With all of my students I work on their picking and strumming techniques, developing a repertoire of chords and how to read, count and play rhythm patterns.

beginners guitar, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk, jazz

music, guitar