Guitar with Daniel T.

I am a musician based out of Brooklyn NY, dedicated to the art of songwriting, playing live shows, recording, producing and teaching students around the city. I graduated in 2007 from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. Since my arrival to NYC I have been increasing my number of students and developing my teaching techniques which are also tailored and adapted to every student so my clients can obtain the best and outstanding results and at the same time have tons of good times while reaching our set goals. For me, teaching has been an incredible experience which I happened to stumble upon at the beginning of my music career. I never thought about teaching as a way of living but like most things in life, the best plans are the ones that occur without much planning, and this way of living has helped my growth as a professional musician and as a band leader. Through my students I am reminded all the time to rely on a simple tool, "patience" and that the best approach to writing music is the genuine and honest one which kids tend to do with such ease. Regardless of my success in the professional world I am anxious to keep teaching and expanding my number of students in the next decades of my life and propagate the incredible positive force that lives within music. My main philosophy and my goal as a teacher is that my students at some point of their lives become a lot better than me so they can pass along this knowledge to future generations. Thank you very much for reading! I look forward to meeting and teaching you and your kids, and convey as much of my music knowledge as I can, and remember, always having fun along the way! *** Lesson Details *** In most cases the students I start off with are total beginners which I find great, that way we can start without having any bad habits. However there are times in which the student has been playing the instrument for a year or two. On the very first lesson I ask the student to show me all they know about the instrument from strings, notes, parts of the instruments, to chords, scales and songs, based on that I can place them on a realistic level where we can start developing from. I separate the lessons into different segments so they dynamic remains fresh and entertaining as we learn. I mainly focus on: Scales (Major, Minor, Pentatonic as the basic ones): I start off by teaching the students the 5 different pentatonic positions so he/she can get well acquainted with the idea of patterns in the guitar or bass. As the students gets comfortable with those positions I begin to have them perform these scales on top of either prerecorded patterns I bring to the lesson or I play them my self with my instrument so the student can hear how pleasant these scales sound on top of the basic chords and as they get more comfortable I ask them to come up with their own ideas by mixing those notes within the scale and before they realize they are already taking their first steps into the world of improvisation. Once I start seeing a significant progress I apply the same approach for the major and the minor scales. Chords (majors and minors) Usually the second part of the lessons is where I get my students to get ready to learn songs which is probably the main reason why they were inspired to pick up the instrument in the first place. I tend to ask them what style they usually enjoy and based on that I pick out several songs that they will get a kick out of and teach them the basic chords for those songs one at a time so when it is the time to learn a specific song they have those grounds very well covered. Songs and theory Here is where I take the opportunity to approach theory which is very important for me to teach the students and it is my responsibility that the student understands what's going behind the songs. I am inclined to cover this area in this section of the class primarily so that they learn music theory from a fun point of view and not make music theory a drag for anybody. This is the basic plan for the first 3-5 months or so after we get passed this point it only gets more fun. Once the students gets really comfortable with songs, chords, scales and basic music theory concepts I push and strongly recommend them to get picky about the sound they obtained from their amplifier and their instrument and here is where music appreciation takes place. Music appreciation ranges from music history to listening to different styles of music and this is what makes a person take this form of art to a higher level. Also, being music production one of the several things I focus on, I invite my students to write tunes based on the songs and chords they have learned in the past and implement scales to embellish them. Once I see they have something strong on their hands and as long as they feel comfortable with the idea of recording, I offer a 2 hour production lesson at my home studio where the student will have the opportunity to record the basic tracks of his/her own song. As they do this several times their musicianship level would have increased to a very significant point. From then on the possibilities are endless and the road of learning the basic tools for becoming a solid musician would have been very well paved. Remember, always with the idea of having a good and pleasant time. *** Travel Equipment *** I can provide an acoustic guitar. I do expect that the student owns the instrument he/she is learning for the sake of seeing constant progress. *** Specialties *** I apply different methods according to the students level. I tend to use Berklee College methods but explained to students in a way that meets their age and their vocabulary.