Guitar with Jon R.

Hello and welcome! I'm Jon, a 23 year old who just moved to Los Angeles from Boston. I recently graduated from Berklee College of Music '13, as a Professional Musician with guitar as my principle instrument. I have been playing for 10+years and have studied with over 25 different teachers (including Greg Howe, Joe Stump, etc.), so I know what does and doesn't work with students. From Progressive Rock, to Blues, to Jazz, Classical and odd meter Fusion, I have a versatile pallet of styles and genre's to teach and introduce you to. Within only a few lessons, I promise to have you on the way to being the player you only dream of. Between tapping, (hybrid, economy, sweep, and alternative) picking, obscure chord variations/ inversions, and more, there is something for every player to learn! I look forward to getting the opportunity to change the way you see, hear and play music. *My Playing: I started playing guitar when I was in 7th grade, after studying piano, violin, trumpet and bass in the previous years of my childhood. Since I was in middle school when I started, the music I was typically learning was Blink-182, Sum 41, Incubus, Etc. A year after I had already been self taught, I hesitantly began to take lessons, and man, was I was absolutely blown away. At that time in my life, I hadn't really been exposed to 80's metal, and I couldn't have been more fascinated. Coming from an alternative rock background, sweep picking and finger tapping were concepts I had never wrapped my head around. All kinds of metal I was in love with, whether it was Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Savatage, or Pantera...I couldn't get enough! After about 4 years, I started to delve deeper into the virtuosic guitar player realm. This was also around the time when i started to look at schools, and my dream was always to go to Berklee College of Music. That whole summer I just practiced 5 hours a day so I would be ready for my audition in the fall. During that time I was emerged in Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malsteen, and Buckethead, so I decided to do "For the Love of God" by Steve Vai for my audition piece. Fast forward a few months, I get accepted into Berklee on a scholarship, and move to Boston. While I studied there, I learned more about music as a whole then I could ever begin to explain. Studying styles ranging from Brazilian jazz and progressive rock, to Middles Eastern Fusion and Polyrhythmic/ micro-tonal music, my playing changed drastically. By the end of school my favorite players had become (and remain to this day): Guthrie Govan, Tosin Abasi, Greg Howe, Shawn Lane, Buckethead, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Al Di Meola, Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, and Dimebag Darell...Since I have graduated Berklee, I have been writing music for my progressive instrumental trio ALHAZEN. I recently just moved out to LA from Boston, and I'm just trying to pick up where I left off. **Student: All I really ask of a student is to be HONEST. Not just to me, but even more-so to yourself. Too many times have I seen students preach about wanting to better themselves, and not doing anything to change their past faulty habits.In the long run, it really has no drastic effect on me if you practice or not, BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT! Don't get me wrong, I want you to get the end result that you strive for, but everyone knows that you get out, what you put in to it. I have the tools and techniques to take you to a level you can't even comprehend, but you have to work hard and be dedicated. I'm one of the most easy going and laid back people on the planet, but when it comes to music, I'm all about discipline. All that matters is DON'T EXPECT TO GET GOOD JUST BY ATTENDING AND TELLING ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR...IT WON'T HAPPEN. :) ***Equipment: I have 2 amps (portable and available for traveling lessons $5 extra), plenty of cables, pedals and guitars. Other than the binder that we use for lessons, all you would need to bring is your guitar, if even that.