Guitar with Michelle W.

"Ever since I could remember, I have always been in love with the guitar. I just always felt like it was an extension of who I am!" recalls Washington DC guitar and multi-string instrumentalist, Michelle. Michelle is a restless collaborator who is engaged in exploring and extending the boundaries of her instruments. Michelle's guitar playing is often described as incredibly creative and innovative. A FORCE OF NATURE. Her playing is visceral, with a expressionistic approach to creating timbre and velocities. Constantly discovering new sonorities on her guitar, she has created a uniquely personal language which speaks to audiences. "Michelle is the most engaging improvisor I have ever seen. No one is breaking boundaries and taking command of the guitaristic language like Michelle is, NOBODY. She is a percussionist on guitar, indeed she is the GUITAR'S RENAISSANCE" to quote Lydia Cummings Smith (independent improvised music critic) in 2002. Influenced at first by guitarist like Allan Holdsworth, Don Mock & B.B. King, Michelle found great inspiration in the highly charged expression of their music but has created a style all her own, an extended language. Michelle was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Here she spent the early years of her life immersed in a community of musicians, break dancers, artists and poets. She started playing the guitar at the age of 5. It was rock music that got Michelle hooked on guitar "Rock & Pop guitarist were the biggest examples of guitar playing in my life at the time, they were the most visible and so I guess I just gravitated towards that. It wasn't until later that I started to wake up to all the other great guitar players out there playing other music that I actually liked more, like jazz and reggae. When I realized, really realized these players and their music it was like the whole world opened up for me. " In 1988 Michelle attended the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington DC and studied jazz with DC guitar legend Tom Newman and Saxophone great Davey Yarbrough and in 1992 Michelle received what was at the time the second largest scholarship given to a conservatory student to attend Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin OH. Here she studied with guitarist Bob Ferreza and jazz educators Jimmy Owens and the late Wendell Logan. Michelle moved to Brooklyn New York in 1995 where she expanded her musical career to include becoming a professional composer & sound designer as well as a DJ. After many concerts over the years, Michelle decided to assemble various groups of her own. These groups were instrumental in making Michelle more well-known. Her vast, poliedric repertoire is particularly oriented towards Global Bass. *** Lesson Details *** Instruments taught: Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Lap Steel, Mandolin, Oud Styles of guitar taught: Rock, Metal, Jazz, Classical, Funk, Soul, World Music. Lessons with Michelle are laid back, however the instructor asks that you DO practice to become the best guitar player you can possibly be and to get as much out of taking guitar lessons as you possibly can. Michelle's curriculum consist of using the Hal Leonard Guitar and/or Bass series Vol. 1-3 to learn all the basics of guitar playing from tuning your guitar, to chords, scales, song exercises, and fundamentals of reading music. After the student is done working through the basics,the curriculum changes to directly concentrating on elements of a specific style of music that the student wants to go into musically. At this point, the teacher and student work through specific elements that take the student from intermediate to advanced levels of playing guitar ( or bass, or mandolin ) The instructor asked that you please show up for your lessons on time and please practice. See you soon ! *** Studio Equipment *** Guitar Amp, music stands, guitar friendly comfortable chairs *** Specialties *** ALL STYLES: American Folk Music / Jazz/ Rock / Electronic / Reggae / Soul / World Music