Songwriting Lessons in Vacaville. Amazing Teachers.

This is the platinum package. If you're a young songwriter looking for a veteran to help hone the craft or a songwriter yourself looking for someone to assist with composition, I'm excited to be of service. My home studio is equipped with all the equipment in my profile, ie. everything. Drop in to jam, drop in to write, drop into record.

I understand it's easy to lose drive when you're constantly drilling scales and fingering. I try to frame all of my lessons in reference to what music really is: the creation of songs. Through composition, my students won't just learn scale and chord structure, but they'll organically develop these skills while writing their own songs and building their personal portfolio.

Song writing for me is a process.
To be able to go through the process, one has to have certain musical skills. If a song writer lacks those skills, I try to impart them with the missing elements. From there we learn to build a song from the ground up.

After four semesters of music theory in college, composing was a big part of it. I enjoy showing people how to express their creativity through theory and improvisation. As a multi-instrumentalist, I have a keen insight as to how instruments relate to each other in a musical and rhythmical sense. I learned each instrument on its own merit, in other words I don't approach the bass as a guitarist that plays bass, I learned to play the blues and jazz scales and drop in the groove with the drummer, and compliment the guitar and other instruments, and hold the beat down. I have taken so many songs apart in the last 35 years and written others that I know the ins and outs of great songwriting.

I have been writing songs for 40 years. I compose choral music and several of my compositions have been performed by the choir of First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio. One of my compositions was entered into the Vincent Silliman competition.

Being a senior songwriting major at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, I have been taught by some of the top names on Music Row. I have been a songwriter for over 10 years, and have experience co-writing and writing for other artists. I want to help you develop your craft and unique writing style. I specialize in pop, folk, Americana, and country music. I will create lesson plans that fit where you currently are on your songwriting journey. I will also develop songwriting plans curated to your individual goals.

Hi there and thanks for visiting! I have been playing guitar, singing, writing and producing music for the greater part of my life. My endeavor is to guide you to an understanding of one or many of these facets and give you the tools you need to become your own teacher as you continue down this path.

Below is a brief synopsis about the lessons I teach:

Guitar/Songwriting:
There will be very little music theory. I never needed much of it to write my own music, other than a few basic theories to get around successfully, so it’s not something we’ll spend a whole lot of time on. I have organized and constructed a course book to keep things lively and moving along efficiently. I call it NOTEbOOK. It’s also great refresher material to revisit in the future.

I teach basic guitar with accented professional appeal and rhythmic structure. My intention is to guide you to create your own original music using straightforward techniques. My goal, once we part ways, is for you to leave ...