Private Electric Guitar tutoring lessons Marionville, MO.

"Very patient, lots of fun too! I really enjoyed working with him and I’ve seen a lot of improvement in my guitar playing both on electric and acoustic. I started with basically no experience and I feel a lot more confident with my playing. He’s very, very talented and overall a really good instructor."

"Jason is an amazing teacher! Lessons were fun and informative and Jason somehow ALWAYS had patience for my oh so slow fingers and brain!!"

"I have been taking guitar lessons with Nick Russo since February 2018. In my opinion, Nick Russo is a terrific musician and an outstanding teacher. He is an active gigging musician with an encyclopedic knowledge of music theory and music history and is well-versed in various types of music including,but not limited to classical, jazz, metal, folk, world music, etc., etc. Nick comes from a musical family and is very passionate about music, and this comes accross loud and clear in his lessons.He lives and breathes music.

I came to Nick after taking lessons for several years with another teacher. I liked this teacher very much, and the lessons only ended because the teacher moved to another geographic location. Although I did like this teacher, the lessons were starting to get stale and repetitious. When I started working with Nick that feeling was turned around. Lessons with Nick are very stimulating and interesting. Although Nick knows sight reading and theory well, he places a great emphasis on aural (ear) training. I have worked with him learning intervals, scales and songs, using my ears instead of my head. It’s a little hard to explain, but it’s a very organic kind of way to learn music. You learn the instrument more intuitively and I have had a number of’ “aha” moments when some pattern or connection or aspect of theory makes sense in a deep way. In the time that I’ve worked with Nick, my knowledge of the fretboard, and my ability to figure things out by ear has improved tremendously although I still have a long way to go.

Nick is also an incredibly kind and compassionate person, and he has shown a great deal of patience when working with me. If I don’t understand something he will try to break it down or present it in such a way that it finally makes sense to me. He has also worked a lot with me on my technique, and has tried to help me play more efficiently and ergonomically. Earlier in my guitar playing career, I developed

tendonitis in my left hand from playing. In addition, I have chronic lower back problems. Nick has made numerous helpful suggestions so that I don’t exacerbate these problems or injure myself again. One suggestion that was particularly helpful was to use a bass guitar strap for my electric guitar. Because the bass strap is much wider than a regular guitar strap, the weight is more evenly distributed across my back, resulting in less back strain.

I began my lessons with Nick face-to-face, but this changed to video due to the coronavirus pandemic. We utilize Skype and it seems to work pretty well, although there’s no substitute for meeting in person. Nick seems very adept at working in this modality. For example, he will have me position the camera so he can see how I am playing something. He will also provide close-ups of his own fingering to show me how he is playing something. In addition, Nick sends his students notes regarding the most salient points of each session. This is something he did even prior to the pandemic. Nick allows me to audio tape the sessions, and when I am able to go through the tape I gain an even deeper understanding of whatever was covered.

In short I feel that Nick is great person and a terrific teacher and that I was very lucky to have found him. I would recommend him to anyone with no reservation."

"Matt was my guitar teacher from 5th grade to 10th grade, teaching me electric guitar for over five years. Now as a Junior in college, I am still thankful for the lessons Matt taught me to have a great foundation in playing guitar. Matt is one of the most knowledgeable people a student could learn from. He pays special detail to the habits that many guitar players fall into when beginning, and made sure these habits were eliminated quickly. I had both parents, grandparents, and friends sit in on our lessons and all were impressed with the careful and thorough approach of Matt’s teaching. Thank you Matt!"

"Have loved taking lessons with Andrzej, he's a very personal teacher, will get to know you and what your goals are and will help you focus on those things specifically, teaches you what you want to learn right out of the gate and gives you a lot of exercises to practice throughout the week as well. And his music tastes are great! :)"

"I've been taking lessons from Matt for more than 8 years now since I was young and he's super friendly and encouraging! Highly recommend as he has experience with many different areas of guitar and that offers freedom to learn whatever you want."