Private Acoustic Guitar tutoring lessons Montville, NJ.

My goal as a teacher is to give you the facility to express yourself through music. The key parts to developing this facility are:

1. theory -- notice i say theory, not rules. learning music theory is not about learning rigid rules that will stifle your creativity. when you learn theory, you learn to identify patterns and give them names so you can remember and reuse them. the more you know your theory, the more ways you know to express your ideas
2. technique -- the last thing you want is for your technique to hinder your ability to express your idea. Having good technique lets your ideas flow naturally. and really, why would you not want to be the best you can be?

When you take lessons with me, you get out of it what you put in. Your job as student is to be honest with what you expect to achieve and my job as teacher is to give you the tools to achieve it

If you are seeking to develop the skills necessary to become a competent guitarist that can find comfortability playing in any genre, you have come to the right place! I am a touring rock and metal musician and have been playing guitar and drums professionally for 14+ years, with 4 LPs under my belt along with numerous singles, splits and EPs. In my lessons, we will explore various techniques and topics ranging from basic music theory topics like the circle of fifths to advanced techniques such as sweep picking and tapping. I emphasize not only understanding the skills one needs to play their favorite riffs but developing an ear for relative pitch, songwriting and the tone one desires to achieve what they are hearing in their head. My genre specializations are in rock and heavy metal. All skill levels are welcome!

I have taught guitar since 2012 and have been playing since 2000. I am happy to take students at the beginner and intermediate levels. I believe strongly in integrating music theory and ultimately moving students toward musical self-suffiency, rather than focusing exclusively on learning particular pieces.

I'm a specialist in Brazilian Guitar and have played and used American Folk Styles to teach finger picking for many years. This includes Travis Picking, Blues and arrangement of all sorts of melodies for guitar. One of the first world musics I played was Irish music and I have a nice repertoire of these melodies to help the student learn how to play a linear melody. Reading is not necessary but I'm expert at getting people to read by using simple familiar music. I have been playing Jazz acoustically fingerstyle for a while and have been a good understanding of Swing guitar styles too. Repertoire and recordings are essential in the process. This I also provide to the student

Whether you're a beginner, an intermediate or advanced, my acoustic guitar lessons cater to all!

All ages are welcome! We will definitely learn songs, but in order to truly become an amazing musician you must also focus on building strong technique. Taking lessons with me will ensure that you’ll be able to learn songs and parts by ear. No more tabs! Here’s what we’ll focus on:
- building technique
- transcribing songs and solos
- learning theory
- ear training
- learning to read

Feel free to message me at any time if you have any questions!

My most recently picked up instrument