Guitar with Blake M.

I love giving music lessons because I have a HUGE passion for music, and I love sharing that passion with students and giving them the lifelong ability to make music. To me, nothing is more satisfying. I've been playing guitar and bass for over 10 years now, and before I moved to Atlanta in May 2013, I gave private lessons on both for about 5 years back home in Indiana. I also play keys, dobro, mandolin, banjo, drums, and spend quite a bit of time singing and songwriting in my country band Scarlett Hill. I have been professionally playing shows and recording music for 4 years, and recently had a song I co-wrote get second place in a Nashville songwriting contest. While my favorite kind of music is folk/country stuff, I also enjoy rock, blues, pop, and metal. Some of My Favorite Artists: The Avett Brothers Guster Miranda Lambert Mumford and Sons Brad Paisley Josh Turner The Band Perry John Mayer Zac Brown Band *** Lesson Details *** The key to learning guitar is engagement and fun - and believe me - playing scales out of a book is not my definition of fun. While I do some teaching out of a book, I believe that students should get to learn what they want to learn, and I will do my best to find songs and music of interest for each individual student that reinforce the goals of each lesson (want to learn every Nirvana song? Great, there's actually quite a bit to learn from them!). However, having a great guitar book has certain benefits, and after several years of teaching, I have settled on using the Hal Leonard series of guitar teaching books. During the first lesson I will work with each student to pick out the best book in the series to meet their current goals, and they will then need to purchase their own copy ($5-10). Each book comes with a music accompaniment Jam Tracks CD to assist students during practice outside of lessons, the main reason I like the books so much. I like to spend about 50% of the time teaching out of the book, and 50% of the time using supplemental music which I will provide physical copies of. I give very laid back lessons that move at the speed the student wants to go at (although I'm not afraid to push a student if I think they can accomplish even more!). *** Studio Equipment *** I am not currently able to have students in my studio. *** Travel Equipment *** I will provide my own guitar, amp, music stand, backing track playback system, and book for each lesson. Students will be required to own their own guitar, amp, music stand, and book. I will provide copies of any necessary supplements. *** Specialties *** We can learn any style of modern music you'd like, starting with the basics of just playing the notes and chords all the way to improvising crazy solos.