James is a professional guitarist with over 10 years of experience performing and teaching. He plays and teaches many genres of music including Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz, Country, Funk, R&B, Classical and Modern Fingerstyle. Like any artist, he aims to work with many other musicians and teachers learning all he can from them. This approach to learning has allowed him the opportunity to work with and be mentored by teachers such as Don Steel, and Matthew Baynes a former student of Paul Gilbert and Frank Gambale. James is heavily influenced by players such as Steve Vai, Rick Graham, Paul Gilbert, Zakk Wylde, Guthrie Govan, Mark Lettieri, Nick Johnston, Andy Timmons, Eric Johnson, Derek Trucks, Antoine Dufour, Don Ross, Andy Mckee, Paul Jackson jr., and Norman Brown. As a “gigging musician”, James earns a living playing gigs at different venues around the state of Florida. He has performed with many different bands playing covers from era’s ranging from the 60’s through today, as well as original works. This experience has provided many opportunities for him to work with many incredible musicians at venues such as Universal City Walk, Disney Springs, EA Sports, and Warped Tour. He began playing when he was fifteen years old. During his high school years, he implemented a combination of both teacher-directed learning and self-guided study. Having experience in both learning styles allowed him to develop a solid and well-rounded teaching method and philosophy, believing that having a teacher is necessary for progression, and self-guided study provides the discipline to learn, coach, and become proficient. He started teaching shortly after he began learning the guitar, laying the groundwork for a beginner centered learning method, because it was fresh in his mind at the time. This began a foundation for a thorough method to add layers of complexity up to the more advanced student. His patient demeanor and kind character create a safe place for the student to feel comfortable learning at their own pace, while James uses positive reinforcement to encourage the student to keep progressing. It is his goal to have his students playing music as soon as possible while along the way learning music theory concepts and how they apply to the songs his students want to learn. *Not accepting bi-weekly students at this time.