Kyle has given me contra bass, aka upright bass,weekly lessons from August 2015 through May 2016. I have never played a string instrument prior to this, although I do play piano and have played the flute, bagpipes, and piccolo over the years. I did not need education in reading music.

Kyle was able to take me from sounding like a lower octave version of Jack Benny (a mid-20th century comedian famous for his howlingly horrid violin playing) to a level where I know how to hold the instrument and the bow, the fingerings, bowing technique, and how to get a very respectable sound from the instrument.

He also installed the strings when I received the new instrument, found a manufacturing flaw in the bridge height that the manufacturer subsequently paid to repair, and diagnosed a resonance issue with the instrument that was corrected with a balance weight on the string below the bridge.