Guitar with Matthew L.

Hello students and parents! I look forward to talking to you about how to further your or your child's abilities as a musician. I am a recently graduated Spartan out of the College of Music. I graduated with a Degree of Jazz Studies and currently play throughout the Detroit area, the greater Lansing area, and all of Michigan. I have been playing guitar for a little over 15 years now and have I am well studied with music theory and different pedagogical approaches to teaching all ages and skill levels. I started off playing classical guitar when I was five and studied under Professor Lee Diamond at Wayne State University when I was ten years old. I started listening to the Beatles and Led Zepplin when I was about twelve and have played rock shows at "The Modern Exchange" and have headlined "The Blind Pig" in Ann Arbor with my high school band "The Johnny Timbres". I started playing Jazz guitar at about the same time I started attending Michigan State University four years ago and have had the opportunity to play with amazing musicians such as Rodney Whitaker, Derrick Gardner, Wes Anderson, and Randy Gillespie. I am mostly a freelance musician at the moment but I have played with different groups like "Organissimo" and headlined the Lansing Old Town Jazz Festival with "The Peter Nelson Quintet", The "Sam Copperman Trio", and with Ben Godoshian. I have also worked with Planet D Nonet, RJ Spangler Trio with Duncan McMillan, and with Bill Heid. I love all types of music and that's why I am influenced by everything! Some guitar players that I like to listen to are Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, and Mike Einziger. I also love hip-hop and try to freestyle rap whenever I can with friends :-P. I should also mention that I listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Rage Against the Machine, Mos Def, Black Star, Streetlight Manifesto, Incubus, Bob Marley, The Meters, and just about anything that I have had the chance to listen to. I love music and I love sharing what I know with others. Thanks for checking out my profile and I hope to help you grow as a musician anyway I can! Best Wishes, Matt L. *** Lesson Details *** All of my students will have lessons that are personalized towards their goals and skill level. If students want to come in and learn the basics to play their favorite songs then I will focus our time in lessons towards chord shapes and learning songs. IF students want to learn more about music theory and improvising then I would probably focus our time more on scales and theoretical concepts on music through books. I will always push a student to do his or her best, but I am rather laid back and think it is most important that a student is having as much fun as possible working on their craft. I will print out lesson sheets before each lesson and as we progress through out time together I will assign material for you to work on. I'm not strict on having a students learn something by a deadline, I just want to make sure the resources are there for students to progress. I will also provide books and materials that I have that I think will help a student reach his or her own goals. *** Studio Equipment *** GUITARS Peerless Imperial - HollowBody Gibson ES335 - Semi-hollow '94 Fender Stratocaster - American Various Classical Nylon String Guitars AMPS Fender Vibrolux - 1965 Henrickson Jazz Amp 110W *** Travel Equipment *** I will provide my own instrument and what I need to play it. I will also bring a surplus of books that students and look through. I expect students to have an instrument and an interest to learn and progress. *** Specialties *** I have been playing guitar for 17 years and have been gigging professionally for 10 years. I have been playing in studios for the past 5 years and have been composing and arranging music for about 3 years.