Songwriting with Roger F.

I started taking lessons with Roger almost an year ago. I was completely clueless when I signed up for classes. He convinced me that I can play a musical instrument. He has guided me a lot throughout. From picking up a guitar, to teaching me my first song. He is very passionate about music and that shows from his work as a musician and as a teacher. Roger tries to make sure that his students love music the same way he does. As a teacher he is very patient and flexible. He tailors each class to his student's needs. He is one of the greatest teacher I have worked with. I really look forward to my lesson every week.

Roger teaches our 8 year-old daughter introduction lessons for guitar. His casual approach and friendly demeanor are a perfect approach. Our daughter anticipates weekly interaction with Roger; she considers him a friend who plays guitar games and patiently listens to her stories while they play. Roger is both a skilled musician and measured teacher focused on the long-game of loving music rather than immediate gains. We are very please with his work.

Roger was my first guitar teacher, and one of the best teachers that I've had the pleasure to work with. As a professional guitarist, I have had the chance to look back on when I was studying with Roger and compare my opinion now to the opinion I had while I was studying with him. My opinion now is the same as it was back then: Roger is an exceptionally capable and talented educator. He is very easy to work with and is always flexible in each lesson. Flexibility is important; an ideal teacher will have lesson plans with specific skills that he/she feels the student needs to learn, but they will also allow the student's current interests to guide the lessons. Roger was always happy to address any questions or concerns I had, but also made sure to guide my attention to critical skills that helped me grow as a musician. One such skill is proper technique, which is necessary for improving the student's ability to play and for preventing injury. With his background as a classical guitarist, Roger was able to teach me perfect left and right hand technique, which is something I still consider to be one of my strongest assets as a guitarist. His skills and interests extend far beyond classical guitar into genres like rock and jazz. In our lessons we would work on just about anything. We covered topics and styles like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Wes Montgomery, improvisation, James Taylor's fingerstyle playing, music theory, and sight reading. Overall, I found Roger to be an ideal teacher for students at any skill level, from total beginners to those who are highly experienced.