Guitar with Scott B.

Learn to play by ONLY playing songs you love! I started playing classical piano at age 6. Piano lessons were a bit dry so, once I could, I started playing my favorite songs on my own, out of songbooks and by ear. 45 years later, piano has probably saved me a ton on therapy :) And, it's helped me make a living for decades. I took lessons from the top teachers in New England, then, at the age of 12, started playing and singing in bands. By 15 I was writing songs and gigging all over New England and New York from dive bars to larger clubs (as keyboardist, guitarist, and lead singer). My bands won all sorts of regional contests and I won national songwriting contests. Also while in high school, I was accepted by audition into private classical piano studies at a conservatory, the HARTT School of Music - Univ of Hartford. I went to college in Boston (liberal arts at Boston College) and continued playing in bands there. After college, I joined a Peace Corps type program, was sent to Kingston, Jamaica, to teach English, and then found myself musical directing professional theater in Jamaica - then playing keyboards and guitar for Ziggy Marley, Third World, Damion Marley, Julian Marley, Shagge, Shabba - and most of the other Jamaican reggae acts in the 90s. I moved to LA in 1996 as a singer/songwriter and immediately was playing all the Sunset Strip clubs with top bands here. I musical directed professional theater in LA, and also off-Broadway in NY. I have played sessions with folks ranging from Albert Lee to Japanese pop stars, with producers who have produced everyone from Nirvana to Neil Young to Fleetwood Mac to The Grateful Dead. :) I started composing for clients like Spike Lee, MTV, Saban Ent, pro theater, etc. I also love film and have worked off and on in film production - casting, editing, screenwriting, etc - working directly with folks like Sean Penn, Roland Emmerich, Jim Carrey, etc. I have decades of accompanying myself behind me so I have worked with MANY singers who want to accompany themselves on piano. There are tricks and techniques and smart things to practice that help. Along with teaching piano (and guitar and singing and songwriting), I am now a published author, and write screenplays. I've directed festival indie films and am currently making a documentary. So, I like wearing different hats and I like variety - but I always keep piano students - because I love teaching and sharing my love of music!