Q: My son is 4, is that too young?
A: Based on my experience 6 or 7 is the age where kids have enough physical strength, attention span, communication skills, and learning capacity to succeed although some students may be more suited to learning at an earlier age.
Q: I’m 42 and want to play Nirvana, can you help me? Am I too old?
A: No one is too old and it’s never too late to learn. In fact, one of my best students came to me at 45 as a complete beginner and within a year was playing Bach Inventions and Stevie Ray Vaughn solos.
Q: What sets you apart from others?
A: I’ve taught a lot of people of all ages and had many people come to me after working with other teachers. I don’t judge myself on the amount of info I give someone but only on their progress and the results they make as guitar players. The progress and results determines the info given. Everyone is different . I have never had a student at any age that stuck with it for over a month that cannot at least play some songs.
Q: I want to learn my favorite songs, can you help?
A: Yes, learning songs is as important as any other area in guitar and it is why we learn to play. More importantly, I will help you develop the ear and technique required to “figure out songs by ear.” It is a skill that is teachable but many instructors do not teach it.
Q: What method do you use to teach the guitar neck? I read online that the CAGED method is the best, do you teach the CAGED method?
A: I use a combination of methods including the CAGED method, the USC Zone Method, Triads, Modes, etc. The best advice I could give is to not affix yourself to one method and because a method will not teach you the neck, YOU will teach yourself the neck using the methods at your disposal that I will show you.
Q: What is your main goal with any student.
A: My main goal with any student is to teach them how to sound as good as they possibly can with the talent they have been given and I customize that approach for everyone I work with.
Q: Should my child start on electric or acoustic and what kind of guitar should we get?
A: Let me preface this by saying that most beginner guitars are kind of awful. The main barrier is often the discomfort when first playing so an electric may be a better choice simply because they are easier to play. Also, anything that will make a kid want to play is a good thing and electric is “cooler.”
Q: You say that you teach songwriting, isn’t that just a talent that you are born with and either have or don’t have?
A: I do teach songwriting and before I became a songwriter myself many years ago I too was under the misconception that songwriting is a skill that comes directly from the gods. I was tired of just playing guitar on other people’s songs and wanted to write my own but it seemed so overwhelming. I had an epiphany one day where I realized that all of my favorite songwriters got their start somewhere and that it probably started with analyzing and studying the songs of their favorite artists and that’s where it starts.
Q: Are you going to make me learn how to read music?
A: If the student is a child then learning how to read is part of the program. It is a valuable skill that will pay dividends later. For an adult, I leave that up to the student.
Q: Have you done anything other than teach and play guitar?
A: I was a Visual Effects artist for the past 20 years. You can see my work on TV, Films, Commercials and Video Game Cinematics. I have also worked in advertising, marketing and education.