Guitar Lessons in Cedar Brook, NJ

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginner students, I usually start off with Hal Leonard's Essential Elements. Once they start to progress. I will move them on to some songs / tab books by their favorite artist. For Intermediate students, I will move them to Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Hal Leonard, as well as Arpeggios for the Modern Guitarist, and a signature Lick book. Once they started to become Advance. I will start them on something by Ear Training using online methods as well as, A Modern Method for Guitar by Berklee Press for Sight Reading. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums

For very young guitar students I use Dick Bennett's books 1,2, 3 to start and then as the students progress we will continue to Mel Bay books 1, and 2 then proceed to chord books and charts, some knowledge that i will personally pass on such as finger exercise's and scales, use of the I pad and some guitar apps as well. I will also share my library of songs with them and show them how to play songs they enjoy as requested. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Lute Music Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My teaching experience is quite extensive and highly varied so I will state the most important aspects in a mixture of short paragraphs and lists (for the sake of clarity). I have been teaching seriously and professionally since the age of 13. At that time, I was hired by several local private NJ Music Academy Schools (based on my reputation as a performer, and via word of mouth among the local guitar and musical communities). Read More

Instruments: Guitar

As a beginner, nothing is more satisfying than being able to play recognizable tunes as soon as possible. I typically lay out apatterned tier of simple and well knownmusical phrasesfor a student to gain initial confidence with while introducing basic performance principles. Once the the fundamentals of playingare beginning to click, we will start to customize our approach based on the student's particular goals. Not to worry, many students have a loose idea of what they are striving for at first and their curriculum develops naturally as they master certain skills and knowledge. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Saxophone Bass Guitar Double Bass

I have been studying and playing music since I was 7. I began on saxophone in my school's concert band and jazz band proceded by my own musical endeavors on electric bass playing rock and jazz music. I spent high school gigging Philadelphia with The Paisley Haze Quintet. In my undergrad studies at University of Vermont, I picked up the upright bass, studying both jazz and classical styles. I became heavily active in the Burlington, VT music scene performing with such groups as: The Object Three, Nuevos Comediantes, Divine Lorraine, Anna Pardenik and the Holy Smoke-Off, Brass Balagan, Duke Aeroplane and the Wrong Numbers, and Grup Anwar. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Lute Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Then as we work towards learning songs we start to see an idea pop up in what we're working on. A light bulb goes off in the student's head and they say, "oh! that's this idea that we talked about last month!" Then that idea begins to grow, and it's not just from understanding the idea, but it's from seeing it in action - which seems to produce a stronger sense understanding and more retention. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Mandolin Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

There is one golden rule for all learning: do it and you'll get better at it. So the bottom line is you will improve according to how much you practice, and I cannot practice for you! I can however, convince you to LOVE playing your instrument (as I love playing mine!) This is one facet of my broader goal to instill a passion for music in general. I teach so that my enthusiasm, bolstered by critical listening skills, becomes contagious. Read More