Sam L  
Instruments: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Ukulele, Music, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Flamenco, Salsa, Showtunes, Spirituals, Reggae, Merengue, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band, Punk, Mariachi, Avant-garde

About three summers ago, I played a show in my hometown of Montclair. Afterwards, I struck up a conversation with a woman who had just seen me play. She asked if I could give her son guitar lessons and, even though I had never taught before, I agreed. I've been teaching ever since; there's nothing more rewarding than helping someone else get better at their instrument. I gave guitar lessons throughout high school and am continuing to do so in college. When I teach I really try to give students both what will help them and what will motivate them. In other words, there's sometimes a difference between learning something fun and something useful--it's learning a song versus learning the scale the song uses--and both factors are incredibly important to me in terms of what my students walk away with.

I like to lay a foundation for what musical notes are and how they relate to the instrument. If we're on guitar I will draw a piano keyboard and give the student the guitar string names and make them figure out the rest of the notes. Then I teach them what chords are and, now that they know their way around a fretboard, they can build the chords themselves. While most students aren't total beginners and won't need all of this groundwork to be laid by me, I've found that almost everyone has gaps in knowledge, more often than not when it comes to actual note names and the music theory behind the instrument. Whatever gaps there are I will work to fill.