I take pride in my diverse skill set as both a musician and an educator. I have been playing guitar since 2004 and teaching private guitar lessons on Long Island since 2009.
Every new student of mine starts out needing to learn the basics, but I am always excited to eventually tailor my curriculum in whatever specific direction my student desires. For example, after some time, one student of mine may want to focus on music theory and songwriting, while another may want to focus solely on playing blues guitar. I put a lot of care into specializing and individualizing my lessons based on student needs.
I specialize in the following techniques and concepts:
Genre: I enjoy listening to, playing, and teaching the following genres of music:
Acoustic, Blues, Classical, Classic Rock, Folk, Fusion, Heavy Metal, Jazz, Pop, Punk, Virtuoso
Music Theory: Learning about music theory is the key (pun intended!) to becoming a successful musician. From day one, I will always look to sprinkle in varied bits and pieces about music theory. The overall concept of music theory can seem challenging and frustrating to beginners, but I have many methods to simplify concepts that can be otherwise very complicated. Teaching and understanding music theory is one of my strongest qualities as a musician and educator.Adult Education: As of writing this, more than half of my student base is between the ages of 30 and 75. I love working with adults, whether they are simply looking to pick up a new hobby, or are looking to build on their existing skill set.Song Composition: Do you dream of one day writing and performing your own music? Most of my students, whether they initially expected it or not, have developed into songwriters. At first, I’ll help unfamiliar musicians ease into songwriting by gently coaching some ideas, concepts, and structure. We’ll start by writing a song together. After some time, students of mine can enjoy the autonomy to create their own music from scratch.Solos & Improvisation: Playing lead guitar is my personal specialty. I can get lost in a web of bending, sliding, finger tapping, and sweep picking for hours. The topic of “complicated guitar solos” is a subject that I feel comfortable discussing for months on end. Whether you’re looking to write your own melodies, play a famous solo, or improvise your own creations in real time, I am the teacher to go to.Acoustic Performance: Electric guitars may have all the “bells and whistles” a guitarist could ever dream of, but nothing beats sitting down with an unplugged acoustic guitar and hearing it sing in all its wooden glory. In my lessons, I will show students of mine how to move past the “basic” acoustic guitar fundamentals. We will look at how to add delightful nuances to the typical acoustic suite, including concepts such as embellishments, chord inversions, chord substitutions, and varied strumming and picking techniques.
