About Me and How I Teach:

I've been teaching professionally for 18 years, and I focus on making lessons easy, understandable, productive and fun. My students have included numerous professional guitarists and instructors, as well as hobbyists of all ages. I've taught in a variety of formal and informal settings, and I know how to get the results you want ... and just as important, I'll make sure you have a good time doing it. If you've ever taken lessons before, you know how important it is to enjoy your lessons if you want to get better and see long term improvement.

I've taught and created curriculum for IU, and my book "Guitar Study" was published and adopted as the required text for all guitar courses at Indiana University. My video "Guitar Techniques" has helped numerous students learn a unique approach to playing guitar. I'm an experienced professional performer with a broad background (I've been playing guitar for 26 years), and I teach the things that really do make you become a better player. I cover the important skills in the simplest, most direct, and most enjoyable way possible - with real music and concrete examples that are fun to practice at every level.

I teach in a way that's organized around your musical interests, so that you learn to play using the music you like. I don't teach from traditional, uninteresting method books. Instead, I teach every technique and concept using a personalized approach based on the music you want to learn. By learning to play using music you choose, you'll learn more in each lesson and you'll have a much better time doing it.

The first thing I'll ask you to do is to come up with a wish list of songs and pieces you'd like to be able to play. From that point on, we'll work through the list progressively, covering the important techniques and skills that make up each of those tunes. If your pieces are too difficult to play right away, I'll give you other music in the same style to introduce techniques that make up the music you like. Along the way, we'll fill out an understanding and ability to play each of those techniques using more of the same kind of music. I'll keep it that simple. The learning process stays enjoyable from the beginning, and for the long run - and the end effect is that you end up really being able to play the music you like.

From the beginning, you'll learn intuitively about the building blocks that make up the music you want to play. You'll get to know the familiar shapes, patterns, techniques, and skills that are used over and over again in the styles of music you like. Then, in more advanced lessons, you'll learn practical theory and functional concepts that help tie together everything you've seen, so that you really understand how harmony works, why certain patterns sound good together, and how to approach every type of music with a simple and straightforward, clear, unified approach. I don't teach theory for the sake of burning up lesson time - that's so common in traditional lessons, and with teachers who are less experienced. Instead, I teach only the usable concepts that make you a better player in the styles you like.

Throughout nearly two decades of professional instruction, I've developed this unique and fun approach to categorizing, organizing, and deeply ingraining the fundamental skills and techniques used in the music you select and like to play. You'll enjoy practicing and you'll have fun while you get to be a better player.

I work regularly with children as young as 4, with professional adult performers, and with students of every age and skill level in between. Individual lessons are tailored appropriately so that they're comfortable, enjoyable, and effective for your particular interests, abilities, and goals. If you're an absolute beginner, I'll get you playing real music the very first week. If you're an experienced performer, I'll help you break out of the technical, theoretical, and creative plateaus that have kept your playing stagnant and uninteresting. You won't find better, more satisfying, or more efficient instruction in any studio, school, book or video.

Call or email now to get started with an introductory 1/2 hour session, while appointment times are available. Lessons are held at my home studio in Newtown, PA. I also offer live, interactive lessons on the Internet, using real time video conferencing software. To schedule a lesson, please use the form below, or call 215-860-7625.

Please be sure to type your email address correctly. If you prefer that I contact you by phone, or by any other means, please enter it below and double check that your name and contact information is correct. All contact information is collected solely for the purpose of establishing a private appointment time, and will be kept strictly confidential. Please include preferred lesson times, lesson topics you'd like to cover, and any other questions/comments you have. Thank you!