Learn To Practice
Play Freely
Think Musically
I’ve been playing and teaching for over 20 years. The biggest problem I see in my students is the same problem I had myself: not practicing effectively.
That’s why I’ve dedicated my whole teaching career to helping students like you avoid the same mistakes I made, save years of frustration, and get to that musical freedom sooner.
Ready For Better Practice?
My Mission
I have a mission: to help thoughtful guitar students take ownership of their playing. That’s the way they practice, the music they choose to play, even the way they think about music in general. Whoever you are, wherever you are in your guitar journey, I want to give you the tools to make your own meaningful musical decisions with confidence.
I’ve been teaching guitar for over 20 years, and I currently serve as guitar professor at two colleges in Pennsylvania, where I teach everyone from guitar performance majors, to other teachers, to students just looking to pick up the instrument for the first time for fun.
In that time I’ve seen a lot of students struggle and succeed, quit and stay with it. And I’m convinced that the most important factors that make people truly “successful” in their playing journeys (whether casual or professional) are:
Four Fuels of Guitar Freedom
Understanding Technique Fundamentals
“Fundamentals” doesn’t mean basics. It means how and why things work in your hands and on your instrument. This is what allows you to make playing decisions that “work for you,” to know how to solve problems when they show up, and even to know how to innovate.
Understanding How Music Works
Learning songs, memorizing, writing your own parts, simplifying solos… all these important tasks get so much easier when you understand what they’re doing musically. Memorizing physical locations on the guitar is exhausting, and usually doesn’t serve your specific situation. Learning what’s actually happening musically in your favorite songs and then asking how you can best recreate that with your own skills and resources makes the whole job easier, more fun, and more creative.
Understanding How To Practice
I used to practice 6-8 hours per day in high school. And I’m sad to say I probably “wasted” a lot of that most days. It was years before I had teachers who really helped me understand not just what to practice, but how to practice it so that I could do it efficiently, so that the stubborn parts of songs that kept tripping me up finally got smoothed out, and so that I could make consistent, sustainable progress.
Learning To Love The Process
Playing music on any instrument is a journey. A lot of us have dreams of a final product, a day that we’ll be able to play that dream song at a concert. And that dream is a good one. But the reality is sitting down every day to practice and play. And those who grow to love the everyday process are the ones who stick with guitar long term.
Welcome to my classroom! Happy practicing :)