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Guitarist, Vocalist, Composer, Guitar Instructor
GUITAR INSTRUCTION
I teach private lessons both in-person and virtually, via Zoom.
I'm offering a special introductory rate to help get us started with 30, 45 or 60 minute lessons. Please call or email for specific information.
Virtual lessons include emailed tablature, mp3s and other materials to enhance our on-line sessions.
You've found your next guitar teacher
Levels taught: Beginning, intermediate, advanced
Ages taught: 10-110 years of age
Types of teaching:
- Private in-person lessons 30-min, 45-min or 60-min
- Virtual lessons via Zoom
- Group lessons at your school, business or community center
Group rates vary, depending on location, number of participants
Where:
- At my teaching studio in St. Paul, MN
- At your home or business location (travel time and expense may apply)
What you will learn:
- Songs from many genres, or focus on styles of your particular interest: Blues, jazz, folk, rock, popular, bluegrass, country, ragtime, holiday songs (sacred and/or secular), western swing, Big Band swing, reggae, rockabilly
- How to play in all common rhythms (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8 and 12/8), and understand the differences and similarities of each
- Finger-picking and flat-picking patterns - professional grade
- How to play leads, solos, fills, riffs, runs - in every key
- How to create interesting bass lines in your guitar rhythms and chord melodies (I'm also a bassist)
- Necessary skills, terminology and logistics for playing with other musicians
- How to read and write guitar tablature, song and chord charts
- How to create solid arrangements of commercial songs, and enhance your own creations
- Music theory for guitar you can really take to the bank - it's my specialty
- Tools, concepts and classic sounds used in improvisation
- Tips on buying and using a sound system, stage presence, stage fright, gig preparation
- Tips on recording in a professional or home studio, working with live sound engineers
- George Stone, Minneapolis MN
Why play?
The well-documented benefits of playing music extend from our physical and mental health to improving memory, and elevating communication and organizational skills. The perfect creative outlet, music soothes life's rough edges and reduces stress. It's a fun and rewarding activity whether for your own enjoyment, collaborating with other singers and players, or to entertain an audience.Sound like the Real Deal
Our goal is to have you playing a handful of songs as soon as possible that are instantly recognizable and entertaining! Many of my long-term students eventually learn hundreds of songs. A combination of strong flat-picking and finger-picking technique, integrated theory and good rhythmic accuracy can land you in guitar nirvana. You may find yourself able to:- Jam along with musicians you thought were out of your league
- Play public engagements
- Compose cool guitar music
- Start or join a band
We'll work to get you where you want to go.
Learn the songs on your bucket list
Like many of my esteemed professional colleagues, I am gifted with the ability to listen to virtually any song - including orchestrated tunes and those built on non-guitar instrumentation - and write out an authentic guitar arrangement. For most students, this will be guitar tablature. Decades of on-the-job ear-training, applied knowledge of music theory, and exposure to many styles of music have helped shape that ability. Many of my students have also learned how to pull tunes from recordings and create authentic, entertaining guitar arrangements - it's an invaluable skill.- Terry Norblom, Richfield MN
Music Theory and the Guitarist
This is truly my specialty. Music theory is information that truly empowers you. I know how to make it fun, engrossing, and apply it directly to the songs, solos, arranging and improvisation that make you a good guitarist. Read the testimonials from my students! > Testimonials
- Allows you to play fluently in all 12 keys, not just a few
- Enables the playing of creative leads, solos and cool "2nd guitar parts" that you associate with great players
- Understand and effectively use relationships between scales, chords and keys
- Learn how to name, notate and chart out the chords you hear in recordings - in invaluable skill that can be taught!
- Teaches you hundreds (or thousands) of chords in a relatively short time, by learning to understand chord formulas and intervals between notes and strings
- Enables you to effectively and accurately communicate with other musicians
- Allows you to organize and chart your original song ideas so that the bass, piano, fiddle, other guitarists and the rhythm section can play along
- Gives you the tools to correctly name all your chords - even ones you made up
- Know the likely next chord in a progression before you hear or see it - how cool is that when you are jamming or rehearsing with other musicians!?!
- Know where and why chords are used in a chord progression, how to substitute one chord for another, and how to play those really cool passing chords that make great music
- Experience the thrill of playing 7-8 chord blues turnarounds
- Thoroughly understand the guitar both horizontally and vertically
- Play the guitar behind your back or with your teeth? Sorry, theory can't directly help with that
Sooner or later, you'll re-gift your chord books, as they will become archaic. Need a Db13b9b5 with an F bass? Alter a simpler, familiar chord and create it - it's not savant-level rocket science - really! I haven't looked at a chord book for decades except to see if the book had errors in it. This is very freeing!
- Warren Park, Minneapolis MN (founder of West Bank School of Music)
Everyone is unique
No one learns the same way, and everyone's music and guitar experience is different. Teaching thousands of students (I run into former students all the time) has led me to develop many different ways to explain specific techniques and concepts, and to recognize which methods work with each player. This eliminates road blocks and keeps it exciting throughout the process. There is no substitute for an experienced teacher / performer - not even the internet!
Beginner?
I have always enjoyed teaching guitarists from scratch, young and old. Sometimes it takes patience, but that's my middle name (not officially). Know that you will be taught the best techniques and habits "right out of the gate". That gives you a huge advantage over self-taught students, or those that learn from a non-professional.
- Greg McElroy, Minneapolis MN
The self-taught guitarist
Self-taught players generally have bad habits that limit how far they can get on the guitar. Those really cool techniques, rhythm patterns, solos and speed potential will be difficult or impossible to achieve with self-limiting habits, or take so many years to overcome that you'll get OLD first! It's generally harder to undo bad habits than to learn good technique from the start, but we will fix what is holding you back. You'll be thrilled when you (and your listeners) hear the results of your new tools and techniques!
9,000 and counting
Since 1977, I've had the privilege to teach over 9,000 students in private lessons, classes and student ensembles. Twin Cities teaching venues include: Oak Grove Junior High (Bloomington, MN), Roseville Junior High (Roseville, MN), Marshall University High School (Minneapolis, MN), Golden Valley Lutheran College (Golden Valley, MN), West Bank School of Music, Minneapolis and Roseville Community Education, Jewish Community Center (St. Louis Park, MN), and Coffeehouse Extempore and Minnesota Song Writers Association seminars.
‑ Greg McElroy, Minneapolis MN
I love teaching
I've always had a passion for teaching music, but I don't just "teach guitar lessons". I help turn my students into good guitar players. It's practically inevitable, if you put time and energy into it.
Many of my students have told me I am the most patient teacher they've ever had. But don't be fooled by that. I will push you gently, or hard, or harder yet, to match the goals you have set for yourself. Those goals can run the gamut from playing for, or with, family members and friends, garage band jammer, coffeehouse performer, composing sophisticated songs on guitar, creating zowie guitar solos, playing and communicating effectively in your amateur or professional band, to making at least part of your living as a skilled and versatile guitarist.
Be prepared for having fun! I have secret weapons and tantalizing previews that make you eager for your next lesson. You will learn concepts and technique by playing classic songs which have strong, skill-building components. We'll fix what is holding you back.
I want you to think "I never dreamed I could play that", while you're playing that.
- Dave Peterson, Eden Prairie MN
About reading guitar tablature (TAB)
It is very useful to learn to read guitar tablature (TAB). There are a lot of great songs and guitar riffs transcribed to tablature that will be at your fingertips. It’s also a quick and easy notation by which to show you classic guitar parts, solos and complete song arrangements in many popular styles. If TAB has been difficult for you, I have special tools, songs and worksheets designed to make that process easier. A lot of TAB found on-line is missing rhythm symbols, grossly oversimplified (boring) and/or utterly wrong (transcriber was not very skilled). I've created a treasury of songs and exercises in TAB - they sound fabulous.
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About reading "regular music" (standard notation)
With a knowledge of music theory relationships (chord intervals, Roman numeral system, scale types) you can become a top-notch player and also be able to communicate effectively with other musicians. You do NOT have to be able to "read music" (standard notation) to be a great guitar player, or to take lessons from me. Most of my students do not. We will determine together if learning to read standard notation is something you should learn. If your interest is principally classical guitar, it is fairly important to "learn to read," sooner or later. With jazz, it can be useful to read melodies in standard notation, but we can do a lot with just chord charts, tablature and theory.