Teaching Services
CLASSICAL GUITAR LESSONS
Classical guitar is a beautiful instrument - the instrument played by virtuosos and great musicians such as Fernando Sor, Francisco Tarrega, Andres Segovia. It was the popular guitar of choice during the renaissance and classical era, and has maintained its reputation and status even into modern times. Classical guitar is the guitar of concert halls, orchestras, quartets, and solo musicians. It is also the guitar of academia. Any student wishing to study guitar at the the nation’s observatories or universities who isn’t looking to enter a specialized acoustic/electric program will be expected to play classical guitar.
In the classical track, we use a blend of the Suzuki books (I am not a qualified Suzuki instructor) and the First Lessons for Guitar by Julio Sagreras, as well as a few other miscellaneous workbooks and printouts. Students will learn to read music notation, as well as basic music theory.
ACOUSTIC / ELECTRIC GUITAR LESSONS
Acoustic and electric guitar are recent variants of the classical guitar. Despite this, however, they maintain a rich heritage, especially in the United States. Acoustic and electric guitar are the guitars of jazz, R&B, gospel, fusion, and rock n’ roll. They are ubiquitous in our culture, nearly everyone has seen or heard an acoustic or electric guitar. This is the guitar that has been played by guitarists such as Django Reinhardt, Barney Kessell, Wes Montgomery, and others. For many students wishing to study acoustic or electric guitar, many of the nation’s observatories and universities have specialized jazz or electric guitar programs whose focus is on contemporary music.
In the acoustic and electric track, we use a variety of books from Mel Bay, Berklee Press, and Hal Leonard, as well as some other miscellaneous books and printouts. Although reading music is generally associated with classical music, students on the acoustic track will learn to read music notation.
MUSIC THEORY AND COMPOSITION LESSONS
All guitar students will learn some music theory along the way. However, the music theory and composition track is a specialized track for those who wish to dive deeper into the world of music notation, harmony, scales, modes, counterpoint, chord progressions, and songwriting.
In addition to learning the music theory, students will also learn the basics of how to use popular songwriting and recording software. This will allow students to create demos of original music for personal use or submission to an ensemble, orchestra, quartet, or other group.
The music theory and composition track can be taken on its own, or it can be added to either the classical guitar or the acoustic and electric guitar track. Students will balance their time between guitar, and music theory and composition, with the goal of learning how to write original compositions for guitar, as well as quartets, orchestras, ensembles, and more.
Location
Lessons are given in Hereford, Arizona.
Don’t live in the Sierra Vista area? Not a problem! All three lesson tracks are also available online for non-residents.