Eric B. TakeLessons Instructor Guitar, music history, improvisation San Anselmo, CA

When giving lessons, I like to know what my students would like to learn in the short, and the long run. This, coupled with a base of music theory (chords, scales, improvisation), we can have fun learning the guitar.  If a student likes a certain type of music, and would like to learn songs from that genre, I can show them the proper steps in learning those songs. If they want to get into the cerebral/theory side of music, that's great, as well ! I am not a high-strung person, and tend to be laid back with people. I encourage students to practice, but don't enforce rules or come down on them hard when they aren't keeping up like they might if they practiced 8 hours a day. Everyone learns in a different way, at their own speed. With this in mind, each student has their own lesson plan. Some are great with learning at home, and some do much better if they can see what I am doing right in front of them. I like to see students come prepared to lessons, often times with some paper, pens, guitar picks, their own tuner, and so on. This will just save time, and leave us with more time to play music !

After three to six months of lessons, a student will:

know how to play some of their favorite songs

have a solid understanding of chords, scales and arpeggios

know how to tune their guitar

understand melody and keys

know how to learn more songs by ear

know how to read guitar tablature

have a basic concept of reading music

have a concept of improvising on the guitar

know how to change their guitar strings

know the basics of music theory

have an understanding of how to play music with others

I hope that we can get together and play some music!

Rock, Funk, R & B, Reggae, Soul, Pop, Indian, Jazz, Experimental, Hip Hop

Guitar, music history, improvisation