What do you teach?
Instruments: Acoustic and electric guitar, as well as beginning ukulele and mandolin.
Styles: Primarily rock, pop, blues, folk, metal, country, and jazz.
Is it okay to “try out” guitar lessons?
Certainly. If you haven’t taken lessons before, I recommend taking at least 4 to really see what the experience is like.
I (or my child) have no music experience. Can I still learn guitar?
Absolutely! Every master guitarist started exactly where you are!
Am I to old/young to learn guitar?
There are no age limitations with music, and I’ve taught students from 3 to 82 how to play guitar proficiently and confidently. On Skype, I require that students be at least 10 years of age.
What if I’m tone deaf?
Actual tone deafness is extremely rare. If you can enjoy listening to music, you can learn to create beautiful music.
Does it matter if I can’t read music?
Nope. Most guitarists use a simpler system called guitar tablature, which takes about 30 seconds to understand. I do teach music reading as well to those who can use it to reach their personal music goals.
Can you recommend a good guitar?
Definitely. Email or call me, and I’ll ask you a few questions to help determine the best guitar for you or the person you’d like to buy one for.
Can you recommend a good webcam?
Yes. On my website you can find links to reviews of the top webcams available.
How frequently should I take lessons?
This is entirely up to you, but for most students I recommend starting with 30-minute lessons. For most people, this is a good amount of time.
If you are champing at the bit for more guitar, and want to improve even faster, it’s easy to switch to 60-minute lessons or the slightly more effective two 30-minute lessons per week. Two 60-minute lessons is only recommended for extremely serious and motivated students.
What’s the fastest way to improve?
Having specific goals, and balanced, varied practice! It’s easy to improve rapidly once you plot a course for yourself and make practicing a habit.
How long does it take to get good?
A complete beginner who puts in regular practice can start playing pieces very well within just a few weeks, and can play beautifully within a few months.
How much should I practice?
Frequency is more important than duration. It’s better to practice 10 minutes each day for 7 days, than to play for 70 minutes one day a week. You’re also much more likely to practice if you make it an easy and rewarding habit!
How can I enjoy practicing more?
Most often we make practicing “work” rather than fun. Remember, fun is priority #1.
Try committing to practicing for just 10 minutes a day to start. Make it a ritual. Practicing right before or after an established habit like a daily meal, or going to/coming home from work or school, will make it much easier to do automatically.
As with a healthy dinner, I recommend taking care of your exercises (the veggies) first, and then rewarding yourself with your favorite stuff (dessert!)
I feel “stuck” in my guitar playing/songwriting. Can you help me?
If you feel “stuck”, chances are you need to shake up your practicing and playing routine. I’m happy to help if you fall into this category.
For both playing and songwriting, I use a number of creativity exercises I’ve collected (from both my music and writing careers) that can help you start producing an abundance of new material immediately.
Do I have to learn lots of scales and exercises and boring stuff?
Some students have goals that don’t require knowing too much theory, and that’s fine. That said, music theory let’s you do so much more, and it actually makes things much easier in the long run.
I use a number of games and strategies to make theory more fun and useful to learn, if you want to amp up your playing and songwriting abilities.
I have a question that wasn’t answered here…
No problem. You can email your question to me personally at , or call (415) 246-9167. More FAQs can also be found at www.CreativeSparkGuitar.com.