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02 What I Teach

Nine Styles.
One Plan Built Around You.

Rock, blues, funk, jazz, fusion, prog, shred, metal, theory, bass, ukulele, songwriting, and improvisation. Students range from age 6 to 60, and from total beginners to advanced players. Not sure what you want? That's normal. We'll figure it out in the first lesson.

★ The Approach

How the Plan
Gets Built.

I don't pick the curriculum off a shelf. I teach what you want to learn, in the order that makes sense for where you're starting from. Below are the styles I'm most fluent in, but the goal isn't to cover all nine. It's to figure out which two or three are your path, and go deep.

If a style you love isn't on this list, ask anyway. I'll tell you straight if I'm the right fit or recommend someone who is.

9
01

Rock & Blues

Beginner to AdvancedMost Popular Starting Point

// What It Is

The bedrock of the electric guitar. Open chords, power chords, riffs, blues bends, the pentatonic scale, twelve-bar form, classic-rock vocabulary that sets you up for almost everything else.

// Who It's For

New students who want to play actual songs in their first month. Adult comeback players. Anyone who lights up to Hendrix, Zeppelin, AC/DC, SRV, Black Keys, Jack White.

// What We Cover

  • Open chords and power chord shapes
  • Strumming patterns and rhythm grooves
  • Pentatonic scale and basic improvisation
  • Bending, vibrato, slides, the expressive moves
  • Reading riffs, tabs, and basic charts
02

Funk & Groove

All LevelsRhythm-First

// What It Is

Rhythm guitar built for groove. Sixteenth-note strumming, ghost notes, tight muting, and clean chord voicings. These are the rhythm skills most rock players skip.

// Who It's For

Players who already know some chords but feel like their strumming sounds stiff. Anyone who loves Vulfpeck, James Brown, Prince, Cory Wong, Daft Punk-era funk, or modern jam-funk.

// What We Cover

  • Sixteenth-note rhythm vocabulary
  • Ghost notes and percussive muting
  • Triad inversions and seventh-chord voicings
  • Single-note funk lines and double-stops
  • Locking in with a drummer (or click)
03

Jazz & Fusion

Intermediate to AdvancedTheory-Heavy

// What It Is

Chord-melody, walking bass on guitar, improvising over changes, modal playing. Plus the fusion side, the ECM/Holdsworth/Scofield/Metheny world where jazz vocabulary meets rock energy.

// Who It's For

Players ready to dig into theory. Adult students who always wanted to "understand" music. Advanced students who want to leave the pentatonic box and play over the chords, not at them.

// What We Cover

  • Major/minor 7th and extended chord voicings
  • ii-V-I progressions and how to navigate them
  • Modes (Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian and friends)
  • Targeting chord tones in solos
  • Comping behind a soloist
04

Progressive & Shred

Intermediate to AdvancedTechnique-Forward

// What It Is

The technique to play fast, accurately, and musically. Alternate picking, economy picking, sweep arpeggios, two-hand tapping, string skipping, odd time signatures, polyrhythms.

// Who It's For

The student who has heard Plini or Polyphia or Animals as Leaders or older Steve Vai/Satriani and thought I want to be able to do that. Teens chasing modern prog. Adults rebuilding lost speed.

// What We Cover

  • Alternate picking economy and accuracy
  • Sweep picking arpeggios (3-string, 5-string, 6-string)
  • Tapping (one-finger, multi-finger, two-handed)
  • String skipping and wide intervallic patterns
  • Counting and feeling odd time (5, 7, 9, mixed)
05

Metal

All LevelsAggressive Technique

// What It Is

Tight rhythm playing, gallop picking, palm muting, drop tunings, chuggy riff-writing, lead techniques borrowed from prog. Old-school to new-school, Metallica through Periphery and beyond.

// Who It's For

Teens who already love the genre and want their playing to actually sound like it. Adults reconnecting with the music they grew up on. Anyone who wants a faster, tighter picking hand.

// What We Cover

  • Palm muting and the gallop
  • Drop tunings (D, C#, B, drop A) and how to navigate them
  • Riff writing, the architecture of a heavy song
  • Pinch harmonics, dive bombs, and the "voice" of metal
  • Soloing over riff-based contexts
06

Theory & Ear Training

All LevelsThe "Why" Behind Everything

// What It Is

How music actually works, and how to hear it. Intervals, scales, chord construction, key signatures, functional harmony, transcription. The kind of knowledge that lets you learn songs by ear and write your own.

// Who It's For

Anyone who feels like they're learning songs but not learning music. Players who want to write or compose. Students who want to read sheet music or charts. Adults who never had formal training and feel a gap.

// What We Cover

  • Intervals, the building blocks of melody and harmony
  • Major and minor scales, modes, and how they relate
  • Chord construction (triads, sevenths, extensions)
  • Functional harmony (what chords do, not just what they're called)
  • Transcribing solos and songs by ear
07

Bass & Ukulele

All AgesDifferent Instruments, Same Standards

// What It Is

Not a guitar player? Same studio, same approach. Bass groove fundamentals, slap technique, walking bass lines. Ukulele chords, strumming, fingerpicking, great for kids, comeback adults, and travelers.

// Who It's For

Bass-curious players who want to anchor a band. Parents looking for a less intimidating starter for their child than guitar. Songwriters who want a portable, friendly instrument.

// What We Cover

  • Bass: pocket fundamentals, root-fifth-octave, scales, slap basics
  • Bass: reading tab and bass clef, locking in with drums
  • Uke: open chords, strumming patterns, common keys
  • Uke: fingerpicking, basic chord-melody
  • Both: building a song repertoire from day one
08

Songwriting & Composition

All LevelsBring Your Ideas

// What It Is

Turning ideas into finished songs. Song form, voice leading, arrangement, dynamics, lyrics, and demo recording. The focus is writing your own material, not just learning other people's.

// Who It's For

Players who have ideas (or full song fragments) and don't know how to finish them. Anyone wanting to release original music. Students who want to use the guitar as a writing tool, not just a performance one.

// What We Cover

  • Song form (verse / chorus / bridge, and when to break it)
  • Chord progressions that don't bore you
  • Arrangement, knowing when to add vs. subtract
  • Lyrics, melody, and how they should fit together
  • Demo recording basics (DAW, mics, scratch tracks)
09

Improvisation

IntermediateThe Jam-Band Mindset

// What It Is

How to build a solo in real time: listening to the band, developing an idea, building tension and release, and following the chord changes. The jam-band approach, useful in any genre.

// Who It's For

Players who can solo a little but feel like every solo sounds the same. Anyone who wants to jam, sit in, play with friends, take a real solo at an open mic. Cover-band players who want their solos to sound less repetitive.

// What We Cover

  • Listening, the most important improvising skill
  • Theme and variation: developing a single idea
  • Tension and release across a solo arc
  • Trading fours and call-and-response
  • Soloing over modal vamps vs. changing chords

Don't See Your Thing? Just Ask.

This list isn't exhaustive, it's the styles I get the most students for. If you have a specific player or song in mind, mention it when you book. The first lesson is free either way.

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