Frequently Asked Questions

I specialise in teaching rock-based styles of music. This covers an extremely wide range of music that includes…

• Rock
• Pop
• Blues
• Blues-Rock
• Classic rock
• Hard-Rock
• Metal

• Acoustic/Classical
• Folk
• Funk
• Jazz/Fusion
• Country
• Finger-style

Although I’ve taught some very advanced players over the years, my preference is to work with guitarists who are beginner to intermediate level players. (Side Note: If you’re an advanced level player, you’ll be better off approaching a virtuoso-level player that you admire and asking if they do private lessons).

One of the worst things a guitar teacher can do is to try and teach all styles, all levels and all ages.

Why? Because it’s simply not possible. Any guitar teacher making that claim in their advertising would need to be both a musical and teaching genius to do it effectively. I consider myself to be a good guitarist and very skilled teacher…but I sure ain’t a genius! 🙂

Rather than trying to do an OK job of teaching anyone and everyone, I  prefer to do a great job of teaching a much narrower range of students.

If you are an in-person student, the lessons will be held at my home teaching studio in Western Springs.

If you are a Skype student, we’ll have the lessons online via Skype.

I am currently offering lesson time slots on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays, between the hours of 10:00am and 10:00pm.

• I have four different pricing options that range from $54.00 to $75.00 a week.

Click on the link below to download my pricing information for 2024…

• Pricing Information 2024 Handout

All lessons are done on a one-to-one basis and can be either 45-minutes or 60-minutes long.

It’s important to say here that I don’t offer casual guitar lessons. Because of this, all my students commit to a regular weekly time slot.

Although I’ve done casual lessons in the past, I’ve found that weekly lessons work well for a few main reasons…

• It helps my students to progress faster.
• It helps my students stay motivated with their practice.
• It helps me to keep my tuition fees affordable. (If I offered a lot of casual lessons, then my tuition fees would have to be a lot higher than they are now).

One million lessons! 🙂

If you want a serious and more detailed answer, then I’ve written a blog article that talks about this…

• How Many Guitar Lessons Should You Have?

My guitar tuition service is aimed at people that are willing and able to commit to the learning process. For this reason, I’m only wanting to work with people that can commit to a regular weekly time slot.

If you’re wanting to learn more casually, I recommend contacting some other guitar teachers. (You might find that some of them will be more than happy to take on casual students).

No. I don’t want to lock people into their lessons using a contract. Instead, I want my students to continue their lessons with me because…

• They’re enjoying the lessons.
• They’re happy with the progress they’re making.
• They feel like they’re getting value for money.

It’s not unusual for students enrolling with me to remain enrolled for years. So there’s absolutely no need for me to use contracts. 🙂

Although most people tend to remain students for a fairly long time, I realise that at some point everyone will need to discontinue their lessons.

Because of this, I make it painless for any student to their stop lessons at any time. All they need to do is give me two weeks notice via email. (This short amount of notice gives me some time to find another student to fill up their time slot).

Too easy. 🙂

Because everyone progresses at a different rate, this question is impossible to answer. If I could accurately predict the speed of progress of a new student, then I’d start buying Lotto tickets and going to SkyCity Casino in the weekend. 🙂

How quickly a new student progresses will depend on things like…

• How much practice they do every day.
• The effectiveness of the practice that they do.
• How much experience on other musical instruments they’ve had.
• How consistent they are in attending their weekly lessons.
• How much natural aptitude they have for music and playing guitar.
• How teachable they are.

The results you get from guitar lessons will largely depend on your practice habits. So setting aside time each week for disciplined and focused practice is essential.

One of the most common questions I get asked by new students is this: “How much practice will I need to do?”. This is hard to answer, because it’s going to be different for everyone. It will depend on things like…

• Your past musical experience.
• Your current level of guitar playing.
• Your goals and aspirations.
• The styles of music you want to play.
• Your natural aptitude for music and guitar.
• How fast you want to progress.
• How good you want to eventually get.
• How much time each day you’re willing to set aside for practice.

For people playing the guitar as a hobby, I recommend the following guideline…

Once you start lessons, I’ll be more than happy to give you some more specific recommendations.

Absolutely. While I do have some students who are pursuing a professional career in music, most of the guitarists who start lessons with me are playing guitar for a hobby. And I think that’s great, because learning a musical instrument is an incredibly fun, challenging and rewarding hobby!

If you’re doing guitar as a hobby, it’s important that I mention that I still expect you to take the lessons seriously. This means that you’ll need to be willing and able to…

• Attend the vast majority of our scheduled lessons.
• Commit to a regular time slot.
• Make time in your life for  guitar practice.

It’s also really important to be realistic in your expectations about your progress. While you’ll certainly progress on a relatively small amount of practice, you definitely won’t progress as quickly as someone who practices a lot more. (A few of my current students are practicing at least four hours a day).

In other words, the harder you work, the faster you’ll progress. But, you already knew that right? 🙂

I think it’s important to provide you with handouts for two main reasons…

Reason 1: They save you time and money.

By using handouts I don’t have to waste a lot of valuable teaching time during your lesson writing things out. And this means you’ll gain more value from each lesson. Which means ultimately, you get more value for money from each lesson.

Reason 2: They help you learn better.

Because you don’t have to write notes during the lesson, you are able to concentrate fully on what I’m saying. And this will mean that you’ll remember what I say better. They also help you learn better because you can use the handouts to refresh your memory when you are practicing at home.

But do you know what?

I’m not going to force you to read music!

Why? Here are a few reasons…

• There are plenty of incredible guitar players who don’t read music.
• Your musical goals may not need this skill.
• If you have very limited time for practice (like most adults), I feel that it may be best to focus on developing your technique and sense of pitch.
• You may not want to learn how. If you have no desire to learn how to read music, then I would be an idiot for trying to force you!

So I guess, I can summarise the above by saying…

1. If you have a strong desire to learn how to read music, then I can definitely help you.
2. If you have no desire to learn how to read music, then that is perfectly fine with me.

1. They fail to get regular help and high-quality feedback from a much more advanced player.
2. They don’t know how or what to practice.
3. They don’t make time for regular guitar practice. (i.e. At least five practice sessions per week).
4. They don’t persist for long enough. (Although learning the guitar is incredibly fun and rewarding, it still requires consistent work over the long-term).

Notice that none of these reasons are age-related?

Over the years, I’ve taught many adults to play guitar well. So if you’re willing to attend your lessons like clockwork, put in the practice time, and be persistent, then I can definitely help you. But if you’re the sort of person who’s all about instant gratification, then learning the guitar won’t be the best choice for a hobby. 🙂