Private Guitar Lessons in Queens NY

My lessons are tailored to help each student reach his/her goals on the guitar...whether you just want to learn a few of your favorite songs, or you're interested in learning music theory to understand what it is about those songs that works. We'll work toward your goals...not follow some generic lesson plan!

Some of the topics covered include:

Chords

Open position chords and barre chords:
With the basic open position chords and barre chords under your fingers you’ll be able to play thousands of songs!

Moveable voicings and inversions:
By learning moveable chord voicings and the inversions of those voicings you’ll be able to play any chord in all twelve keys covering the entire fretboard!

Chord extensions and alterations:
Do you get intimidated when you see chords such as Bb7#9#5 or C#6/9?
Do you start searching through the thousands of chord diagrams in your chord dictionary, only to find that some of the voicings don’t sound so great in the song that you’re learning?
I’ll show how you can easily build these chords from chords you already know…and how to use voice leading to find a good inversion of the chord for any particular song or chord progression.

Scales and Arpeggios

Scale and arpeggio fingerings:
I’ll show you how to play any scale or arpeggio covering the entire fretboard by connecting scale fingers in different positions. And you’ll learn more than just scale shapes, you’ll learn the intervals shapes inside each scale pattern, and you’ll learn how those intervals will sound before you play them!

By understanding the different intervals that make up each scale you’ll be able to use these scales to actually make music!

Rhythm

I’d say that understanding rhythm is probably one of the most important parts, if not the most important part of playing music. You can play the most beautiful chord progression or melody, but if you play it with bad timing it’s going to feel wrong. Where you place things on the beat can completely change how they sound. I’ll not only teach you how to read and play rhythms, I’ll teach you how to feel them!

Right Hand Technique

• Strum Patterns
• Palm Muting
• Alternate picking
• Sweep Picking
• Economy Picking (which is a combination of alternate picking and sweep picking)

Left Hand Technique

• Hammer-ons
• Pull-offs
• Bending
• Slides
• Muting

Songs!

Most important of all, you'll learn the songs that you want to play! All the knowledge of chords and scales, and all the technique in the world doesn't mean anything if you can't apply it to songs!

So while you'll be learning all of the chords, scales and techniques that I mentioned above, it'll be as a result of learning the songs that you love!

I'm sure it was a certain song that you heard, or performance that you saw that inspired you to pick up the guitar in the first place, so by making songs the priority of my lessons, hopefully you'll stay inspired while learning all the tools you'll need to become a better musician.