“As the head knows, the hands will follow.”
Nite Driscoll, President of AIMM
My goals as a teacher
My main objective as a teacher is to get the image that is in your head of you playing and turn it into reality as efficiently as possible. This can range from playing for you own private enjoyment to all out rock star. I can’t make guarantees that you will sell out stadiums but I can get you closer to playing like your favorite rock stars.
Maybe you are looking to start and just aren’t sure about where to being. That’s fantastic because we can try all types of avenues and find which one is yours. The more you learn the instrument, the more I can learn the instrument through you. I thought I wanted to rock my head off but I had more fun with jazz than I ever did with shred… Well... Maybe I still like shredding a little bit…
Are you a singer or songwriter who needs to get out of the old chords? Understanding how melody, chord structure, and chord progressions work will bring more life the words you are writing.
Shred is fun. Shred is also dead. Shred being dead doesn’t make it less fun. Let’s shred with a purpose instead of mindlessly playing notes. Here is a question that most shredders have an issue with: Are you able to think far enough head while you are soloing to make sure you aren’t repeating yourself?
Just a closet player looking to make more sense out of the endless pit that is guitar? Music theory making no sense at all? I’ve been there and I can help you out. There are multiple ways of understanding music theory and it’s application to the fret board. We don’t have to be so intimidated by all those other players out there who seem to be speaking a strange foreign language (We are literally speaking ancient Greek). You can spend a lot of days, wondering YouTube, and still not find the answers you are looking for. Let me help you with you journey.
HOW DO WE GET THERE FROM HERE?
I have spent many hours in learning, teaching, and patience testing situations. These experiences include but are not limited to: music, martial arts, anatomy, writing, filming, philosophy, sales, interrogation, psychological operations, business, law, psychology, spirituality, and Atlanta traffic. I am able to pull from all those events to help make sense of how music works through guitar.
A student can’t learn if they aren’t comfortable. I try to make my students feel that they can be themselves when they are in a lesson. If a students doesn’t feel comfortable with me just sitting in a room, how can they ask a questions when they feel confused? I try to encourage my students to be themselves in every form so they can have total freedom to express all the nervousness, frustration, and confusion they are having. Once those emotions and concerns have been expressed, we can start taking on the problems.
Know the differences in the types of failures. How can we tell the difference between a failure of understanding or a failure of technique? If it’s a failure of understanding, is this a fundamental misunderstanding or a new conceptual misunderstanding? If it’s a technique failure, is it in the structure of the player or the instrument? These are for me to figure out and help you discover how to succeed and make sure they rarely comeback.
Know the different types of success. A big hurdle for guitar players is knowing the difference between going through the motions of playing a song and understanding how the song is working. Speaking a sentence in a language doesn’t mean you speak the language fluently, just as playing a song on guitar doesn’t mean you understand it. I use songs to convey particular ideas of guitar, not just to learn another tune to impress people.
Know when enough is enough. The mind can only take so much stimulus and sometimes are bodies just give out. How do we know when it’s time to call it quits for the day or when are about to break through the next level? A balance between a success rate and failure rate must be maintained to keep learning at optimum levels. Years of experience have given me the knowledge of knowing how to keep all these factors in check.
Learning through experience. Ben Franklin wisely said once. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Students learn better if they discover their answer through guidance and experience. We frequently ask questions and do exercises so we have a complete understanding of what we are doing.
You don’t have to spend the hours, days, months, years, of practicing to get to the same place I am. Learn faster from I have discovered and what I have discovered through my students to efficiently get to you goals!
