About Me

When I'm not teaching students, I currently play in a duo with my wife called The Hayburners. Apart from my wife, I have played in dozens of different bands and performed countless shows over the years. I grew up in Chicago, IL where I was exposed to tons of different flavors of music at an early age and I had the opportunity to play in musical groups ranging from jazz & latin styles to rock & country. I received a BA degree in music performance from a local college (Elmhurst IL). I spent thousands of hours practicing guitar in the basement of that Chicago home when I wasn't attending classes, teaching a lesson, or performing at a local or regional venue. Later, I was the first guitar player to be accepted into the Masters of Music Education program at Arizona State University in 2000 studying jazz guitar under Chris Champion and jazz composition with Chuck Marohnic.

I am continuously grateful for being able to do what I love to do. Teaching guitar has been extremely rewarding, but apart from teaching guitar, my second love has been songwriting. I have written hundreds of songs over the years, but it seems the process still continues to amaze me. In 2008, I received a great honor when my song, "Bluegrass Band", made it all the way to #19 on the National Folk Radio DJ list! Also, My song, "The House That Grandpa Built" was honorable mention in Washington's own Tumbleweed Songwriting Contest in 2009.

On the side, I am a PHP/MySQL web developer for fun...I designed, built, and currently manage an online songwriting contest called Indie International and an online community for musicians to share their music called Song Sprouts. Over the years, I have taught hundreds of students not only to play the guitar, but write songs and bring out their creative side as well. Having fun on the side, I also designed, built, and actively manage my newest website pointless information. It is a site that is loaded with fun trivial facts.

Since living in the northwest, I have particularly enjoyed performing with the SOS (Sounds of Swing) Big Band of Bellevue, WA, and with other smaller jazz/rock groups in and around the Puget Sound area.

My Philosophy

Have fun and be enthusiastic but relaxed...This is first and foremost...it's the foundation for successful musicians to build upon. If it's not fun, you shouldn't be doing it. This is your free time that we are talking about! That is not to say you don't have to practice to get better...of course you do, but doing so for 20 minutes when you're inspired is much better in the long run than spinning your wheels for an hour and not enjoying it.

In summary, learning any musical instrument can be awkward, so having fun, being relaxed, and having a teacher that has a relaxed approach is hugely important. I hope to be that teacher for you...

I'll teach you the music/songs you like, and you'll learn at your own pace with customized lessons.

First Time Here?

So...it's you're first time here...maybe you've never played the guitar before, maybe you've been playing for a long time already. Either way, learning to play the guitar can be a series of hurdles that require a good teacher to help overcome them.

Beginners typically struggle with things like holding the guitar correctly, proper hand position, fingerings, practicing efficiently, etc...Where many intermediate/advanced players can have very individualized hurdles depending on their personal practice routine/habits. No matter what level you play at, I am here to help!