General Info:
The philosophy at A2G Sharp Guitar is simple and effective: a balanced approach between immediate enjoyment of the instrument while also working towards building a strong musical foundation for the future, thus providing a satisfying and rewarding approach to learning the guitar. What You WANT to Know The first part of my private lessons is providing students with what they want to know. This is obviously decided by the student and allows the student to determine what they would like to learn for a portion of their lesson. Some of the options that students usually choose to learn include songs from their favorite artists, the main riff or lick from a song their currently listening to, a style of music that interests them, a certain guitar technique, or an aspect of music theory that intrigues them. Most students choose to learn songs. This is why I have spent the time and money to collect and organize more than 4,000 complete and professionally transcribed songs in tablature during the past twenty-three years. I have found that my students greatly enjoy this vast resource that I provide for them. What You NEED To Know The second part of my private lessons is providing students with what they need. I believe all students should know certain elements of music to become skilled, knowledgeable and, ultimately, creative musicians. These elements would include basic chords, common rhythm guitar techniques, chord progressions, scales in the most commonly used major and minor keys and a practical hands-on theoretical understanding of how these chords and scales function together so as to help the student play the music they enjoy listening to and to create their own music. 1. Understand Music When the student has accomplished the above they will be able to do four very important and musically life-lasting things. First, they will have an understanding of the overall structure of music and how it works (music theory). This will allow the student to know that music, and creating music, is not something that only “talented” or “special” people can do. The basic elements of music will become easily comprehensible and the “mystery” of music will be replaced with a sense of confidence that their own musical goals are within their grasp. 2. Create Your Own Music Secondly, with this knowledge students will be able to write their own music. If music is reduced to its simplest form it is merely twelve notes. Even simpler is the fact that these twelve notes are actually reduced to only seven notes within a scale or key. By learning which notes and chords go together the student has the basic knowledge to start using their innate musical ear to start organizing these sounds into their own vision of music. 3. Play By Ear Thirdly, by understanding which notes and chords are in a scale or key, figuring out songs by ear becomes relatively quick and easy. Since most songs stay within a key of seven notes/chords, and only six of these seven chords are commonly used in chord progressions, it is simply a matter of elimination and using our innate musical ear to find the right chords or melody for most songs. 4. Play Lead Guitar (In the Right Key, With the Right Scales) Lastly, this knowledge will enable the student to play lead guitar in the right key with the right scales. When a guitarist plays a solo they are typically soloing over a chord progression or group of chords. These chords are constructed from a scale. It is essential that the lead guitarist understand what key the chords are in so that they can choose the right scales to play and not play any “wrong” notes. By learning how chords work together in keys the lead guitarist can play with confidence and can then spend their time and effort in