Speaking honestly: absolutely!

I’ve been on both sides of virtual lessons.

As a student, I continued taking private lessons with my teacher when the University of Washington went online and found it left nothing to be desired. We even chose to stay virtual while things briefly opened up.

As a teacher, I’ve had great success teaching both kids and adults virtually. Adults like it because it’s convenient; children improve as quickly as in person.

• The parent of one of my students initially insisted on only in person lessons but after trying one lesson of each type, expressed awe at how I was able to pick up on every little mistake and properly instruct her daughter just as effectively over Zoom as in person. We now do two lessons weekly, one in person and one virtual.

• I’ve been teaching another young girl for two years who’s made exceptional progress—we’ve still never met.

The one case where virtual lessons undoubtedly fall short? Playing together in time. If you’re a prospective adult student that wants to jam together or play duets, it’s definitely got to be in person.

Whatever your situation, I’m happy to teach in person or virtual! Details can be found on the Studio Info tab.

For a short answer: this one. For a more informative answer:

There are three types of guitars: steel string acoustics, nylon string acoustics, and electric guitars. I personally recommend a nylon string acoustic guitar because it’s 1. the softest on the fingertips, 2. least demanding on the muscles, and 3. the instrument that I specialize in and think is the best :). Let’s say your child really wants an electric though—no problem, get them an electric! What’s most important is that they’re excited to play. Either way, you’ll want to purchase a smaller sized guitar that’ll fit their body and hands (either a 1/2 or 3/4 size).

Overall, it doesn’t matter what model or type of guitar you get as long as you stay clear of toy guitars! Toy guitars are generally anything less than ~$100 when purchased new and tend to be impossible to play. Instead, look for reputable brands such as Yamaha, Cordoba, Takamine, Jasmine, Martin, Taylor, Epiphone, Fender, Ibanez, Gibson, or Squier.

Here’s a compilation of nylon guitar “Best Picks” that you can browse online. Or alternatively, head to Rosewood Guitar, The Trading Musician, Dusty Strings, or your local Guitar Center for individualized assistance and to actually hear and feel some instruments.

Wherever you’re at in the purchasing process, or even if you already have a guitar and are wondering if it’ll work, feel free to reach out via email, text, or phone call!

Most of my adult students seem to already have guitars, but if you don’t, give me a call and let’s talk. You probably have a style of music you’re looking to play that’s most at home on a certain type of guitar.

30 minutes weekly is the standard for private music education and is perfectly satisfactory! If your child is really showing a passion for music, maybe we increase lesson frequency to twice per week or change to hour lessons.

Also 30 minutes weekly.
More advanced students tend to take hour lessons, but I’d say start out at 30 minutes regardless of your experience level and I’ll let you know if I think you could benefit from a longer lesson after some time working together.

Start out at 5 minutes every day for one month regardless of your age or skill level! The goal is to turn practicing into a daily habit, and a low barrier to entry is crucial!

If that goes well, maybe you move up to 7mins for a few weeks, then 10, so on. If you can get to the point where you’re practicing a consistent 20 minutes every single day, stick with it for a few years and let time fly (as it tends to do!) and you’ll be a legitimate guitarist before you know it.

In general, you’ll learn so much more efficiently playing 20 minutes per day instead of 80 minutes every four days—I’m a really big advocate of daily practice and we’ll talk about your lifestyle and schedule to make it happen (I do this with second graders and middle-aged professionals on a weekly basis).

In addition to guitar up to the advanced level, I can teach just about any other musical topic such as music theory, ear training, songwriting, transcription, improvisation, etc.

Sure! I’ve taught a handful of weekly group lessons (e.g., father and son, two teenage girls, mother and two sons).