Call (925) 695-7060

Call (925) 695-7060

Guitar Lessons & Gifts – Dublin – Pleasanton CA

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White Christmas - Walnut Creek - Danville - CA

Give the Gift of Music this Holiday Season in Pleasanton & Dublin

I love this time of year and always love giving gifts. I have wonderful students of all ages 0n electric and acoustic guitars as well as 4 string electric bass, 4 and 5-string banjo, mandolin and ukulele. All my students from Dublin & Pleasanton CA tell their Facebook friends to check out my guitar packages for Christmas gifts as low as $29.95 for half size guitar for a young student. I also have complete electric and acoustic guitar packages that includes amp, strap, picks and of course guitar starting at around $100.

I’m also giving away free lessons this holiday season! When you purchase 2 private in-home lessons, the 3rd is free of charge. This is a savings of $37.50 if you purchase 2 half-hour in-home lessons, or you can save $75 when you purchase 2 one-hour lessons. Wow!! No one is giving this many gifts away. Why? Because I always like to help people with the gift of music.

Today I’m giving a great jazz guitar solo arrangement of “White Christmas” It is performed as a solo with both chords and melody. All chord symbols and fingerings are available as well as tab and standard notation. So, in closing, enjoy this beautiful classic Christmas song

Download White Christmas Sheet Music

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Dublin – Pleasanton CA
(925) 695-7060

 

Danville, Dublin, San Ramon – Private Guitar Lesson

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Free & Half-Priced Guitar Lessons from a Pro

Today I was teaching guitar lessons in Dublin, San Ramon and Danville. I received a phone call from a mom who saw my mobile guitar lessons advertisement on my car. She wanted lessons for her daughter in 8th grade. I spent 20 minutes answering her questions.

I let  her know that I’m the only professional guitar instructor that gives first lesson free of charge for an hour and not half hour and that I pay for all learning books and materials. I also give a deal where you purchase two hour private guitar lessons at your home, then you get two for free. No guitar lessons contracts and I do make ups when lessons need to be rescheduled. [Read more…]

Music Helps Our Children Develop MORE of Their Potential

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East Bay Guitar Lessons Help to Develop Better Brains & People – not just rock ego-maniac stars!

I’ve been studying and teaching music for over 40 years. Today, I teach guitar and banjo lessons throughout the East Bay in communities like Danville, San Ramon, Concord, Walnut Creek – the whole East Bay.

I teach guitar students much more than simply how to strum a few chords on a guitar. Reading music, variations on a theme, scales, composition, orchestration, road skills, playing with ensembles, soloing… it’s a long list! The more we learn about the brain, the more we discover about how music lessons and education help brains & people development in wonderful ways.

  • music brain training East BayThe Brain –  Research has shown that both listening to music and playing a musical instrument stimulate your brain and can increase your memory. Research suggests that regularly playing an instrument changes the shape and power of the brain and may be used in therapy to improve cognitive skills. Hearing it and especially playing it. Music affects mood, creativity and a wide range of synaptic activity in the brain – many areas of your brain start firing and communicating with other parts of your entire nervous system.
  • Cognitive Development – Children exposed to a multi-year program of music tuition involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers.
  • Neurological multi-tasking – Moving and playing at the same time is challenging. Whether you are in a marching band or creating choreography for your rock band – playing and moving with the music develops body/mind coordination.
  • Discipline & Time Management – Practice, practice, practice = discipline development. When we practice with our band mates, team discipline enters the equation. Developing discipline is key to developing personal integrity.
  • Teamwork – From the hassles to the high-fives. Learning how to collaborate and work as a team is just good human development!
  • Music Lessons Danville San RamonCamaraderie & Sacrifice – Good friends are just one of life’s “must have” experiences. Sharing dreams, disappoints and accomplishments help to extend emotional range and maturity. Putting self aside for the greater good of the band is invaluable for personal development.
  • Resilience, Flexibility, Creative Problem Solving, Manners, Respect, Trust, Self-Expression, Social Skills, Listening Skills – A few of the character traits that music students work with on a daily basis.
  • Music Broadens Horizons – Musicians get passionate about all things music – instruments, composers, poetry, history… music touches every part of life through time, thus it can be a doorway into almost any area of human experience and development. Studies have shown that students who play instruments or study the arts are often better in math and achieve higher grades in school than students who don’t.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Concord – Danville – San Ramon – Walnut Creek
(925) 695-7060

 

Soloing Guitar Lesson

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Make 2013 YOUR Year to be a Solo Guitarist

Soloing is working on art of doing lead patterns over a group of chords also known as riffing or adlib. Guitar players must know there basic 5 pentatonic scale patterns both minor and major.

A pentatonic scale is a five note scale based on major scale. The minor pentatonic scale is Root, b3,4,5 and b7th degrees of major scale. It really gives you that blues feel and works great over dominant 7th chords and 9thys and minor chords with 7ths or 9ths .

You can use for example an A minor pent scale against A minor, A minor 7th or Aminor9th and also A7, A9 or A13th chords. Also you may use half step displacement in which sax players and piano players use all the time. That means while the rhythm section is in A minor tonality center u can start on A  minor pent and then slide up half step to A sharp minor pent scale and then slide down half step to Ab minor pentatonic but for very short durations and then resolve back to A minor pentatonic scale.

First before jamming with other guitarists, u should lay down a rhythm jam track of u playing just a 12 bar blues in A or a jam based on A minor 7th chords.

Also, check out my Pentatonic warm ups in 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th positions. I recommend using a metronome which u can download for free on your cell phone or free on computer. Start on highest note on string 1 and work your way descending to string 6 known as a descending pattern and then practice opposite ascending lowest finger to highest on each string lowest to highest and do  not stop when you arrive to string one just shift up to 5th and then 9th and then 13th and then 17th. On acoustic guitars just do 1st and 5th and 9th positions.

Its very important to use alternate picking at single meter first meaning quarter notes and then duple meter meaning 8th notes and then skip to quad also known as 16th notes.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Concord – Danville – San Ramon – Walnut Creek
(925) 695-7060

Guitar Lessons & Gifts – Walnut Creek – Danville CA

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White Christmas - Walnut Creek - Danville - CA

Give the Gift of Music this Holiday Season in Danville & Walnut Creek

I love this time of year and always love giving gifts. I have wonderful student ts all ages 5 and up 0n electric and acoustic guitars as well as 4 string electric bass, 4 and 5-string banjo, mandolin and uke . I have all my students from Danville & Walnut Creek CA tell their Facebook friends to check out my guitar packages for Christmas gifts as low as $29.95 for half size guitar for a young student. I also have complete electric and acoustic guitar packages that includes amp, strap, picks and of course guitar starting at around $100.

 I’m also giving away two free half hour private lessons and also  half off first two months lessons. You purchase a month private lessons and the 2nd month is free of charge. Wow!! No one is giving this many gifts away. Why? Because I always like to help0 people with the gift of music. I also give a guitar method retail value of $100 for free and you receive a gift envelope with Guitar Confidence that says “A Gift For You”. So, you have the new student open first the large guitar method book and then watch their face grow a huge smile when they open  gift envelope and see they have 10 one half hour private guitar lessons at their home for $150. Or you can receive 6 half hour private lessons for $75.

Today I’m giving a great jazz guitar solo arrangement of “White Christmas” It is performed as a solo with both chords and melody. All chord symbols and fingerings are available as well as tab and standard notation. So, in closing, enjoy this beautiful classic Christmas song

Download White Christmas Sheet Music

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Danville – Walnut Creek CA
(925) 695-7060

Guitar Lessons – Mission Possible!

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Learning to play a guitar like a pro is not Mission Impossible!

My friend, John Harper, who does the online marketing for The Harper Team Realtors in San Ramon CA, created this great promo for me using a sound track that I recorded with my RGS Ensemble.

Whether you live in Concord, Walnut Creek or Danville, or San Ramon – I can help you take your guitar playing to the next level.  I provide guitar lessons for all ages and levels of skill.

Enjoy the promo – playing guitar like a pro is Mission Possible!!!

I notice the stores are already putting out the Holiday displays. Keep your eye on this site for upcoming gift specials.

Greensleeves & Muddy Waters

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blues guitar lessons

Two Guitar Arrangements for Students

Finger Picking & Blues Guitar Lessons in Alamo, Danville & Concord CA.

For all those who love a simple finger picking guitar solos, try out this 16th Century English melody also known as “What Child Is Born.” Notice it is arranged in traditional standard music notation and tablature which shows you where to locate your left hand fingers for each chord. Download Greensleeves Sheet Music

Muddy Waters was one of the fathers of Chicago blues guitar and key figure in the history of the blues. He was a master guitar artist, a great guitarist. His unique style on guitar revolutionized a new era in music and had a major impact on both blues and rock musicians.

I prepared a typical Muddy Waters 12 bar blues in key of E and is in four four common time but with twelve eight feel. Download Muddy Waters Sheet Music You can listen to it below.

Enjoy and if you need help, please feel free to contact m.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Alamo, Danville, Concord CA
(925) 695-7060

Learn to Play Tuck’s Blues

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Play the Blues in Danville Restaurants

Tucks Blues is a 12 Bar Blues in G by Tuck Andress, a monster jazz guitarist. Originally from Oklahoma, Tuck now resides in Bay Area.

To play Tucks Blues, I would recommend keeping your pick in your right hand and use remaining right hand fingers in a pinching style because your goal is to eventually solo. This arrangement must be mastered one bar at a time. Practice very slow.

This arrangement creates a walking bass line which means the bass player plays notes on every beat like and upright stand-up jazz bassist would. Then on the up beat of beat one known as the second eight note you pinch with remaining 3 fingers. This creates the 1940s big band jazz feel.

Give a listen and use my suggested fingering and have fun. If you need help contact me.

Download the sheet music for Tuck’s Blues

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Danville CA
(925) 695-7060

Guitar Lessons – Fretboard – Danville – San Ramon CA

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Importance Of Knowing Your Fretboard

I was giving guitar lessons the other day in Danville & San Ramon CA. I had my students working out with fretboard exeercises because before you are ready to start jamming with other musicians, you should really know your guitar  fretboard inside out, every fret including sharps and flats.

Guitar Lesson – Fretboard

Let’s begin with the 6 string guitar standard E tuning (String 6 to 1 or bottom to top in pitch are E, A, D, G, B and E ). 

First, let’s review your guitar lessons on basic music theory:

The musical alphabet is the first 7 letters of the English alphabet (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) and a whole step is the distance of two frets on the guitar.  A half step is the distance of 1 fret between two consecutive musical notes. Example of a whole step is F to g and a half step is F to F Sharp or B to c (natural half step). 

There are only two instances where there are “natural half steps”. Lets use common phrases to help remember what are called “natural half steps”.  B  to C is one of these which you can remember by the acronym used in calendar dates (B.C. which stands for “Before Christ”). The other natural half step is E to F which you can remember by the word EFFORT where the first two letters are e to f. 

To master the fretboard, practice the following guitar lesson exercise:

Start on lowest string 6, the open E and say out loud as you play on guitar  E open, F1 meaning fret 1, G3, A5, B7, C8, D10 and finally E12 and stop there because it is one octave above the starting note. Then proceed to do the same exercises on all remaining strings.

These simple little exercises when practiced consistently will produce amazing results in learning the fretboard. 

If you are looking for a guitar instructor in Danville or San Ramon CA who can create a step by step lesson plan that maximizes your practice time and gets you to the next level as quickly as possible, contact me and I will give you a free guitar lesson that will convince you that it’s just a matter of time before you will be performing and jamming with other musicians.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Danville – San Ramon, CA
(925) 695-7060

Dublin – Pleasanton Guitar Lessons

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Music Theory – Scales, Keys and Chord Progressions

Aspiring guitarists should know that every song is based on a major scale, usually referred to as the “key” you are playing in, which denotes the “key signature” (more on that later). The major scale consists of 7 consecutive tones or notes. For example, if you are playing in the key of C major, the notes are C,D,E,F,G,A,B (only major scale with no sharps or flats).

All chords are then constructed  on each of the 7 notes of scale. It’s easier for visualization if you look at the piano keyboard and start on the 1st note of the major scale (in this example C is the first note also referred to as the root).  Chords are referred to using roman numerals – the “I” chord in the key of C major uses the 1,3 & 5 notes of the scale to make up the chord.

Chords consist of at least 3 notes.  So, a C Major chord is made up of the notes: C,E & G known as the root, 3rd degree and 5th degree of the C Major scale. This is called a triad.

A seventh chord would be the root,3,5 and 7th degree of scale. A 9th chord would be Root,3,5,7 and 9th degrees (9th degree is the octave of the 2nd).

A popular rock and blues chord progression used in literally hundreds of songs is the I-IV-V pattern.  The I (C), IV (F) and V (G) are all major chords. All other chords built on the 2,3, 6 and 7th degrees of the scale would be minor chords.

When you are first learning a song, you should analyze the chords using the roman numeral system and get familiar with the progression.  For example La Bamba uses the I-IV-V pattern in the key of C Major. The chord progression would be C to F to G.

Why is it important to know chord patterns using roman numeral system? Because you can transpose to any other key instantly.  For more help on theory check out “ Music Theory For Dummies” and if you’re looking for an instructor in the San Ramon, Danville, Dublin, Walnut Creek or Pleasanton areas to help you take it to the next level, let me know

Learn to Play Guitar in the Privacy of Your Own Home

Our guitar instructors come to you to give you personal one-on-one lessons in the privacy of your own home. We cover Dublin, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Livermore and all cities in east and south bay

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Contact us for guitar lessons or more information at:

Guitar Confidence
4101 Dublin Blvd
Suite F, #537
Dublin, CA 94568

(925) 695-7060

guitarconfidence@gmail.com

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