Call (925) 695-7060

Call (925) 695-7060

Free Guitar Lesson – Richmond CA

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Former Guitar Student in Richmond Reconnects to Take it to the Next Level

Richmond CA guitar lessonsLast week I gave a one hour free introductory guitar lesson to Brian in Richmond near Hill Top Mall. My car is wrapped with info advertising “guitar lessons.“.  When I parked in front of the student’s house, a neighbor ask for my card for guitar lessons for her husband. He has had a guitar for several years and gave up trying to learn on the Internet. I said that’s what I do – Help build guitar students’ confidence.

So, my Richmond guitar student, Brian had taken lessons from me from 1987 to 2003, 16 years.  Then he took a break to work on private vocal lessons and now, 8 years later. we hooked back up. 

I was playing a Godin Synth guitar with nylon strings through a Roland Jazz Chorus amp and Brian had a Ibanez semi hollow jazz guitar a la  Larry Carlton’s Gibson 335. We went over “After Hours” by jazz guitarist Ronnie Jordan on YouTube.

Within 15 minutes Brian could play both the melody and chords watching me. Brian was encouraged because had not picked up guitar in 10 years. Then we went t over songs he could sing like “ Just The Two Of Us” and “Morning” by Al Jareau. Brian has an incredible voice.

Brian  emailed me next morning saying how much he was inspired and looking forward to joining my (RGS Guitar Ensemble) and wants to work on singing and playing guitar at same time. I let Brian know how fun it is for me to work with a student that has amazing talent and just needs a pro to take him to the next level.

Brian’s goal is to start doing solo gigs where he can sing and play or just play solo or do guitar duets with me. It’s always great as a guitar or bass student to set short term goals of picking the correct repertoire that you can have fun with jamming, but at same time forces you to take your bass and or guitar chops to the next level.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Richmond CA & East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

Alamo Danville CA Guitar Lessons

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It’s Never Too Late to Study Guitar from a Pro

Today I gave a one hour introductory guitar lesson to a student in Danville CA who is 66 years young and has been playing for many years. We played 6 string acoustic guitars with bronze strings and the student loves fast pace fiddle songs such as “Wildwood Flower”.  

He has the melody down but is having difficulty playing chords. So, I assigned him the “naming notes” exercise on all strings starting with low E string open, F1(F on 1st fret),G3,A5,B7,C8,D10 AND E12 which is one octave higher. He then moved on to the other strings (A, D, G, B, High-E). I then gave him a left hand finger stretch on all 6 strings and a chord exercise with roots based on string 6, 5 or top 4 strings. A-major, A-major-9, A-minor, A-minor-9 and A-minor-7.

Guitar Instructor DanvilleI pointed out that rhythm guitar is much more difficult because you are constantly varying which strings you are playing to create the chord you want (3, 4, 5 or all 6 strings) and changing the number of chords per measure and the rhythm.

To get the most out of his lessons, I recommend bi-monthly 1-hour guitar lessons at his home in Danville instead of weekly half-hour lessons so he can get into a learning-groove which will help assimilate the material more quickly.

After two weeks we will work on rhythm using a metronome and lead patterns for soloing, as well as putting the melody on string 1 or 2 and playing chords and melody at same time. My student was very excited and looking forward to his next lesson. His confidence will build as he jams with his professional guitar teacher and after 6 months, he will start to see an increase in his speed (tempo) playing chords and soloing.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Alamo – Danville – East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

Danville & San Ramon CA – Guitar Lessons at Home

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Mobile Guitar Lessons in Danville & San Ramon California

Everything is going mobile these days thanks to smart phones & iPads. I think I was ahead of the curve with my mobile guitar lessons – meaning I will come to your house in Danville or San Ramon (or anywhere else in the East Bay) and give private guitar lessons. Or if you have a friend or brother or sister that also wants lessons, we could do a small group guitar lesson.

I teach  guitar, bass, uke, mandolin and 4 & 5 string banjo lessons – beginners to advanced. I have developed my own teaching style that makes it easy to learn to play guitar or any of the other instruments I teach. There is very little risk for my guitar students – I offer the first lesson FREE and also offer the first month of guitar lessons at half price. This allows my guitar students in San Ramon and Danville to see if my method is right for them and whether or not we are going to “click” as student and teacher.Another  big plus for my guitar students’ parents in Danville & San Ramon CA is that my lessons are month-to-month – no contracts.

San Ramon Danville Guitar instructorI am probably one of the most experienced guitar teachers in the East Bay. I have developed a unique teaching system. I have toured with many well known entertainers. I have studied at some of the most prestigious music schools and with some of the finest guitar players in the world (all styles). Over time, my guitar lessons will cover all the bases to help my students grow from a casual guitar player to a professional guitar player that will have an extensive understanding of music and what is involved in a professional music career.

My website is updated frequently with all kinds of tips on guitar playing, music theory, how to build guitar confidence on strum patterns and how to use modes, scales and chords.

There’s really nothing to lose – except the opportunity to become an awesome guitar player or professional musician. Call me now to book that first guitar lesson FREE of charge.

Guitar Lessons
Danville – San Ramon – East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

Below is my version of Shakedown, a classic jazz fusion song by Spyro Gyra. All solos are transcribed from the original recording. I had a hard time transcribing the original recording organ solo but I did and Christopher Milne did a great job. My rock ensemble students did a great job in helping to pull this one off. I love the sax and guitar leads in thirds and I’m playing the guitar solo which took some practice.

 

Guitar Ensemble for Guitar Students

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Join Our Ensemble & Play Guitar in Front of the Crowd!

As a professional guitar instructor since I started teaching at age of 16 years old in New Jersey and New York City back in 1997, 15 years ago I wanted all of my students have an opportunity to experience jamming in a large ensemble format.

Most instructors, including me, would teach weekly for 1/2  hour private guitar lessons. On average I had 80 to 100 guitar students per week I love teaching guitar. 

I want all of my guitar students to be able to play solo and read music (so they can teach themselves after about 3 years of guitar study). Taking group guitar lessons may lead to feeling lost in the crowd. Private guitar lessons help you to learn what scales to solo over and playing in front of your peers.

This is what inspired me to assemble a 50-piece rock ensemble consisting of 30 guitar students ages 7 to 75 and a 20-piece horn section consisting of  soprano,alto,tenor,baritone sax as well as flute and trumpet players.

Since my  major in college was music arranging, composing and conducting I would take popular songs from the 1950’s to current pop, jazz and fusion and do custom charts.

Every guitar student I teach starts out reading music. Playing tab and by ear takes too much time and most student’s ear training is inadequate. So I would have rhythm guitar and lead guitar parts. Then, I added my own horn arrangement and I would customize the stock arrangement (record copy), and feature world renowned percussionist  “Orestes Vilato” whom was on the first 4 hit albums of Carlos Santana .  I would also hire local Bay Area professional sax instructors and professional keyboardist Christopher Milne and Gary Minadeo on drums. Myself and Bay Area monster  Blues guitarist, Adam GabrielI, would play lead guitars but my arrangements would also feature guitar solos by my guitar students.

I would have the students in for guitar lessons the first 3 weeks of every month,  then no lessons for the 4th week because I would offer students a chance to play on Monday or Tuesday nights 7-9p.m. at Spitzer Music Store in Concord (now relocated in Stockton).

All students brought their guitars and amps. I would provide celebrity musician friends of mine to fatten up the sound and pitch problems.

We started this in 1998 and within one year we had a agent  booking us to perform at professional NFL games and professional Major League Baseball games.

If you want to get better on your guitar and learn how to read and solo come join us  (925) 695-7060 Rex@GuitarConfidence.com.

San Ramon CA Bass Guitar Lessons

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San Ramon CA Bass Guitar Lessons

Keeping the Bass Guitar Beat in San Ramon

I was giving a guitar lesson to one of my bass guitar students from San Ramon who has been reading Hal Leonard’s Bass Method Book I.  He had not been practicing his reading assignments regularly for two months because he was rehearsing a 35 song playlist for a paying gig and only had so much time for practicing.

So today, we were back to the work on reading music for bass guitar.  Bass guitar uses the bass clef as compared with regular guitar that uses the treble clef. We started where we left off two months ago on techniques taught to music majors at the college level where you practice sight reading daily.

Before you play a new exercise for the first time, make sure you speak it out loud without out picking up the guitar and say each note from left to right. You should say the name of the note and the fret location. For example, on a 4 string bass if the note was string 4 fret 1 you would simply say F1. This programs your built in computer that God gave you known as your brain to remember the note locations on the fretboard.

THEN SLOWLY AT ABOUT 75 B.P.M. on the metronome tap your right foot, if your right handed, or left foot if left handed and count out loud 1,2,3, and 4 and try to play the exercise without stopping. Try not to keep looking at your fret board and hand but keep your eyes on the music so you don’t get lost. If you are still not making it through the exercise without making lots of mistakes, try naming each note out loud as you play instead of counting each beat and just say the name of the note and not the fret location. More to come.

To get started with learning to read sheet music for guitar, I highly recommend Hal Leonard Method Books.

Guitar Lessons – Chord Progressions

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San Ramon CA Chord Progressions – Guitar Lesson

I was giving a guitar lesson to a student in San Ramon who wanted to know about chord progressions.

When learning a new song, it’s best to first analyze the chords of song known as the chord progression. This will help with your memorization skills to learn and remember the song much quicker. You will also start to recognize typical chord progression patterns in songs that are similar to other songs you have already learned, which will make it easier to assimilate the information. 

For instance, a common progression like the one used in La Bamba in the key of C would start with the C chord followed by F and G. 

Chord progressions are typically notated with Roman numerals such as I, IV, V.  In this progression, C would be the I (1), F would be the IV (4) and G would be the V (5). You would call this song a I, IV, V progression. The reason to use this system is because you can quickly transpose the song to any key.  

Let’s say you want to play the song and the key of C is a little out of your vocal range.  You can then easily transpose the progression to let’s say the key of G.  G would now be the I chord, C would now be the IV chord and D would now be the V chord. 

If you know scales, you are simply taking the starting note of the scale as your I Chord, the fourth note of the scale as your IV chord and the V note of the scale as your V chord.  Taking our example above, the G major scale is G, A, B, C, D, E, F#.  So as you can see, G is in the 1st position, C is in the fourth position and D is in the fifth position.  More to come.

Sheet Music is More than Notes on Paper

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Sheet Music Gives You the Secrets to the Universe!

I attended a recent Christian Worship Team Seminar for Advanced Guitarists and the instructor told the audience that sheet music is a chart you can get off the internet that has chord symbols written above Lyrics. NO, that is not sheet music.

Sheet music reveals three important aspects to musicians whether guitarists, bass players, sax players, keyboardists or any formally trained musician.  These are:

  1. Chord Symbols written above the staff on music staff paper
  2. Written melody in standard musical notation on the staff
  3. Lyrics written below the staff

Once you learn how to read notes on all 6 strings, one string at a time in 1st position, allows you to play any song without first listening to a recording and trying to play by ear, then you can sound just like the original recording artist of any song you choose because you learn basic rhythms such as, Whole Notes, Dotted Half Notes, Half Notes, Quarter Notes and then Eighth or Sixteenth Notes and how to combine all the rhythms known as syncopation.

As a  professional guitarist, touring musician, music director, music arranger, conductor, clinician, music composer, music copyist for the San Francisco Symphony, featured guitarist on International Christian recording artist Steve Kuban’s album and author of my own guitar method course for beginners to advanced students, whether learning to play just for fun or for college students seeking to play and/or teach guitar for a living, I can’t emphasize enough the importance to take the time to learn the art of reading real sheet music.  It’s not as hard as you may think if you have a professional instructor who has a well developed teaching system.

More to come.

Professional Guitar Lessons
East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

Guitar Theory & Harmony

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Learn Substitution Theory & Harmony
Become a Better Guitarist

Today, I gave a guitar lesson to Don in Vallejo California who has been playing guitar for over 35 years. Don loves the blues, rock, jazz and many other styles of music. He wanted to learn how chord patterns and substitution theory works as well as how to solo over a group of chords known as a chord progression.

Don is very frugal and is a member of Barnes and Nobles’ Book Club that gives him a 10 percent discount off any book.  So today, I recommended a book to him, “Theory & Harmony for the Contemporary Musician” by Arnie Berle, that explains guitar theory and gives you written exercises to reinforce the lessons.

While it’s great to study from books and other online materials, it is also very important to have a professional instructor as your mentor to explain the many questions that will arise as you study theory on guitar – which is why I always say – If you want to play like a pro, learn from a pro! This is how basic guitarist becomes a true musician.

The book retails for $17.95 but with Don’s membership it was delivered free of charge for only $11.99. Once you understand the theory from this book, you then need to apply it to your guitar technique and practice sessions.  As follow up, I recommend any book by Frank Gambale for advanced guitarists and beginners.

Guitar Confidence’s professional instructors provide guitar and banjo instruction throughout the East Bay – Alameda, Alamo, Antioch, Benicia, Brentwood, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Concord, Clayton, Danville, Diablo, Discovery Bay, Elk Grove, Fairfield, Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Moraga, Napa, Newark, Oakland, Orinda, Pleasanton, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, Rossmoor, San Leandro, San Pablo, San Ramon, Stockton, Tracy, Vallejo, and Walnut Creek.

Professional Guitar Lessons
East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

 

Guitar Lessons – Practice vs. Rehearsal

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guitar metronome practice lesson rehearsal

Vacaville CA Guitar Lesson

Last week I was teaching a guitar student in Vacaville California who asked me what the difference is between rehearsals and  practicing. What a great question from a guitar student! This is why enjoy teaching because students keep you on your toes.

Practicing should involve a weekly schedule of at least five days per week and a minimum of 60 minutes per day. If you can, you should try to set a certain time every day for you to be alone with your guitar and a metronome.

I break my practice sessions down to three basic phases.

  • Finger stretches and scales
  • Chord vocabulary
  • Rehearsing songs for performing including chord progressions, riffs and solos.

Work on songs using a pick and some with no pick just using finger picking. I highly recommend working with a professional guitar instructor who reads music and can show you the techniques to help you understand the notes on the fret board and how to read charts.  

Now, the difference in rehearsing versus practicing is that rehearsals are primarily focused on bringing all the various parts together (instruments & vocals) and refining the orchestration and quality of the performance.  This will include things like timing, dynamics, harmonies, intros, outros, solos, etc. 

Typically, when rehearsing for a performance like a concert or gig you should set up rehearsals from 3 to 12 months in advanced and set up specific rehearsal dates with at least one per week. If you are fortunate and good enough to work as a studio musician or selected to rehearse and perform with other professionals, typically the musical director will assign you a set list and music charts and/or recordings of songs to practice with.

You should be prepared by the first rehearsal and have all your parts down before you show up, and you should show up early. Don’t be unprepared because this makes the rest of the band have to wait while the musical director or band leader works with the musician who is unprepared, which in turn makes rehearsals drag on and it reflects on the reputation of the musician holding things up.  

Hopefully this will give you some insight to preparing to play as a professional. One of my first professional “big opportunities” was playing with The Jackson Five and it was because of being prepared and having the ability to sight read charts that got me the job and kicked my career into a whole new level.

Contact me for Guitar Lessons
Vacaville, Vallejo – East Bay
(925) 695-7060

Jam Sessions & Guitar Lessons

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Jam Sessions Open Mic

Jam Sessions = Fun, Experience & Free Guitar Lessons

A topic that frequently comes up with guitar students that aspire to play in a band, whether a cover band or a duet doing parties, weddings, a church group or any other venue, is how to prepare and how to gain experience & confidence. I  addressed some points in my previous article, “Vallejo Beginner Guitar Lessons“.  As for getting the experience, the best way, after guitar jam sessions with your buddies, is to participate in open mike nights and jam sessions in front of a live audience.  

A professional guitar instructor can help you develop the skills, knowledge and techniques you need.  This would include some basic 2 to 4-chord jam patterns which your guitar teacher should be able to “lay down” as jam tracks at a slow speed which I call “ Tempo De Learno”. You must crawl before you walk.

Then your guitar instructor can give you some basic scale pattern lessons including some basic blues leads to throw in your bag of tricks so when you are on stage and get lost or run out of chops, you can always resort to lead patterns that work under any chord pattern.

Remember these important guitar techniques:

  • Make sure your guitar is in tune and always have a clip on tuner that is always on.
  • Make sure you know what key you are going to play in and have someone show you the basic chord progression they are going to play.
  • When you are playing rhythm guitar, remember, less is more.  Leave some open space and play 3 and 4 string chords instead of strumming all six strings.
  • When it’s time to play lead, make sure you have your volume knob on your guitar up to only 50 percent while playing rhythm so you have lots of room to crank it up so you can be heard.  Too often students aren’t turned up enough and then feel like they have to pluck the strings hard to get the volume they want.  This will negatively affect your technique especially with hammer-on and pulls.
  • Don’t hold back because you might make a mistake. Just let yourself go and look like you’re having fun because if the audience is cheering you on, you can take that energy and channel it in a way where you will find that you play things you never knew were in you.  And, if you make a mistake, don’t make a face or mumble something, smile and keep playing – the audience is there to have fun – and you are too, right?

One of my favorite local music stores that offers free jam sessions for all levels and styles, both single artists and groups of all ages, is Consumer Music in Vallejo California (707) 642-7368.  They also stock method books for guitar and all band instruments and offer a wide variety of guitars, amps and most orchestra instruments. Tell them Rex sent you.

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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