Online Private Guitar Lessons
Play what you love!
Most people who gave up on the guitar gave up because months of exercises never turned into music. Bring a song you want to play, and we go straight into it. You will be playing a piece of that song fifty minutes later.
Lessons are one to one over video, $50 for fifty minutes or $180 for four. Beginners are welcome, and the guitar you already own is enough.
Fifteen minutes, $10, and you leave with a starting point.
A single lesson50 minutes · $50One full lesson centered on your goals, with exercises for your hands and fretboard knowledge.Book a lesson →
Four lessons4 × 50 minutes · $180This is the one I recommend, at $45 a lesson. Four weeks gives us time to go deeper and build technical skills that raise your capacity on everything you play after it.Book the four →
Times show in your own time zone, and payment is taken when you book.
Why this works when the videos didn’t
There is more free guitar instruction online than anyone could watch in a lifetime, and most people who try to learn from it end up watching instead of playing. Nobody is there to give pointers on the angle of your fretting hand, or personalized advice on how to hold the pick. You get through the video, the sound never quite arrives, and the guitar goes back in the corner.
In a lesson I am watching your hands while you play. When something is not working I can tell you why inside a few seconds, and we fix it that day. The lesson is also built around the song you brought, so your time is spent working on something you’re interested in, which will help you stay motivated to work at it.
One hour with a teacher who can see you will move you further than a month of videos. I will tailor the lesson to you and where you are.
What happens in your first lesson
It’s fun to start with a song you want to learn. I will listen to it with you and we find the part of it that is in reach for you today, which is a different part for every player. We slow it down, take it apart, and you learn the piece well enough to take it with you for the week and enjoy it.
You will be playing before the lesson ends, slowly enough to be correct and solid enough to survive when you bring the tempo up. You leave with a few exercises drawn from what we worked on that day, so you can build your technical skills when you practice throughout the week.
If you have never touched a guitar, this still describes your first lesson. We pick something simpler, and you still play music on the first day. Beginners often make the fastest visible progress, because all gains are new and fun.
The song is the lesson
Every song you love can be a curriculum. The chord shapes, the timing, and the harmony and melody can all be created with your guitar. When we work from music you already love, each technique arrives as you need it and stays with you because you’re enjoying the learning.
Having fun and playing what you love will help practice hold. A song you love will pull you back to the guitar on the random Tuesday evening when you are tired, and that consistency is what makes a great player.
The songs will build a map of the neck as they accumulate. Each progression we work on can be voiced in two or three places up the fretboard, and the positions connect to one another in a pattern. Through practical use, the names for the building blocks of music will come in the process of learning and deepen your understanding of the HOW behind the songs you love.
Who’s teaching
I hold a master’s degree in special education and was a classroom teacher for five years. That work trained me to identify a student’s current skills and find steps to the next level of learning.
I am a working musician. I write, record, and release my own music as Khoma Brut. I play live most weeks, and I studied music at the university level. Most of my years in bands went into improvising and building songs with other people live, like Regular Humans, my band from New Mexico. That kind of playing requires deep listening, and teaching people to hear the underlying mechanisms of a song or jam is the part of this work I like most.
You can hear what I am playing now at Carries Fire.
You risk one lesson at most.
Every lesson sends you home with something worth practicing. If one of them does not, tell me and I will refund it. That applies to the four lesson package as well, so there is no version of this where you are stuck paying for something that is not working.
Questions
I have tried to learn before and stopped. Will this be different?
The two reasons people stop are that the material never sounds like music and that they don’t have a teacher to help make the process make sense and come alive. Both of those are what a lesson is for. If it turns out I am not the right teacher for you, the refund covers it.
What if I’ve never played before?
Then we start at the beginning, and we start with music you like. Beginners often make the fastest visible progress, because everything is new and every week shows.
What if I don’t have a song in mind?
Then we find one together. I will ask what you have been listening to, what you loved at fifteen, or what you turn up in the car. Something workable comes out of that every time. Once we are underway, most lessons continue the piece we started the week before, so you only need to arrive with a song when you have one you are itching to learn.
What if I’ve played for years?
Most people who have played a long time have plateaued somewhere specific and already know roughly where it is. We will work on finding exercises, music theory, or song ideas that will take you to the next level.
Can you teach me to figure out songs on my own?
Yes, and it is one of my favorite things to teach. We start by hearing when chord changes happen, which is the harmony of the song. We identify the type of chord, and how it relates to the structure of the song. Most students are surprised at how fast they can start to do the basics of this.
Can you teach me to solo?
Yes, and we get there through solos you already love. We take a lead line apart and look at how each phrase sits against the chords moving underneath it, so you can hear why those notes work in that spot. Once you can see that relationship, the same thinking carries into your own playing.
Practical details
What styles do you teach?
My own background is folk, bluegrass, and improvised rock. Good technique and music theory works with your style, because an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the guitar carries over to your genre.
How much do I have to practice?
Consistency is best, so we can set achievable goals for you during the lesson. If you are able to pick up the guitar every day, that is best. How much time you spend practicing is really determined by your motivation and your schedule. Many people find that once they pick up the guitar and start playing, time passes faster than they thought.
What do I need?
You need a guitar, a tuner, and a device with a camera you can prop where I can see your hands and a microphone that picks up the guitar. Acoustic and electric both work, and headphones can be helpful although they are not necessary.
Do the four lessons expire?
No. Most people use them across four to six weeks to keep up momentum, but they are valid forever.
Can I reschedule?
Yes. Your confirmation email has a link to move or cancel your booking, and requires one day’s notice.
Where are you?
I live in Guatemala. The booking page converts every slot into your own time zone, so what you see is in your time.
If none of the available times work, email me and we will find one.