Joe Satriani on learning learning music theory....

A little long, but well worth the read!  

Joe Satriani from Guitar.about.com

Who would you say is your biggest musical influence that is not a guitarist? 

Joe: Well, probably my high school music theory teacher. He was the one that was able to reach me as a teenager and show me that there were mysteries out there that could be explained about music. That every musician that walked the planet before me started out equally ignorant and was taught by somebody, or a few people, about what all the musicians before them had done. I learned not only music history, but music theory and was enlightened by biographies of great musicians from the classical world, the pop world and the jazz world. All those things put together really help you sort things out. When you're a young kid and you've got music in your head, you really want to try to get it out, but you don't know how it fits together. So he was a big influence on me that way. He sort of helped me figure out what it was to be a musician. How you're supposed to go about your life. It can be very difficult. The way that all of the humans have progressed in civilization is to label things. You know, not only objects but feelings, inclinations, ideas. In the case of music, they call it music theory and make it sound more important than it really is. Basically, when you get a sound in your head, and you want to remember it, you've got to call it something. If you get a sound in your head, and you want someone else in the room to understand what it is, you've got to call it something. Whatever you call it, if that other person is familiar with that lexicon or that language, then they'll know what that sound in your head is. Imagine before there was measurement and somebody had to describe length to somebody. In music it's the same way. I can look at a musician and say "I need a minor 6th there and I need it in a triplet eighth note" and that's the language that we use and then I can communicate the sound in my head to that musician so they understand it. There's just this huge vocabulary that you have to learn in order to interpret what's going on inside of you and can understand and translate all the music coming at you from other musicians. A lot of starting out as a musician is learning that language. You learn a lot about the music that's in your head when you get that language together. It's a great experience.

Good luck on the musical journey!  -Steve
Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Happy New Year!

Here are a few highlights from the student concert that we had last fall!  

Good luck on the musical journey!  -Steve Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Student Concert Highlights Prt. 2

Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Student Concert Spring 2012 prt. 1

                                              Such a great night! The students did such a fantastic job, and those in attendance showed so much encouragement for all of the hard work and preparation that was put into each performance!  More highlights will come soon! 

                           

Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Student Jam Workshop

We recently had a Student Jam Workshop for some of my advancing students that are working on improvisation and playing lead.  We had a lot of fun.  I asked some fellow music teachers to help me with the sessions.  Here are a few highlights:

Good luck on the musical journey!  -Steve Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Group Guitar Lessons

Hey guys!

Let me start with a little bit of back story:

I am currently taking a group piano class at Collin College.  I must say, I am really enjoying it! It got me thinking about the possibilities of offering a group guitar class. Then I had somebody contact me regarding lessons, but they were only available on Saturdays, a day that I typically don't teach.

After much thought, I decided to put together a 4 week Saturday morning guitar course.  This course will be an introduction to chords, strumming, and some simple riffs.  At the end of the course you should be able to play a four chord progression, and the intro to "Sweet Home Alabama"!.

A few other things you will learn:

- The names of the strings

- How to read "tab"

-"frets"

- How to count and keep time

- Simple Strum patterns


There will be two classes. One for adults (16 and older) and another for youth (8-15). The adult class will begin Saturday morning Nov. 12 from 10:00-11:00 am. The youth class will be from 11:00-12:00. Both Classes will be held at New Hope Church in Wylie.

The cost will be 75.00 per student.  Discounts available for additional family members.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

-Steve


- Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

"Drum Lessons" Wylie Texas

Hey guys!

If you are looking for a drum teacher, I would like to introduce you to my friend Greg Bower.
He is a great guy and a heck of a drummer!  I have had the privilege of knowing and playing with Greg in various capacities for over 7 years!

Greg is pursuing teaching on a full time basis, so I wanted to give him a shout out.

I gave Greg a quick interview so that you could learn a bit more about him:

Me: How long have you been playing?
Greg:  I have been playing drums for 12 years.

Me: Where do you teach?
Greg:  Currently, I go to people's homes to teach. I find it more
convenient for the students.

Me: What is your method of teaching?
Greg:  My method of teaching depends on the student, but there is a basic
curriculum that I follow. I start with proper sticking technique: how
to hold the sticks, use the sticks, and basic sticking patterns. We
also work on basic music reading skills. For students that want to
play a drum kit, we work on how to play and read basic drum beats. 

For more advanced students, I spend more time on fills, time signatures,
and more complex beats. I also have been playing worship music in
churches for the better part of my 12 years as a drummer and can
easily tailor lessons to learning songs for that venue. In short, if
you are in middle school percussion or want to rock out in a band, I
can teach you the technique and style you want to learn.

Me: What are your rates?
I run a beginning student special of $25 for each 30 minute lesson for the
first two calendar months and then it goes to the regular price of $30
for 30 minute lessons. I also teach hour long lessons which simply translate
to double according to the half hour pricing.

Me: Can you tell us a little more about you? 

I am 28 years old and as I said before, I have been playing drums for 12 years. I grew up playing drums in churches doing worship music. However, I have also played in a variety of bands that play all kinds of music. Funk, rock, jazz, blues, or almost anything else you can think of. I am a music junkie and simply cannot get enough of it. I will listen to almost anything. I recently started collecting vinyl records and they are my favorite to listen to. 

Me: Good Luck Greg! I wish you nothing but the best! 
Greg: Hey thanks so much! 


If you are interested in finding out more about Greg or scheduling lessons with him, feel free to contact him at gregorybower@gmail.com or (214) 402-2058.

 Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Student Concert

Recently we had a student concert.  It was a great evening!  Students played various songs ranging from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Taylor Swift, just to name a few!  We had over 100 parents, friends, and family show up to show their support and encouragement to the students.

Did I say it was a great evening?

I believe live performances are important for several reasons:

1. It gives the students a chance to demonstrate the hard work they have put in to learning their instrument.

2. Nothing motivates a more intense level of practice and study like a live gig. It's easy to think a song is "good enough" when no one is going to hear it.  It changes things when you are going to play it for a room full of people.

3. They are fun!

Here are some pics from the evening-

 -Steve
 Official website Guitarlessonswylietexas.com

Reviews/Recommendations: Tuners.

Ok. Being able to play with your guitar in tune, whether by ear or with the assistance of a tuner is probably the MOST important aspect of sounding good when you play.  If you are out of tune, it will not matter how well or fast you can play, it will just sound bad period.  I often get asked "which tuner should I get"?  So, I want to talk about a few tuners that I have experience with.  There are a lot of great tuners on the market, but I will just be covering the ones that I own/use.

Allright, let's start with a heavy hitter.  BOSS TU-2 Tuner.  I love this thing. Why? Because it can sit on your pedalboard  on the floor), and is right between the signal path of your guitar and amp. Why is this a good thing? Well, imagine that you are playing a live gig and you want to tune between songs. You step on the tuner pedal (which enages it) and it mutes the sound or signal going to your amp. Now you can tune silently and not make a bunch of noise on stage.  With a cheaper handheld tuner you would have to unplug your 1/4 inch cable from your amp which would be a pain, and not exactly on the fly. With this one, you just step, tune, step again to turn off, and ready to play!  The other thing this pedal has going for it, is that it is built by Boss, which means it is built to withstand abuse. Oh yeah, believe that Boss just came out with the TU-3 which I am sure would be just as good if not better than the TU-2.

Moving right along we look at a tuner in the light-weight division.  I have a Korg GA-20 tuner that a friend gave me some time back. Great little tuner.  It has a built in mic to pic up and read the sound that it hears. If you have an electric or an acoustic with electronics you can also plug your 1/4 inch cable for improved accuracy. But again, I have good success with the mic.  One final note- I believe that GA-20 has been discontinued and has been replaced with by the GA-40 .

Finally we have the Intelli clip on tuner.

1. It works great, I appreciate the fact that it picks up vibrations from the instrument not sound, so you don't need to be plugged in or make much noise to use it.
2. The bright LCD backlight is perfect for using in a dim venue.
3. It clips on to the headstock of your guitar, so it is easy to see



           Boss                          Korg                                Intelli
                        


Take care, and feel free to e-mail any questions!
-Steve

www.guitarlessonswylietexas.com