Why Choose David Joel as Your Philadelphia Guitar Instructor Installment #2
Anyone seeking guitar lessons or wanting to study guitar in Philadelphia, is demanding a level of improvement in their life regarding creativity, self expression, the communication of sharing their ideas with others or simply wanting to have the fun of learning the guitar. If the person really wants to make a go of it playing the guitar becomes a mission fueled by the person’s drive to improve and know more about themselves and what actually makes music tick.
The product of my guitar lessons is a student who knows their instrument, understands and can apply music theory as well as the techniques they learn smoothly and effortlessly, has a repertoire of songs, solo pieces and single line solos (lead guitar), tunes they can strum as well as many relevant chord forms and the basics of improvisation. I’ve taught all levels of student: beginning guitar lessons, Intermediate guitar lessons and advanced guitar lessons. The key to getting my product is grooving in the basics with all my students for every level of their study and ability.
Regardless of their level, every student needs to learn the names of the notes in their instrument! I have the following goofy analogy:
You wouldn’t have friends without knowing their names, correct?
It’s the same regarding knowing the names of the notes on the instrument. This is one of the many reasons why I teach my students to read music. It gives us a common language with which to communicate. While tablature is the oldest form of musical notation for string instruments and certainly has its merits and use, it is a vacuum of knowledge – it provides no workable understanding of what the student is actually playing. When I receive a call from someone who has been playing for years, they always have a level of understanding and ability however there is always something missing. Usually there is some type of musical glue or ability lacking in order to connect their concepts and play/create is a manner which is truly satisfying. This is where the fundamentals of technique and ability to read can make what they already know much more real, fun and interesting.
Reading music can be an end onto itself, however I always see it as a means to making sense of that crazy universe called the guitar neck. People can get all kinds of false data that reading music isn’t important. The field is full of professional guitarists who don’t know how to read; this is truth! Nonetheless, many great players know they don’t know; often they don’t know what they don’t know. Learning to read is the beginning of bridging the gap and ending that confusion. That coupled with learning tunes, scales, chord forms and so forth give an individual a jumping off point by which they can learn to solo, create and really have fun playing and studying music. I have seen it in my own playing and observe it weekly as a guitar instructor in teaching my students. The people I teach walk off with an assignment each week designed to improve their abilities; they know what to study and practice.