David Tiller
About
I’ve been teaching guitar, mandolin and songwriting for 30 years. I’ve also been a professional performing musician for many of those years. I studied at North Carolina School of the Arts and Shenandoah Music Conservatory. And now I am presently a Professor of Music at Regis University in Denver and Naropa Institute in Boulder. I teach all levels. I’m good with kids (as I have one who has been learning to play) and I teach professional level musicians too.
I love music. I love the transcendence into the realm of expression through sound vibration, harmony and rhythm. And I really love turning people on to their own powers or digging deep into that world, whether it’s for a simple folk song, or into the deepest realms of jazz. We are all music. It’s just a matter of accessing ourselves and learning to speak the language.
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
The first lesson is always an introduction to where you wish to go with you skills, who you are as a musician, what your needs are for learning and what you’d like to learn in the bigger picture. I always make sure you are leaving with a new big step in the direction your headed. I like to approach songs as learning tools. Learning all aspects of what makes a song work. The chords, the melody, the groove, the key, the scales that make up the song, the arpeggios that make up the chords, how to improvise on the song, reharmonizations. So that the song is the vehicle for learning. Of course this is all based on the level of the student.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I started playing at age 8. I took private lesson through high school. I attended North Carolina School of the Arts studying guitar, and The Shenandoah Conservatory of Music studying mandolin and guitar. I studied jazz with the great Dale Bruning. I took lesson for mandolin by David Grisman, Niles Hokanenn, and Andy Statman. I’ve spent my life practicing for many hours a day and have toured the US, UK, Spain, France, Mexico and Canada over the past 30 years learning on the job.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
if you come to me I charge $25 half hour / $40 an hour
if I drive to you I charge $30 half hour / $50 an hour
How did you get started teaching?
as a professional musician, and a geek for music study, teaching is a natural step for me career wise, for when I’m not performing.
What types of students have you worked with?
I work with advanced and professional musicians as well as raw beginners whom have never played a note before. A passion for music is all that’s needed to learn (and an instrument of course)
i also work with kids. I’ve taught many kiddos and I feel I’m quite good with them as I have my own that I’ve raised playing. I also thoroughly enjoy the adult whom can finally dig into to what they love about music and give themselves the gift of playing.