Dave's Music

   I like to keep a fun and casual environment. The first lesson, which is a free, determines where you are in your music career. If this is your first time picking up the instrument, we will go over the very basics i.e. naming the parts of your guitar, bass, or, ukulele, learning some history, learning some important jargon, a quick lesson on how to read tab, and subsequently a chromatic scale to give you a drill to help build your coordination and strength. The drill feels a little tedious at first but the whole "walking before you can run" proverb still applies in the musical world and with a little practice you'll have it mastered in no time. We'll end learning a couple of open chords so you can have something fun to play before your next lesson and so your hands can begin to get used to chording. If you are a more advanced student we will asses where to begin and start from there. Of course, your more than welcome to ask any questions you can think of at anytime during any of our lessons. 

I was trained exclusively by Berklee University alumnus and former Santa Fe College professor Jeffery Ladenheim in the Berklee method for more than 7years. 

 Currently I am offering Guitar lessons (electric, acoustic, and classical) lessons for $40/1hr for a 5 lesson pack with priority scheduling.  Feel free to visit my website daves-music.com for more information. Or feel free to call, text, or email any questions or requests at (352)559-2191 and [email protected]

I have been teaching for years off and on. It's an absolute pleasure to watch someone grasp something, grow, and enjoy a new ability, especially the ability to express one's self through music. For the last year I have been a private consultant to Hoggtowne music as their Saturday guitar instructor, and have decided it's finally time to take the leap of opening a new business and take in new students. 

I have worked with all types of students. From every age group and every walk of life. That said my only restriction is that children be 7 years of age or older since, in my experience, the amount of time, focus, hand strength, and conceptual learning skills required tend to be overwhelming for younger children. If you have a younger child whose responsibly capable enough for lessons or you would like to have your younger child play something that requires less hand strength (like ukulele) for half hour lessons, please contact me to see if we can work something out. 

Watching any student progress is absolutely wonderful! I had one of my younger students describe a musical composition to me (a twelve bar blues) and play it using various chord types and in multiple keys, I was overjoyed!  I see adults struggle with this kind of stuff. And even though my student doesn't realize it yet, he's pointed in a direction that will allow him to discover new musical nuances and develop musical creativity in the future. With practice he will get really good. 

Be sure they can help you progress at a moderate pace. They should have a firm grasp of the music theory behind what they do and be able to convey it to you plainly. In short, they should be able to play well, understand how and why they play  the way they do and be able to convey that information to you plainly and patiently in a consistent manner. 

Every student should have some idea of what their end goals are. This means having a vision for what you expect yourself to able to do in Music when you are done receiving lessons. In other words, have at least an idea of what type and styles of music you'd like to be able to play and how "good" you would like to become. But equally importantly is recognizing that your instructor, in this or any discipline, knows how best to get you to your goals and how long it may take. So be prepared to learn how they teach you as opposed to how you think "they should" teach you. Remembering all along if you knew best you wouldn't need a teacher in the first place.  I fully expect that most students will be surprised by their progress and find their goals changing with time, as they meet and exceed their previous ones.