Otis Cantrell Guitar Lessons

My teaching approach:

I first started on drums, and then moved to the guitar around the age of 13. I have been performing in various styles and atmospheres in and out of school ever since I was about 15 years old. I feel every student should be able to make decisions on what they would like to learn the most. So every decision made from my teaching point of view is finding out how to achieve the ultimate goals of a student. Even if some students are learning very similar skills it is my job to approach each and every individual differently and adapt to their ways of learning appropriately.

My influences are:

Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jim Hall, Louis CK (comedian I know what you're thinking, but he's pretty innovative when it comes to modern artists I think), Keith Jarrett, Bob Dylan, Spoon, The Black Keys, Johnny Cash, Corey Christiansen (my instructor), Led Zeppelin, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Chopin, Debussy, Radiohead, Mark Whitfield, everyone in IU jazz studies department

My guitar lessons take place in:

The student's home

Guitar Lessons with me take place in the following areas:

I teach lessons via Skype, or for a bit more of a fee in the Bloomington area in student's homes.

Guitar Techniques:

Scales and Exercises, Music Theory, Jamming Skills, Improvisation, Performance, Vocal Accompaniment, Rhythm guitar, Lead guitar

Your first guitar lesson with me might include the following:

A brand new lesson with someone I have never met would begin with conversation to get to know each other. Some questions I may ask would involve stylistic preferences, favorite artists, etc. to get a better idea of a student's musical foundation. From there we would discuss the goals of the student and why they are taking lessons. At that point we will start to map out smaller goals such as certain songs to begin working on.

A guitar lesson with me might entail the following:

The beginning of a lesson would be review of the previous lesson's topics. At this point I can assess if it is time to move on to more difficult things or stay on the same topics to further solidify them. If the topic is a certain song we will listen to it together and review what we discussed about it. If it is a certain scale, chord shape, rhythm, theoretical term, or anything else I will provide examples to recap the previous lesson.

The qualities I look for in an ideal guitar student might include the following:

Students of any musical instrument (or voice) should have a strong foundation in passion for music. Through passion for music I feel it is easier to be hard-working. Really, if a person is working from their passion they eventually get to a point where they are not working at all. From there, a student can continue to broaden their playing and musical knowledge to further stimulate their passion. It becomes a great revolving circle of learning.