Quincy Cotton

My teaching approach:

The pursuit of playing the electric guitar is extremely open-ended and fun. Since there isn't a wrong way to play, I aim to simply highlight a student's strengths and try to help them grow based on what they enjoy about the instrument. There is no limit to what can be done or what you can learn. I've been a classically trained musician from the age of 6, and have had college level training in music theory and performance. I am a very extreme advocate of developing your ear before anything else. This is far and away any musician's most useful tool and skill.

My influences are:

I have five guitar players that I would consider the most influential to me. The first and foremost would be Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden. I can credit him as the player that made me want to play. Eddie Van Halen made me want to become a great guitar player, versus just being a player. Joe Satriani made me want to have a strong command of theory and be able to apply that to guitar. John Frusciante made me understand that emotion and feeling go way past simply being a shredder. John Mayer made me want to become a complete songwriter. (Jimi Hendrix is present in all of these players.)

My guitar lessons take place in:

The student's home

Guitar lessons typically take place on these days and hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I am available all hours after 12:00 PM. I am currently enrolled in Berklee College of Music as a Guitar Principle and have classes. Thursday I am free after 4 PM.

Guitar Techniques:

Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar, Performance, Improvisation, Jamming Skills, Reading Music, Music Theory, Scales and Exercises, Song Writing, Guidance In Equipment Selection

Your first guitar lesson with me might include the following:

My first step is to make my student comfortable around me. When you're nervous you tend to not play as freely and overthink your selection of notes, leading to sloppy play and poor performance. That means talk about your favorite guitar players, musical influences and casual talk. Once a student is comfortable I have them play for me, whether that be one chord or an entire song. I evaluate a student from this point to properly pace my teaching tempo and see how I can help them on their path to ultimately become a better guitar player.

A guitar lesson with me might entail the following:

The goal for when I'm teaching is not to make my student simply a better guitar player, but rather a better musician who's proficient with the guitar. The first step in any lesson of mine is to make sure a student is well equipped to get the most from his or her lesson. That means making sure our guitars are in tune (to each other!) and warm up exercises. I focus on ear training, regular and healthy practice habits and jamming ability. You will enjoy all aspects of guitar more when you are able to take the skills you've learned and be able to apply them naturally versus being "bedroom player."

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

My ideal guitar student is a player open to any musical style or type of music. The best guitar players are ones that have many different influences that they incorporate into a style that is all their own. If you begin to premature decide what you like and don't like you are already closing yourself off from opportunities to learn. Legendary guitar players like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton all had broad ranges of stylistic tastes, each citing genres that wouldn't immediately come to mind when imagining the influences of a great guitar player.