Mike Buckley Music

I have made it my mission to be a well-rounded musician and person. I believe that your life experiences in terms of travel, history, art, and personal relationships are a huge factor in learning more about music.

I taught myself guitar as an early teenager, but soon after started taking private lessons with a great musician and later friend. Many of my teaching methods are based off how he taught me and prepared me for music school. I attended many clinics in high school, performed in the jazz combo for which I received the Louis Armstrong award, and performed with my own rock band outside of school at various clubs and outdoor events in town.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude from UNCW with a BA in Jazz Performance. While there I received several awards including the Cape Fear Jazz Appreciation Scholarship and the Chancellor's Award. At this time, I took classes on pedagogy (teaching), composition, arranging, music history, piano, orchestration, rhythm section techniques, trumpet/tuba/trombone/percussion/drumset, jazz improvisation, theory, ear training, singing, music technology, recording techniques and much more. I performed in guitar ensemble, jazz combos, big band, vocal jazz ensemble and my senior and junior recital. Additionally, during this time I was recording in the studio, performing with many different bands, doing solo gigs for weddings or other formal events, teaching, writing my own music and leading groups.

After college, I performed internationally with a successful touring group that does over 200 shows a year. This experience took things to a different level for me in terms of performance ability, understanding the music business and honing my craft. I now primarily focus on teaching, writing, studio sessions, and gigs that don't take me as far away from home and my dog! Who knew driving over 30 hours a week would be so exhausting?

My teaching philosophy is to give my students the tools to teach themselves so they don't really need me ;) We accomplish this by learning the fundamentals thoroughly. I like my students to be able to identify with the name of every note on the guitar, understand intervals, scales and chords as applied to the guitar, develop solid technique that prevents future physical pain, and most importantly, learn how to have endless ideas for creative, inspired, improvisation so that you have the versatility to join any band you want and play any style you can think of.