Andrew Burglass

Hello! Here’s a brief summary about how to start lessons for beginners:

You contact me to schedule your first lesson and send me a list of your favorite music, songs, bands, ultimate goal for guitar at the moment (learn to play fingerstyle, learn to improvise, learn the to play Jimi Hendrix solos—whatever your goal is). I will check the music out before the first lesson.

In the lesson I’ll assess your skill level and I’ll choose appropriately challenging music from your list (or music related to it) and this music will serve as a vehicle for you to learn guitar fundamentals, chords, scales, and beyond.

I will give you a couple bite sized things to practice for the week and you will work on those things a little bit every day (only takes 15 minutes per day), and by reviewing the material a little each day, your coordination will improve as your brain forms new neural pathways. Cramming all your practicing the day before the lesson does not work, even if you practice for hours. It’s better to just do a little every day.

The fundamentals I will give you are not arbitrary and might seem simple, but they are bang-for-your-buck techniques, and by doing them a little every day, you will progress exponentially faster than you would trying to teach yourself, not knowing what you should or shouldn’t be focusing on.

You will schedule your second lesson for the next week, which is free—(first lesson is full price and second lesson is free). In the second lesson we will build on the fundamentals you worked on that week and I will give you new bite-sized things to work on for the next week.

After one lesson, one week to practice, and one follow up lesson, you’ll have a decent idea of what lessons will be like. This is why I offer the 2-for-1, because one lesson isn’t enough to really learn anything. Improvement comes with weekly practice and subsequent follow up lessons.

Expectations:

You can expect to be able to play at least one song within the first 1-4 lessons (usually after 2 lessons and 2 weeks of practice). As you improve your fundamentals week by week, you will be able to pick up things more and more quickly.

—Andrew