Aaron Mendelsohn Guitar Lessons

My teaching approach:

I tailor my lessons to the student's ability and interests. I find that a few scales are an important foundation for learning the geography of the guitar. Beyond that, I typically spend most of the lesson on songs and improvisation, but also keep the repetition of scales and a slight emphasis on ear training to help the student understand the working of harmony on the guitar. I find iPhone voice memos to be useful in documenting progress, and suggest each student purchase a manuscript notebook to keep all the notes in one place.

My influences are:

Radiohead, The Beatles, Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, The Beach Boys

My guitar lessons take place in:

The teacher's studio or the student's home

Guitar lessons typically take place on these days and hours:

Monday 11-5 Tuesday 4-8 Wednesday 11-10 Thursday 11-3 Friday 5-10 Saturday 11-3 Sunday 11-3

Guitar Techniques:

Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar, Fingerstyle, Improvisation

Your first guitar lesson with me might include the following:

In the initial lesson, I like to chat about what bands the student listens to and ask him/her some questions about their experience with guitar and playing music in general. I find that most students are honest about their experience and skill level. We'll take it from there and play some guitar. I can usually tell which students are quick to pick up on new ideas, and I find this to be as important as determining their current playing level. It helps to develop some expectations of the pace of the lesson plan.

A guitar lesson with me might entail the following:

I like to check in with the student about how the week went practicing, see if their are any particular questions to trouble points to look at in what we've been working with. Beyond that, I find that most students get the most joy and make the most progress by spending time working on songs they love. This is how I learned to write and how I like to teach. I do find that it's important to keep looking at scales, riffs, and intervals consistently as well, to maintain and foster a deeper understanding of the instrument.

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

It's always nice to work with students who genuinely want to get to a place where they feel like they understand the guitar and can play the way they want to play.