Roger Ferguson Guitar Lessons

My teaching approach:

I often will, within the course of a one hour lesson, research a tune, learn it, show the student how it is played, write it down and/or make a recording of the important points... in which case, I send it via email and the student often has it waiting for them when the arrive home.

My influences are:

My early influences were; Bill Monroe, Bob Wills, Django Reinhardt, Doc Watson, and Don Reno. Later influences (more inspiration than influence) are Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Tommy Emmanuel, and Chet Atkins.

My guitar lessons take place in:

The teacher's studio

Guitar Lessons with me take place in the following areas:

Olympic College, Poulsbo HiRez Studio, Bainbridge Island Various music camps - PSGW , Sorrento BCBW

Guitar Techniques:

Guidance In Equipment Selection, Recording and Production, Song Writing, Scales and Exercises, Music Theory, Reading Music, Jamming Skills, Performance, Vocal Accompaniment, Slide Guitar, Fingerstyle, Rhythm guitar, Lead guitar

Your first guitar lesson with me might include the following:

I ask a variety of questions inspired by what I already know about the student (age, time playing, etc). Find out who their inspiration is, why the guitar (I also teach mandolin, fiddle, and bass) As soon as they are comfortable, I ask them to play something. Not the most challenging thing they are working on... just ANYTHING. With my 40 yrs of playing experience, I immediately see where they are week and strong - from technique to theory.

A guitar lesson with me might entail the following:

Hey how's it going? Blah,Blah,Blah... Did you have a chance to play much this week? What did you spend most of your playing time on? Well let's look at that in some detail. The student could have worked on last weeks lesson, or found a new inspiration and went that another direction. As long as they are playing and learning, I don't really worry about the immediate direction, however, long term goals are always foremost in my approach.

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

One who is self motivated, over the age of 10, possesses a healthy attitude re:learning and is regular with attendance. I always put attitude above aptitude. If the student is learning, and ENJOYING it, it makes no difference to me how fast they progress. Music study is truly about the journey - and not the destination.