Doug Karalius Guitar Lessons

My teaching approach:

I like to mix the lesson about 50/50 with theory/skills practice and song practice. I started teaching guitar as a teenager. I am a university English professor during the day now, but my first love is still guitar, and I have many years teaching guitar. I have a Taylor 714ce acoustic, and a Godin LG electric that I play through a Line 6 POD for electric lessons via Skype. I use Reaper as my Digital Audio Workstation for recording. I also have a TC-Helicon Play Acoustic, which is a cool processor that makes for some excellent acoustic and vocal sounds.

My influences are:

Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, and many many more. My influences are all over the place, but I think that drawing from many influences makes for a unique sound.

My guitar lessons take place in:

The teacher's studio

Guitar lessons typically take place on these days and hours:

I can teach evening lessons via Skype from 6:00-9:00pm Tuesday through Saturday.

Guitar Techniques:

Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar, Open tuning, Slide Guitar, Performance, Improvisation, Jamming Skills, Music Theory, Scales and Exercises, Song Writing, Guidance In Equipment Selection

Your first guitar lesson with me might include the following:

The first lesson is free. We will meet for 30 minutes on Skype and talk about your past musical experience, then we will break out the guitars and see where you are with your skills. If the student has never played before, the introductory lesson will go over the anatomy of the guitar, the basics of the chromatic scale and how it works on the guitar, a few initial chords and an easy song to get you started.

A guitar lesson with me might entail the following:

I like to focus the first half of the lesson on instruction of new chords, scales, exercises and theory. The second half of the lesson is spent applying what we have learned to a song. I believe that students need to start playing songs that they enjoy as quickly as possible, and they need to continue learning new songs they like that incorporate new techniques to grow as a player. Guitar playng is meant to be fun, and I want my students to love playing guitar and never dread the word "practice!"

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

My ideal guitar student falls in love with the guitar, and genuinely enjoys playing and learning new songs and sounds on the guitar. If the love for the guitar is there, the lessons are that much more fun for both of us!