Jason's Bass & Guitar Lessons

Every student learns differently. I apprecaite hearing about a student's musical interests and aspirations and will often taylor a season of lessons toward agreed upon goals.

I focus on technique fundamentals on both bass and guitar while weaving in some basic theory training and ear training. I can write out and record music that suits the student's needs for learning (e.g., TAB, standard notation, recorded examples, etc.).

I enjoy spending time learning about and sharing musical influences. For example, while I'm not a huge Led Zeppelin fan, I've listened to and learned many Led Zeppelin songs because of the interests of my students.

My ultimate goal is to help a student develop the agency to become a self-learner on their chosen instrument.

Education For one year, I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. While I learned a ton of great things at Berklee, I left because the East Coast was a little to harsh for me. Eventually, I finished my Bachelors in Music at Pacific Lutheran University (2000) where I participated in the PLU Jazz Ensemble, worked for PLU Audio Services, and played tons of gigs. I've played for a variety of artists in recording studios, played an obscene number of free gigs, farmers markets, weddings, impromtpu dance parties, and hootenanys. I've written and recorded music with my brothers, who are also local Seattle area musicians.

In 2012, I decided to go back to school and get my masters degree. I attended the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, FL and completed my degree in 2014.

Work Experience
After graduating from PLU, worked for a short time at Tacoma Guitars in their (now closed) factory doing set-up on their mid-level guitars that were made overseas and shipped to the US. That lasted only a short while before I realized I'd rather make music than guitars. I quit that job and began working for two churches: University Place Presbyterian Church in University Place, WA and a joint ministry venture between Pacific Lutheran University and Trinity Lutheran Church in Parkland, WA for students - a Saturday night service called The Cross.

Three years of doing work at two churches, I got married and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where I served as the Worship Arts Leader at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, CA. My wife, Sara, graduated from seminary and served as a pastor at that same church. We loved living in California, but our roots are thoroughly Pacific Northwest and we were drawn back. We moved back up here in July of 2014 where Sara is now pastor of a mission-start church (salthousechurch.org) in Kirkland and I'm serving as the half-time music and arts leader.

I typically charge $33 per lesson regardless of the skill of student. Lessons last around 45 minutes.

I started teaching as a side-gig when I was just out of college. I taught many students for about 12 years, first in Tacoma, WA and then in Walnut Creek, CA.

I took a break from teaching while my wife and I began having kids and raising our family. Now that my youngest is entering kindergarten this fall, I'm ready to fire up my teaching machine again and continue sharing the gift of learning and making music.

Primarily beginners and indermediate players.

Carve out some time to pratice every day. Taking the time to invest in your instrument will always yield the best results.

What kind of music brings you joy? What do you love about playing (or the idea of playing) your instrument?