Jeff Snow Guitar Lessons

The most important part of learning the guitar is finding a good teacher. One who understands what you want to do and will respond to the student. To read my article on selecting a teacher click the button.

Several years ago I sat down and thought about why the majority of the people I see playing the guitar began taking lessons. After talking to many people and examining the methods used to teach them, I came to the conclusion that they weren't being taught what they needed to know to have fun with the instrument. With that in mind I came up with a program that I call Guitar Basics & Beyond.

Most people want to learn to play the guitar for their own enjoyment and that of their family and friends. Traditional guitar courses work from a series of instructional books that focus on learning scales, modes and music theory. Every few months you have to buy the next book which not only becomes expensive, but you need to spend more time learning and practicing things you don't really need to know in order to enjoy playing the guitar. After many months (or years) the student becomes bored and frustrated and gives up. Guitar Basics & Beyond is different.

Guitar Basics & Beyond has been designed to get the student into enjoying the guitar as soon as possible. Some work on scales and music theory is necessary but it can be learned as you go along. The idea is to have the student playing songs soon after beginning. This early progress will encourage the student to continue to work at learning more about the instrument.

There are no books or materials to buy. After the fundamentals are taught, each student has their lessons geared towards what they want to learn to play.

I do work with people with special needs and non-traditional learners. The lessons will be tailored to them and their abilities. You won't find that in the method book approach.

Here's part of an email from the mom of a 12 year old non-traditional learner. He just had a lesson on his birthday.

I just have to thank you a bazillion times over during **'s lesson yesterday. As we left, ** was beaming (and he has experienced precious little in his life to beam about). He said, "My lesson with Jeff was the best birthday present! If I didn't get a gift after my lesson, I would be fine with that!"

You showed your brilliance, Jeff, throughout the lesson. I think THAT half-hour of learning was the most targeted and appropriate period of learning ** has ever had. He came home and excitedly shared with his siblings, "I jammed with Jeff!" Why is it that this kid has spent 6 years plus kindergarten in countless hours with professional teachers, and he has never before had anyone "get" his unique mind?

Cancellation Policy

I understand that situations arise that prevents a student from attending their music lesson. It is important that you understand how I handle cancellations.

If you must cancel your lesson I need at least 24 hours notice. This gives me the time and the flexibility to schedule another student during that time slot. When it is possible, I will make up the missed lesson in one of 2 ways.

        1. We can reschedule for another time during the day of the original lesson.
        2. We can reschedule for another day during the same week.

If you do not give me 24 hours notice and we cannot find a time to reschedule, you will be expected to pay for the missed lesson.

                                                       Practice

                                The most important skill I will teach you is the correct way to practice

Practice is an important part of learning any musical skill. If the student does not practice regularly they will not develop the skills necessary to play the instrument. The time the student spends with the guitar away from me is more important than the time they spend with me. Twenty minutes of focused practice is better than an hour of messing around.

Practice time has one overall goal then individual smaller goals. At the end of the session you want to be able to recognize that you are a better player than you were when you started. That is the major goal.

Remember that in many people-me included- recognizing that you are a better player comes at the beginning of the next session when you sit down to go over what you worked on last. That is when you will really notice the improvement.

I advocate smaller, more frequent sessions than one longer practice. I rarely practice for more than 20-30 minutes at a time but will do it several times a day. It's easier to stay focused and easier to notice improvement.

"Perfect Practice makes Perfect-" Don't practice mistakes. All you will do is get very good at making that mistake. If you keep making the same mistake over and over-isolate the problem and fix it.