I never get tired of teaching, because, for me, it is an incredibly creative pursuit. There are principles that are important for any guitar teacher to pass on, and in the early years of teaching I saw my job as imparting information and principles.

The lessons I gave in those years focused mostly on the stuff you can get from books or videos – songs, scales, note reading, theory. I quickly discovered that I could continually improve my abilities to impart that information by honing my communication skills and tuning in to the needs, learning styles and responses of each student. Doing so felt creative and my students learned quickly and enjoyed their lessons, but as the years passed, I became bored and convinced that I could give more.  And so I started down a long and enlightening road that I happily expect to never end.

These days I still teach the all important musical principles and information, but what now drives the lesson is the desire to give each individual what is impossible to get from books or videos: how to adjust the hands or body to affect the sound; how to focus the mind or shift a thinking style in order to learn the music more deeply and efficiently; how to abandon the analytical aspects of the music and feel through a song, infusing it with rhythm that is both correct and moving; how to improvise, make up songs or just have fun! The only way for me to do these things is to be 100% present – watching, listening and feeling – and then to allow intuition and creativity to bring forth ideas and processes that create a powerful shift for the student. THAT is remarkably effective and it makes me high every time!