1.) In a consultation I find out exactly what you want to be able to do. Discovering your goals provides direction for the music lessons so they are relevant and have a purpose. With this aligning factor, your practicing has a real-world application to “why” you are doing something. I also gather information about your musical background, experience, likes and dislikes as well as musical strengths and weaknesses.

With this information I plot out a program that directly leads you to your musical goals: it could be short and simple or lengthy and involved. If a beginner’s main goal is to be able to play easy songs on their instrument the lessons could be very simple with a short runway to actually playing. A person wanting to master specific musical skills could have a “program” that takes anywhere from one to four years depending on their current ability level and what kind of music they want to be proficient in. (Becoming an advanced player takes years of dedicated work.)

 

A free consultation takes anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. We talk things over, get an idea of how things work and decide to continue or not. If we decide to move ahead, it becomes a paid lesson and we start! An average of 9 out of 10 consultations start lessons.

 

2.) Phase 1 – We establish the necessary skills in order to start playing the music you want to play. We only cover the amount of technique, theory, rhythm skills and ear training skills needed to do get going. A beginning student only needs a tiny bit of theory to get rolling, about 10 or 15 definitions of words, and a beginning guitarist or bassist will need more technique work than a piano player due to the nature of the instrument. Phase 1 takes anywhere from 2 weeks to four months.

3.) Phase 2 – With the foundation set in Phase 1, you start doing what you came to do. We directly apply what has been learned to your goals. (Though much of the time this happens during the first lesson!) In this phase, you are now doing what you came to do. It could be playing songs all the way through, doing public performances for the first time or writing your first song. However it goes.

4.) Phase 3 – As you are doing what you came to do, we tighten up the basics and clean things up as needed. We upgrade technique for smoother and more efficient playing, take the theory and ear training to the next level so the music is more “real,” and take the rhythm studies to the next level so the music sounds better, cleaner and is more enjoyable to listen to by others. Too much theory or mechanical exercises right away can be frustrating and boring, but at this point these things take on a real purpose and can be exciting and beneficial!

5.) Phase 4 – We actively apply the increased facility and understanding to what you are playing. There is a lot of overlapping between these phases, but at this point we actively put in the fundamentals to the music at hand: direct application.

At this point we continue between Phase 3 and Phase 4 for the duration of the lessons. If a new goal or set of goals is established we’re back at Phase 1 in that area and the entire process is repeated.

Once you are completely satisfied with what you’ve accomplished we are done. My personal goal as a teacher is to simply get you to where you want to be. Once you are there… my job is finished.

Students have stayed with me for anywhere from six months to five years: it all depends on what the goals are and how good a person wants to get in order to be happy.

The whole point of this for you to be successful and happy with what you are doing, right?

 

Marty
Studio (818) 242-7551
Moblie (818) 517-3164
(Click here to see exact what I teach.)

 

“I studied guitar a few years back and learned a lot of theory, but I hadn’t realized how much my lack of technique ruined it for me. When I started studying with Marty, we got right into fixing this up and it has made all the difference in the world. I really enjoy playing guitar now, learning more and more each week!”

Karla K.
Songwriter / Guitarist / Professional Singer

 

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