About

As your guitar teacher, Jeff puts effort into finding what sparks your interest to learn. He will guide you as much as you want or need, but he is also very flexible and willing to go in whatever direction you wish.

Learning Songs [click]

Many students prefer to learn to play guitar by studying songs from their own music collection. Students who learn to play their own favourites tend to become more dedicated to the learning process.

However, some students are inspired by a more whimsical notion that ‘…guitar is cool!…’. These students typically want to learn specific songs, and begin taking guitar lessons only to find themselves rapidly growing bored with practice, or at worst even hating it.

Learning by example from the virtually endless pool of modern and classic songs is a proven path to success with the guitar, but trying to learn songs for the wrong reason usually amounts to a short-lived interest in guitar studies.

Jeff recognizes a need to find, and maintain a unique balance between what is fun, and what is fundamental for each individual learner.

Ideally, the ‘song-learners’ will eventually learn much more than just how to play songs-- and that's when a mastery of the instrument begins to take shape. Unfortunately, the balance of fun, and fundamental can't be achieved for everyone.

Don't be intimidated by the notion that this might be a fleeting interest. If you have the true desire to learn, use the contact form now to get in touch with your new Guitar Teacher! Sign up for guitar lessons and prove your devotion.

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Learning Music Theory [click]

Some students aren't interested in learning to play by example from popular music-- or as some say, “…to learn to play covers…”.

For those students who want only to learn about guitar, and how to play and write music, Jeff will teach from a strictly theoretical perspective, drawing on fundamental exercises, Diatonic Key Theory, and other more standard techniques for teaching the instrument.

When teaching Music Theory, Jeff prefers to work from the fabulous new book, Music Theory for Practical People, by Ed Roseman. More info about ‘Edly's’ book is available on the State College Guitar Lessons Resources page.

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What if I don't like it? [click]

If all signs point to genuine interest in learning, then you should work with a guitar teacher. Make no mistake: the guitar student's first few weeks, or even months can be very challenging, but if you are truly dedicated, you will accept the challenge. Jeff is very good at recognizing the unique difficulties which different students might encounter, and he will help you to overcome them. This is the area where he excels as a teacher.

There are students, however, who will inevitably become frustrated or bored with guitar lessons, and it becomes evident that they aren't in it for the long haul. If, after a few weeks, you find that you fit into the ‘bored-and-hating-it’ category, your teacher will understand. Maybe it's just not the right time for you, or maybe it's just not for you at all, ever. Be honest with yourself, and you'll know whether you should continue or let someone else have your time-slot.

If you are interested in learning to play guitar, and you haven't yet worked with a private guitar tutor, then you owe it to yourself to give it a try. There is no reason to put it off, unless you simply can't afford it. Don't wait ten years to finally give in to the urge, only to discover that you can play, and regret not having picked it up so many years earlier!

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Jeff's Method [click]

Jeff prefers to teach guitar by mixing a bit of learning by example, and a bit of fundamental theory, all wrapped into one. You can let Jeff lead this sort of Guitar Lesson plan, so you'll learn the songs you want to practice, while gaining an understanding of the music theory that makes the songs come together-- or you can express your own interests, and he'll do his best to accomodate what you have in mind.

According to Mark Ross of Alley Cat Music, Jeff has an outstanding tendency to maintain his students' interest because of his ability to identify the needs of each learner, and flexibility to meet those needs.

Learn more about Jeff's music performance background from the SONA bio available at the East Coast Band Network.

(Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from the Pennsylvania State University)

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Jeff can teach the following elements related to guitar studies:

Beginners' rudimentary technique
Intermediate to Advanced Lead and Rhythm
Music Theory
Using amplifiers for electric guitar
Effects pedals and rack-mount signal processors for guitar (aka. DSP Effects, stomp boxes, wha pedals, etc.)
Improvisation
Home recording with analog equipment
Home recording with digital multitrack studios (aka. Portastudio, Roland VS-1680, etc.)
Home recording with PC based software, including Sony Acid & Vegas, Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit)

Regardless of their skill level, I'm always pleased to work new people. I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many dedicated learners, and I hope that you decide I'm the right Guitar Teacher to help you achieve your own goals.

Sample some of the instructor's guitar work:

sona [US] - Birdsong

(professional studio recording)

Promotional demo

(home-studio recording)

Wood, Strings, and … High-Technology?

Students have shown remarkable improvement following what might be considered a more cutting-edge approach to music transcription. When a student expresses that he or she has access to a home computer, Jeff will integrate the use of Power Tab, a PC software tool available to students for FREE. When a song file (a music, or lesson transcription) is loaded into PowerTab, the Tempo can be adjusted, making it easy to slow down difficult passages. Students will set his or her own personal performance goals and experience real progress in ability by meeting and exceeding a slower practice tempo, then gradually increasing up to performance speed.

Students are encouraged to download PowerTab software, and begin collecting the PowerTab .ptb media files from the thousands available at several popular user web sites.

Jeff does not require that his students use PowerTab.

Sight reading:

Jeff can also help a student learn to sight-read ^† , if he or she wishes or needs to learn the classic technique, however he does not focus on, or force his students into sight-reading. Jeff puts less emphasis on force-feeding theory for theory's sake, and more emphasis on observation and real-world examples in order to explore the unique learning ability of each individual.

^† Sight-reading:: Classic sightreading music transcriptions using standard musical notation; Whole-Notes through 32^nd Notes, Lines, Spaces, and Measures on the Staff, as seen in piano or Gospel music, for example.
^‡ Tableture:: A method of music transcription, unique to the Guitar, in which music is represented using standard notebook paper, hence the name Tableture. The tableture transcription method is designed with ease-of-use in mind. Tones and chords are represented using numbers and lines which correspond to the frets and strings of the guitar.

Who is this Jeff guy, really?

Thats about it for the technical, Guitar-Student stuff. I've included this final section to give the prospective student just a bit more insight into my background as a musician. Enjoy!

the Rockstar!

Rockstar, a nickname applied by Mark Ross of Alley Cat Music, has been stuck on Jeff since 1999 or so, when it became a part of regular Alley Cat vocabularly, based on Mark's opinion of Jeff's band, and his guitar technique. For anyone who doesn't know Mark, he is well-known as a great guitarist-- and as a blues-man from his days of touring with Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band. Ross is also famous for tormenting his co-workers, so it was only a few years before the name Rockstar eventually came to refer to Jeff.

Jeff's [former] bands are available to listen in high-quality mp3 at Last.FM . Both e-Nation and sOna are listed. Jeff encourages you to visit Last.FM, play his music, and contribute your own review, add comments, and in general, participate in Audio-Scrobbling at Last.FM. Enjoy!