Cupertino Guitar Lessons

My teaching studio is located at Halo Custom Guitars in Cupertino, CA.

I enjoy teaching beginners from 6 years old to “too old to say”. I also teach intermediate and advancing guitarists who want to work on jazz, classical, or rock/pop.

• Beginners of all ages will learn to play chords and melodies, learning how to read music while developing the fundamentals to learn virtually any style of music.
• Jazz guitarists will develop their ability to improvise on jazz standards while developing vocabulary and repertoire. Through learning music theory, jazz students will have a better understanding of what they’re playing and why, and can learn how to write their own tunes.
• Beginning and intermediate classical guitarists will work out of either the Noad book or the Parkening method, and will work towards building a repertoire of classical guitar music. More advanced students may wish to develop their composing and arranging for solo guitar.
• Rock and pop guitarists can learn their favorite songs and even how to write their own songs.

Performance Experience

As a jazz and solo classical guitarist I’ve performed on countless concerts, gigs, and private functions.

Before that, I played in a number of rock bands including working cover bands and groups that wrote, performed, and recorded original music. The most successful of these was Black Betty and the Bad Habits.

Ready to learn? Contact Mason.

Teaching Experience

• Teaching Assistant for Guitar Fundamentals class at San Jose State University
• Over 5 years Private Studio Teaching Experience
• Guitar Instructor at Veksler Academy of Music
• Guitar Instructor at New Mozart School of Music
• Rock Music Teacher/Camp Director at Bandworks
• Core Music Tutor at the Berklee College of Music

Teaching Philosophy; A Personal Note

Ken Pullig, Jazz Composition Department Chair at the Berklee College of Music once told me that he has seen some of his students go on to law school. He explained that learning to compose music at a high level employs a great deal of critical thinking, and abstract, creative decision-making. He made a good point in saying that the average person is faced with comparatively fewer decisions on a daily basis while the composer makes hundreds of creative decisions when composing a piece of music. The skills gained while learning to compose music – or to be involved in music in any capacity – are directly transferable to many fields and many life situations.

I’m not here to create lawyers, or to teach people to compose an elevated form of art music. I am here to educate people in music, to get them playing what they want to play as quickly as is practical, and to make an impact on their lives for the better. People who are trained in the arts are often more well-rounded people who are better communicators, excellent listeners and strong problem solvers. All of this may not be immediately evident as we struggle together to learn the chorus of a Beatles song, or discuss the mechanics of a rest stroke versus a free stroke. I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this one!

Having said all that, let’s not forget that music is a lot of fun. Ultimately, it is the desire to hear a neat sound emanate from the instrument – not high-level philosophies – that drive us to learn music. This will, of course, be the focus.

For details on private lessons, contact Mason.