Why was this website created?

"I don't want to pay $300 to learn how to play a D chord"

I took my first - and last - guitar lesson in September 1985. Quite excited, I took a bus about 15 miles to the music store where the lessons were held. I showed up on time. My teacher did not. After more than an hour of waiting amidst surly salesmen and noisy customers, the teacher popped his head out of a seedy practice room in the back of the store.

He had no teaching plan, nor was there any hint that he had prepared for my first lesson. Or even cared.

There were a few other students waiting. To make up for lost time, the store manager decided that my lesson would be cut back to just 15 minutes. However, the jerk still charged me full price. "Fifteen bucks. Now get outta here!" snapped the manager. The teacher chuckled as the next student followed him back, probably to endure a similar harsh, unproductive - and not to mention expensive - experience. I never forgot that.

I had wasted $20 and about 4 hours between the bus trips, the waiting, and my so-called "lesson" - a lot of money for a 14 year-old kid in New York in 1985. At that rate, it would have taken me about 15 lessons and $300 to learn how to play a simple D chord.

I learned nothing about playing the guitar in those 15 minutes, but I learned a lot about teaching music, namely, the importance of preparedness, efficiency, and above all, RESPECT for students willing to learn - including the value of their time. My desire to play the instrument was much stronger than the disappointment I had just endured. I decided to purchase several books and cassettes on guitar instruction and teach myself the secrets of the world's most popular instrument. And it worked. I became my own teacher, learning at my own pace. It even helped develop my self-discipline and goal setting skills.

By 1987, I was proficient enough to begin taking on students of my own, passing on the most important points I had learned, while allowing students the freedom to develop their own musical style. Over the years I've taught students from age 5 to 64. By 1997 I had released two solo CDs of original acoustic instrumental music. by 2003 I recorded another two and became an active session man and arranger (to hear samples, click here).

After getting married and becoming a father, I ran out of time to continue teaching at the pace I used to. I decided to develop this web site to share my passion for the guitar globally, despite the lack of time to teach one-on-one. Feedback from students in seven countries have made it worthwhile.

Teachyourselfguitar.com is the result of over a year's work to distill 30 one-on-one lessons which I've taught for 21 years, into a format that's inexpensive, easy to use, effective, and most of all, fun. I hope you'll find out for yourself.