Lessons

First off - I just want you to know something embarrassing.

I'VE BEEN THERE.

You've been playing guitar for a while.  You want to get better but can't seem to progress.  One night, in a moment of stunning clarity, you get the alignment of motivation and personal credit and you take action. 

  • You buy the books. 
  • You buy the videos. 
  • You watch the YouTube videos. 
  • You subscribe to the service and yet....

you don't get better.

I've been there...and boy is it frustrating.  But there's two bits of good news.

1.  Just because you haven't gotten the results you wanted before doesn't mean that that will always be the case.  Most people have never been taught the way to develop sustainable habits and or practice correctly.  They try to do too much too quickly and then get discouraged and don't move forward.  The good news is that you can learn this!  You can learn how to learn in the most effective ways for you and how to keep the inertia going to get the results you want.

2.  That hard material can be broken down into a way that not only makes sense but is enjoyable to play.  Not only did I get through it but, with the right guidance and training, you can as well.

I went through years of making every possible mistake you can make on guitar and now you can learn the easiest possible way to become a lead or rhythm guitarist and do it more efficiently, effectively and enjoyably than I did!!

 

Private Lessons

If you’re at your wits end and don't know what to do – I can help you.

If you’re serious about developing your individual sound as a player – I can help you.   

As a teacher, I have a lot more I can help individual students with than I ever could in the confines of the one-room schoolhouse approach taken on a blog or a video.   I have a bachelor's degree from Berklee, a Masters degree from CalArts, over 20 years of teaching experience and have published over 2,000 pages of instructional material. 

Here are some lessons I've written for other sites:

I currently offer online lessons via Skype or Google Hangout.  

Please e-mail me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com for rates and availability.

The Guitarchitecture Books

The GuitArchitecture books 

One goal I have had in helping students self-study has been realized in the development of my GuitArchitecture books.  The books are designed to offer some basic instruction (or a LOT of instruction in the case of the Chord Scale book) and then provide the reader with a VAST set of material (much of which they’ve never heard before).   

For the adventurous student, the pdfs of the books are a fraction of the cost of private lesson with me and provide years of study.  You can find out all about the book series here or here.

Some Quotes About My Teaching Style

I came to Scott with rudimentary skills and an eclectic and outside the box musical taste, to say the least. Scott proved to be the best teacher I could ask for. He helped me hone my technical skills, gain a deeper understanding of music theory. Scott did a tremendous amount of work outside of my appointed lesson time making Guitar pro tabs of the lessons, so that we could focus on my playing while we we together. I still refer to those tabs regularly, there is a lot of information there. What I did not expect is that Scott would so readily embrace my musical interests. Not only did he do so - he recognized my obscure influences and exposed me to new artists as well. He did all this while pushing me to further personalize my music. I left Scott a better player, more educated, and most importantly, a more confident player who believed in my own music.”

— Jimmy Hackles (Jimmy Hackles Orchestra)

I’ve been wrapping my head around modes at such a snail’s pace until finding this. You break them down into small, visual components so clearly. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, you have a gift.”
I have a construction background, and one of my favorite phrases is 'Nothing is too difficult if you break it down into small enough parts.' Thank you so much for applying this to the guitar and sharing it! I have been reading through parts 1-4, and I feel like a switch has flipped in my head. I can already see the power of breaking things down into smaller chunks. Learning the patterns as one 6-string block is simply too much to try to visualize, along with the pattern(s) preceding or following it to link thing up and play all over the neck. Not to mention it really lends itself to mindlessly playing up and down the scale. Your approach has already opened up my playing, and I only spent about 20 minutes with it so far! It made it so much easier to know where I am and where I can go without consciously thinking of the note names the whole time. Thank you!!!!!!”
Ok – all I can say is 'Wow,' and 'Thank you.' I’d recognized the breadth of information one had to internalize to get into jazz improv and things like that, and I’d decided that the only way in was rote memorization is large, large amounts. That’s not something I enjoy – I improved at chess until it became time to more or less memorize opening details, and that was just no fun. But your approach fits my mind-set perfectly, and while there is still some memorizing that will be required it’s a lot less than I’d previously thought would be required. Suddenly the goal seems within reach.”
As a week-end performer-enthusiast, not a virtuoso, I think the detail you spend is encouraging me to invest the effort to improve rather than just impress me with how good YOU are.”