Frog and Toad are friends. So are ability and understanding, technique and experimentation, accuracy and subtlety.

With a careful eye-and-ear for technique and conceptual understanding (theory) I can get the beginning or intermediate player to a point from which they are free to progress in any musical direction they choose -- jazz, classical, folk, rock, etc., or none of the above. My own specialty is acoustic fingerstyle (no picks), but my instruction is applicable to any musical end. If something about music seems daunting or confusing to you, you will discover that it is not only comprehensible and intuitive, but liberating and inspiring. As an experienced teacher in other fields as well (philosophy, literature, and languages) I have a well-developed ability to listen carefully to my students so as to gauge their level of understanding and adapt my instruction to serve their immediate needs. In music, as in any other field, one needs "big ears."

If a student has never picked up the instrument, I begin with the most basic conditions of good playing -- position, approach, sensitivity, form and such. It's possible to do this, it turns out, while still allowing random experimentation and encouraging its best results. Once a student is playing (or if the student already has some experience) I observe the playing and point out which factors are helping and which are hindering. I develop short, easy exercises to establish productive and liberating habits. On the conceptual side, I take care to always unify the abstract and the concrete. There is no bit of music which doesn't contain in itself myriad lessons toward the comprehension of music as a whole. Nor is there any theoretical concept that doesn't find its instantiation in moments of real musical beauty. I want my students to experience this for themselves so that they can progress musically on their own terms.