I Will Help You Rapidly Develop Your Musical Skills So You Can Make The Music You Want To Make.

About Me

I draw on 15 years of experience as a guitarist, songwriter, lyricist, improvisor, producer, collaborator, and composer, sharing both my technical insights and my understanding of the short- and long-term elements of the creative process to help my students reach their goals.

I’ve helped many students develop dramatically as guitarists, learning to navigate the entire fretboard, learn repertoire, and improvise, oftentimes in a surprisingly short period of time.

I’ve also helped my students develop as lyricists, develop confidence in articulating their ideas to collaborators, navigate their local music scenes, and release their first EP’s.

This is my personal website. Feel free to click around and find more about what I’m up to.

Testimonials

“giant endorsement from me. cole has been teaching me guitar and sometimes songwriting for a year and it is changing my life” - David

“Cole is extremely knowledgeable and communicates what he knows well, even to the most unknowing beginner. He has a holistic approach to teaching, connecting what you're learning on guitar to music theory and music history, as well as your own interests! Most importantly, he's patient, kind, and easy-going which keeps lessons fun, even in the frustration that comes with learning something new. I highly recommend him as a teacher!” - Kristin

“Cole is extremely easy to work with and learn from. He listened to what my goals were and helped to put together a customized, comprehensive curriculum. He was also very open to hearing what aspects of the learning process I wanted to avoid/didn't have the energy for, which made it much easier to keep up my enthusiasm and put the work in each week between sessions. I highly recommend Cole, whether you're starting from scratch or a higher skill level.” - Luke

“Cole has an amazing amount of guitar knowledge and is very friendly and encouraging! In one short lesson I learned a lot of chords that I never knew existed - I feel like I have a lot to practice and want to keep working.” - James

“I’ve had a few guitar lessons with Cole. Throughout, it was clear that Cole had a thorough knowledge of a wide range of styles and was very open to exploring anything I wanted to talk about. He is incredibly patient and uses very simple, accessible language whenever complex topics arise. Altogether, I totally recommend him to anyone who’s curious about picking up a guitar and taking some lessons.” - Thomas

More Testimonials

“I took guitar lessons with Cole last summer and was eagerly waiting all school year to resume the progress we made. As many other amateur guitarists, I used YouTube university to develop my skills, but I always felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle. Cole was able to identify all of the areas which I was deficient in and formulated a plan for me to develop my guitar abilities in a holistic way. Cole is a fantastic teacher and I highly recommend him!” - Lucien

“Cole has been transformative to my guitar practice. Having plateaued in my independent development, working with Cole for the past year has restarted my passion for guitar and completely changed how I approach practice as well as appreciation for music more broadly. I can't recommend working with Cole highly enough!” - Will

“Cole is really great to work with! He has both practical and theoretical teaching experience at a highly advanced level so he can guide you through whatever stage you’re at in your learning. Plus he doesn’t just assume you want to learn the theoretical stuff, he always asks before spending any lesson time on anything but hands on guitar training.” - Jordan

Reach out now for a free training session!

As of July 2024, my teaching practice is primarily focused on helping creative, curious, motivated, intelligent intermediate guitarists grow into full-fledged artists.

I help guitarists:

  • Develop freedom and creativity on the guitar, and a firm grasp of the fundamentals of music theory, such that they can move onto more advanced and/or creative topics and start making the music they really want to make,

  • By going through a 2-month fretboard intensive, which gets all of their standard tuning/functional harmony bases covered, so they can be free to start investigating deeper topics - and then helping them investigate those deeper topics, or “topic intensives”. You will learn to improvise across the entire fretboard, over many common chords, and will understand the harmonic significance of each note-choice.

    Topic intensives I offer include:

  • Right Hand Workshop: develop a strong time-feel in styles of your choice, including folk, Afrobeat, and grunge/punk rock.

  • Playing Over Changes: learn how to improvise detailed lines over shifting harmony.

  • Creative Chord Construction: learn how to build and practice guitar voicings which will allow you to play any voicing, anywhere on the neck, effectively connecting your melodic and harmonic approaches.

  • Prepared Guitar & Topics In Sound: leave the fretboard and treat the whole guitar as your canvas. Expand your definitions of music.

Here are some traits that I look for in prospective students:

  • They are looking to dramatically accelerate their playing, and are willing to work to do so;

  • They are already at an intermediate level: can play barre chords, know the pentatonic minor scale (or even more scales), have some experience playing music with people,

  • They probably didn’t go to music school, but they want to learn the things that they would have learned if they had gone to music school;

  • They love listening to music, and want to write music;

  • They are self-directed, oriented towards growth, and willing to throw themselves at a good challenge.

I prefer to work with students for the duration of a full year. My teaching practice is less like a traditional 1-hour-at-a-time consultation and more like a stand-in for a year of music school, intended for students for whom music school is not an option. We set long-term goals, and then I give you all of the information you’ll need to realize them, and coach you along the way. I want my students to move way out beyond their current level of abilities and make the music they dream of making.

This structure is not for everyone, but it is very right for some people. If you love music, but you’re feeling stuck in your development, after years of trying to learn from tabs, YouTube videos, and bits of advice from friends, it might be right for you.