Here’s part of my story about what I’ve done with music, and how I got into teaching guitar to students through private lessons, and through my DVD instruction.
How I Started
I began playing the guitar at the age of 17 in 1991, and spent my first few years eagerly practicing, hour after hour at my parents beach house in Gulf Shores. During college, I continued my education by studying music theory, jazz guitar, and classical ensemble playing. Broadening my knowledge of the instrument led to many gigs all over the Southeast with many different style’s of bands. From country to rock, blues, pop, and R&B, I have performed all types of music for people all over the Southeastern United States.
I played with Neal Pattman, Georgia blues legend, for a short while and learned how to follow a bluesman who didn’t think about traditional time signatures and forms. I also played with Clarence Cameron, a highly regarded blues singer in Athens Ga, The Healers, Don’t Know Blues Band, (AJ Adams from Vigilantes of Love, Jason Fuller formerly of Ween, Carlton Owens formerly with John Mayer), and Betsy Franck.
Listen
Teaching
After playing the guitar for about 4 years, a friend of mine, Nathan Shiver asked me if I wanted to start teaching at a music store where he was also teaching. I said yes immediately and quit my job working at Sears to begin teaching 30 students a week at Jubilee music in Fairhope, Alabama. It was pretty overwhelming to say the least, but this is where I learned about teaching people about playing the guitar. There is a definitely a learning curve to showing someone how to learn the guitar efficiently and properly while maintaining the student’s interest. Looking at things through someone else’s perspective is a skill I tried to develop early on and still try to find better ways of teaching guitar to students.
I’ve put on 4 recitals with my students over the years, that showcased each student’s special talent. These guitar recitals gave the student to take their skills learned in my private guitar lessons onto the stage – a true test of their abilities. With the advent of the internet, I can now offer my guitar lessons to anyone in the world, which is pretty amazing to me!
In 2007, I released Guitar Method Beginner Book 1. It was definitely a huge learning experience which took me about 2 years to complete. Guitar Method Beginner Book 1 was the first entry into my catalog of instructional material. At this time in March 2011, I have produced 23 DVDs worth of instructional material and have many more lessons in the works.
Take a look around the site to see if my lessons will work for you. Thanks for visiting the website and here’s to your ultimate success!
– John W. Tuggle
