Hot For Teacher

I got a jeerrrrrbbbbb!

Teaching guitar and bass is ultimately more rewarding than I expected it to be. I currently have 3 (well, 4) students: the 50 year old dad who yearns to be a rock star, the 13 year old who just started playing bass and the 2 Indian children who's father probably forced them into it, as well as math camp, science camp, camp, camp, camp campcampcampcamp.

The kids are quite humorous; the way their lesson is structured, I teach the younger one for 20 minutes, and then the older one for 40 (allows the dad to save that 5 extra dollars by not giving them 2 half hour lessons). My first lesson with them was Saturday. I typically like to start off new students who have been taking lessons with the last thing they've worked on, just so I can get a feel for their skill level. The first one comes in, I do my whole teacher schtick (still perfecting it) and have him play this musical passage he's been working on for what seems like a couple of weeks.

For the sake of this post, let's say it's like this:

"Ok, play through the piece."

"Ok, not bad...let's work on left hand technique. I want you to press down on the frets this time."



"...alright. One more time."




"...ok, that was...work on that this week."

I know I can't expect them to shred the guitar up after a few lessons, but you can definitely tell when kids have the talent to actually get good at the instrument. And this one does not have it.

His brother was better, thankfully; we rocked out a jerky version of Eye Of The Tiger and a couple of other things. I was breaking down his practice schedule for him, and asked, "so, how often do you practice guitar?"

"Oh, Mondays and Fridays, usually."

"...how long do you practice for on those days?

"5 minutes."

Yesterday I went in for my bass student's lesson, who I had previously had on Friday, so I wasn't expecting him to have made much progress, given the level of skill of the other guitar students. It was only his second bass lesson, after all. I had him run through the stuff I'd given him (chromatic scales and a bit of a blues progression).

Wait.

He actually practiced and sounded better?

HELL YEAH!

By the end of his second lesson, this kid could already almost play an entire blues progression and didn't sound half bad, especially considering he only had 2 LESSONS. That's when you know somebody has raw talent, or is at least willing to sit down and actually work for it.

I'm so proud *sniff*.

Don't Wanna Be an American Idiot (except I do)

I'm gonna take a little break from my favorite subject to blog about on this blog (me) and focus on someone different for a minute. But only a minute.

Sadly, not her. It's never about how I got to meet her.

I'm assuming you all know Leila Hegazy. If not, you're doing yourself a serious disservice. Wonderful friend of mine, and probably one of the best singers I've had the pleasure of working with. She's a pretty damn good songwriter too, and is working on releasing her first full length album this summer. Of course, that means Kickstarter! I wholeheartedly support Kickstarter (having gotten paid extra numerous times because my clients have overfunded their projects) and think it's an awesome tool for those of us who have to provide our own hype and pay for our own projects.

Again I go with my opinions, blah blah blah. Fact of the matter is, Leila's stupid talented and deserves much more than the paltry $2800 she's asking for, and YOU, dear readers, can make that happen. But let her tell you that, not me:

Ok, back to me.

In the ever-increasing frenzy to find a job so I don't stay broke forever, some interesting ideas have turned up. The first being, auditioning for a gig on a cruise ship. 6 month contract, $1900 a month, free room and board (shared, of course)... what's not to like? Granted, there's totally strings attached, like how they don't mention they're an agency and will take a decent portion of what I get paid, but that's better than nothing. The second (and most attainable) option: teaching guitar. I've already gotten a call back from a place in Rye about the possibility of joining the staff, and hopefully a meeting gets schedule that will lead to that. What's that line again? "If you can't do, teach."

The third, most exciting, hardest to achieve option: guitar for American Idiot's second tour.

I got my audition material through the email already (along with the 138952458348 other guitarists I'm sure applied) and hopefully can find a film major kind enough to make a professional looking video for me. Who knows? I could be on the road in 4 weeks, touring around the country.

It's the longest shot ever, but ain't gonna stop me from tryin'.