Yiannis teaches international students via Skype (Skype lessons), All levels are accepted, from beginners, to advanced.
THE TEACHERS POINT OF VIEW-A BRIEF INTRODUCTION:
After more than 10 years of guitar tuition, I feel that learning how to play the guitar and studying music in general, serves one and only purpose: the need of every student to express his/her feelings. The purpose of technique either if you want to play super-fast or just strum 3 chords, is to learn ways to put out your thoughts and let them out through guitar… through your hands. From my point of view, music is like painting. In the same way technique teaches you how to draw lines and shapes, the scales are your palette of colors. You’ll have to learn how to produce the unique sound color for each style of music, but you can always think outside the box and paint the sky purple if you feel like to. I always try to share with my students my perspective, but at the same time encourage them to develop their creativity and imagination. After all, the only limitation in art is our imagination.
ABOUT THE LESSONS:
If you hesitate studying guitar via internet, I suggest giving it a second thought. Skype lessons have now become a very popular way of teaching. Basically you are in the comfort of YOUR home, with YOUR guitar and YOUR settings, YOUR environment. You don’t waste time and money in transportation from and to the lessons and you study guitar with your teacher of choice no matter the country you live in. All you need is an internet connection, a webcam, Skype (which is free), your guitar and amp/or whatever you use when you practice, as long as I can hear what you play. I use HD webcam and the latest equipment, so the visual and audio aspect of the lessons makes them easy to attend, comfortable and pleasant. You will see and hear me, as if I was standing right next to you. Before the first lesson we will arrange a day and time to setup the equipment so that everything international lessonsworks fine during the lesson.
REGARDING THE LESSON MATERIAL:
Now, let’s move on from the philosophy of the lessons to the exact content. The basic teaching material is the same whether you choose Skype or correspondence lessons. Note that the curriculum presented here just a general outline, since different players have different needs. In my eyes each student is unique and should be approached as such. My teaching method is based on international bibliography and on books of famous guitar institutions. The curriculum is complemented with various other books and personal notes of mine depending each time on the needs, the wishes and the progress of each student. The first and only priority is what each student wants to learn to play, so everything listed here is approached and viewed from this perspective.
AS FAR AS TECHNIQUE AND ITS USE IS CONCERNED, ALL THE KNOWN GUITAR TECHNIQUES ARE TAUGHT:
Alternate picking, Sweep picking, Legato (Hammer on/pull off hard-rock style and Holdsworth legato type), Tapping, Economy picking, Hybrid picking, Bending, Vibrato, String Skipping, Intervallic Playing, Strumming, Rhythmic understanding and application Time-feel and rhythmic awareness, Rhythm and time exercises, Irregular Note groupings, Melodic patterns and sequences.
REGARDING THE MUSICAL ASPECT OF THE LESSONS:
Playing solo and improvising with ease requires a good knowledge and use of scales, chords and arpeggios. I teach the Minor & major pentatonic and blues scales, the Major/Harmonic minor and Melodic minor modes, symmetric scales (H/W – W/H Diminished, Whole Tone, Augmented), Arpeggios, Chords (triads, 4 note chords, Drop 2 & Drop 3 chords, Polychords). At the same time I teach each student Popular Music Theory, Chord/Scale relationships, Motif development, Fretboard knowledge and understanding, Chord on chord substitutions, Phrasing.
REGARDING GENERAL MUSICIAN SKILLS AND HOW TO IMPROVE MUSICALITY:
What I’ve seen is that studying the above does not make you necessarily a good musician. Many people have vast knowledge but they have trouble playing with others, or they have bad tone, or they have difficulties when they orchestrate guitar parts in songs. In other words, they have poor perception of the use and utility of the guitar in a band. Music is a language and the purpose of the lessons is to teach the students how to communicate with other musicians. For this purpose, we study Ear training, Aural training, Song arranging theory and techniques, Harmonic analysis of songs (guitar songs or whatever style the student wants), Sight reading, Transcription study and analysis, Session skills, Chord melody playing, Guitar recording techniques, Sight reading, we talk about gear, and create repertoire for the style of music that each student wants to specialize.
For availability, terms & conditions, payments and booking for the lessons you can contact me below.