Studio News
Welcome To The Neighborhood Portland Guitar Repair!
We are thrilled to welcome Portland Guitar Repair to the neighborhood! PGR owner James Hingston specializes in repairing guitars, basses, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, pedal steels, nyckelharpas,...
Preparing For Your Performance
Practice Challenges 6, 7, & 8 Preparing for your performance Congratulations! You’ve worked so hard to get to this point. It’s been several weeks since we started learning this semester’s songs...
Learning the “Process” for Practicing New Music
Practice Challenges 4 & 5 The “process” for practicing new music We all have experienced what it’s like to practice a new piece of music that we’ve never heard before. It can be really...
Guest Post: How to Practice for the Quickest Possible Progress
Here's a post from guest author, Doug Hanvey from Portland Piano Lab. Doug is an expert on helping students learn how to practice. He is the author of the instructional methods The Creative...
Right and left hand fingerings for Guitar and Bass
Practice Challenge 3 Right and left hand fingerings This week’s practice challenge will help you get experience finding solid left and right hand fingerings so that you can successfully train your...
Counting and Clapping Rhythms
Practice Challenge Week 2 Counting and Clapping Rhythms This week’s practice challenge will help you learn how to read and play common rhythms written in standard music notation. There are several...
Note Maps for Fretboard Explorers!
Practice Challenge Week 1 Note mapping This week’s practice challenge will help you learn how to use fretboard note maps to make reading notes on the guitar, bass, or uke easy. Have you ever felt...
How To Keep Your Routine Going on Spring Break
Happy Spring Break! Here we are a few days into Spring Break and I'm really getting the most out of my stay-cation. Not that I'm just sitting around doing nothing. Actually, the break has given me a...
Guitar care basics in a few simple steps
Now that you've set up your ideal practice space (#MyPracticeSpace), let's make sure you have the right guitar care habits to keep your guitar looking and sounding great. One of my favorite things...
My Practice Space
Recently I found out that a student of mine had been taking lessons with me for a number weeks and had yet to invest in a music stand for his home practice. This is not ideal—a musician needs a...
Tyson Stubelek’s Rhythm Quest at AJAM
For the past three Sundays I have had the pleasure to participate in a rhythm clinic at Alan Jones Academy of Music (AJAM) hosted by rhythm master Tyson Stubelek. Tyson is an amazing person and...
Neil Mattson of Montavilla Guitar Studio is the most patient, positive, and skilled instructor! I had little previous experience, other than loving music. In just 10 weeks I have learned more than I had ever thought possible! I am resurrecting a long neglected dream and loving every minute of it!
Your first lesson is on us!
Follow the link to schedule your Kickstart Session, a free 30 minute lesson where we play, chat, and find out if we're a great fit.
