"David is awesome, I learned lots of chords. I also learned "Frere Jaques." David teaches what the basics are, then the songs we want to learn. In one year I learned 10 songs, all my chords and a couple of bass lines at the end of the year."
-Julia E. Ranis

(student, 12 years old)

Music is fun and the process of learning music should be fun too! In my guitar and bass lessons I design each course of study to match each particular student. These are a few of the areas that we often cover.

• Learning to love tuning.


• Ear training and harmony. How to figure out the chords to almost any song, just from hearing it!


• Improvisation, jamming.


• Soloing, fingerpicking, and basslines


• Sight reading.


• Songwriting and performance.


• Rhythm and melody games and exercises.


• Blues, jazz, rock, classical...whatever songs or styles the student is most interested in.

Several of the parents of my students are peformers in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Group Orpheous and other major ensembles.

I have experience teaching ages eight to fifty-something, individually, and in classes with as many as 30 students. I try to draw from both the modern, student-centered techniques that I was taught when I earned an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and the more traditional techniques I learned studying music in India and Africa.

It is always fun and a great experience, and I am proud that some of my students, as young as 12, are already publically performing.

Currently I am teaching in New York City, Westchester and Rockland counties. For more information, feel free to call (646) 286-5531