I like to find out which method of teaching is needed to help my
students meet their goals. Some students do well reading music and some learn
using tabs and charts. The real goal is to see the student learn to play and
enjoy the instrument they want to learn. I teach all levels
and styles of guitar (including slide guitar), beginning to intermediate bass, beginning piano and the mandolin.
When teaching slide, I focus
on techniques to help avoid retuning when it is not necessary, which a lot of
students appreciate. I also teach about the traditional open G slide tuning. I
focus a lot of attention on music theory. I
teach a variety of styles including Rock, Hard Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz,
Country, and Classical.
Some background on Joe:
I figured out how to read music for the piano
when I was 3 years old and began learning simple melodies on the piano. That
was 1958. At 7 years old I taught myself the guitar from a Mel Bay book that came with the guitar, using what I knew from playing the piano. Since then my focus has been playing the guitar. When
I was 15, I started teaching guitar to a friend and eventually ended up teaching
anyone I knew who wanted to learn. When I was in my first band with my buddies, nobody wanted to play bass so I bought a bass and
taught myself to play and became the bass player of that band. In early 1973 my band named The Mark Lyles Band got booked at Gazzari's
with a not yet famous band named Van Halen. From 1973 to 1975, we
were booked there very often.
Since 1996 I have been doing praise
and worship music. I first did services at FaithCommunityChurch in West Covina. In 1997 Faith opened a new church in Rancho Cucamonga and I served there until 2004. I now do services and
teach in the city of Orange at Covenant
Life Christian Church where I have 3 of my students performing
with me in the praise and
worship.
