Student Testimonials

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"If you have a problem, Dru can usually pick it out pretty fast, get you straightened out, and show you what you need to practice...we can all practice the wrong thing, but practicing the right thing is well worth the money, because its going to get you to where you want to be much quicker than going the long way around by trying to do it yourself.

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Before coming here, not being able to play or free-style with another person or along to a backing track was a real problem...Dru has jams he allows students to play in, plus other activities that he sets up where you get a chance to perform with Dru and you get feedback on how you did, how it felt, how it sounded...that has really helped...If I am doing something incorrectly, he'll give me some really positive feedback in a way where, I know what to do next time, and how to correct that situation, without it being negative at all.

He's taught me a lot to try and listen, to pick up changes with my ears and stop being such a slave to reading music or TABs, so he's taught me to grow by listening, and I've seen that carry over into the rest of my playing. When I play now with other groups or other players, I feel much more confident, much more of an ability to go with the flow, follow the tune, follow the chord progression, to know what its all about. Dru seems extremely capable of a lot of music theory, but doesn't bog you down with theory,(he teaches you) only to the point where you know how to use it to get from point A to point B.

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I find Dru extremely flexible, I can be pretty hard headed sometimes and say that I want to accomplish this, and really, that might be down the road for me, it might be something I need another 6 months or another 8 months experience in, but he will get me started on something where I'll be able to attain that goal quicker...he's got the abiltiy to look at your playing and kind of take it apart and say 'ok this is the road you need to take to get from A to B the quickest, instead of using a lot of energy and not getting anywhere...we can do that so often with guitar playing."

 

 

 

 

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-Dan Clark

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"Before I was taking lessons, I'd mostly just find tabs online and play along with those, or just noodle around. I never really learned anything of substance, mostly just going to forums or websites and finding guidance on really basic music theory principles. This program has been great, I feel like everything that's been taught so far has been aimed towards the actual goal of getting me to play the music that I want, instead of just cramming scales and theory down my throat, and forcing me to learn to read musical notation.

 

Everything has been geared towards actually getting me to improvise, and to sound better, and making guitar leads. Compared to before I was taking these lessons, progress has been really good, it's much more focused, my practice time is much more productive. I can actually feel that I'm becoming a better player, I actually have a goal when I practice, instead of just picking up the guitar and playing for a while. I actually have something to learn now.

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Before coming into this class, I had the expectation of just learning some basic lead guitar techniques, hammer-ons and pull-offs, just really basic stuff like that. I didn't expect to get to learn harmonization, which I've found kind of builds into making chord progressions, and everything related to creating leads in addition to just how to play them. It gives me insight on how to create them on the fly.

What I've enjoyed most about lessons is that I have goals now when I play, and that I'm seeing real progress, instead of staying statically the same player I've been for the last however many years now, I'm on the path to becoming better, and I feel more confident in my playing.

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Dru has been a great teacher so far, he is super friendly, and he's real easy to get a long with, and he'll help you out with anything you have questions about, whether its musically related, or about being in a band, or anything related to that. I really appreciate these lessons."

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-Nathan Voss

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"I've bought videos, I've purchased books, I've downloaded tabs, I've taken lessons from other folks, I've asked friends who have played other instruments. I've had varying degrees of success...(but) I think that the lessons I've taken from Dru are the best lessons I've taken from any of the folks I've had them from...Dru has done a great job of helping me to figure out how I should spend my practice time to get more out of it. One of the things that I enjoy about the lessons is that Dru is a very flexible teacher, he always comes with some sort of agenda or lesson plan, but I'm probably one of his more mature students and I have my own agenda, I'm in a band, there's specific things I want to work on, and he's been very flexible and adaptable. We will spend time working on whatever it is that has been bothering me...He tailors the lessons to my needs.

...his technique is amazing, as a guitar player, he came in, blew me away, I knew for a fact that there was a lot I could learn from him, but again, I've known many players over the years who have phenomenal technique, but they didn't have the ability to communicate with somebody else and to teach. Teaching is a completely separate skill from playing the guitar...I've (also) found him to be punctual, reliable, patient, kind, prepared...I got to know him, and found him to be very trustworthy, I got to be very comfortable, and just found him to be, really, a great resource and someone that I've eventually come to call a friend. I'm proud to know him over the time I've gotten to know him, and I've seen him grow as a teacher as I've grown as a student. He seems to be committed to his own journey with this instrument too, not just stopping his own learning process...It's neat for me as a student to realize that, he's a student too, we're all students of this instrument, it's a lifelong process to learn to play the guitar. Its cool to feel like its something we're all in together, and his enthusiasm for it, and for any style of music...I plan on him being my one and only guitar teacher for as long as I play guitar."

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-Mike Leibrand

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