Orlando Guitar Lessons

Are you looking for a guitar teacher -- or guitar tutor or instructor -- in the Orlando area? I teach guitar lessons in Orlando, and also the following towns: Apopka, Hiawassee, Lake Buena Vista, Ocoee, Pine Hills, Winter Park, College Park and Winter Garden.

If you live in the Orlando area and have never played before, I'll show you a natural and fun way to begin making music on the guitar. You do not need a guitar for the first few lessons. I will provide the guitar.

In your first lesson, you'll learn a one-finger guitar chord and then play a song with that chord. Here's how:

You will create a 3-note chord with your index finger, then move it to specific frets to play the chord progression of a song you probably know. I'll encourage you to sing along. You'll then play with the song using your sense of rhythm and intuition.

In future lessons, you'll learn chord shapes with two, three and more fingers. With more chord shapes, you'll sound more musical as you play the songs you already know and songs that are new. You'll also learn melodies, also with the one-finger approach.

Besides playing songs, you will build your understanding of how music and the guitar works, and how to explore your own musical ideas. You can read details about the One-Finger approach here.

Cost of guitar lesson (if I come to you): $25 for 45 minutes. It's $20 if you come to me.
Forms of payment: cash or PayPal. No personal checks, please.
Ages: beginners of all ages are welcome.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

How long have you been teaching?
About one year. Here's my quick bio.

Do I have to buy a guitar? Which one should I buy?
You don't need to buy a guitar for the first few lessons. I'll provide one for the lesson. You will need to buy one if you intend to practice, which is required after the first few lessons.

Do you teach groups?
Yes. Contact me for rates, at (407) 292-0871 or here.

Do I have to learn how to read music?
No. I do recommend it, and I can teach it to you. But you'll be able to make lots of music without reading.

About the Teacher

I'm Darrin Koltow. I started playing guitar just before I went to Rutgers University, which was over twenty years ago. I wanted to play at least as well as John Fogerty, but Mark Knopfler would have been even better. I took some lessons, which were given the Old School way: open position chords, Mel Bay, book 1 and maybe a tune's chord changes. The whole learning process was slow and frustrating. I gave up.

Fast forward several years. Some bug in my head kept telling me, "Try again." I pretty much locked myself in my condo and committed to practicing for hours a day.

Somewhere along the way, I started sounding good and understanding music. I was improvising, and writing and playing chord melody arrangements. I decided to teach others but failed. I was teaching them the same things that I was first taught, and this meant lots of unnecessary struggling for students.

I gave up teaching but I kept thinking about it. My main question was so simple: how can I make learning as easy and fun as possible for total beginners?

I locked myself in another condo and worked on this question. At some point a light bulb went on in my head. I knew how to teach a student her first chord: show her the one-finger mini-bar across strings 2 through 4. On that one shape, and the idea behind it, I developed an approach using simple chord shapes and movements. This approach gives beginners exactly what they need to start making music quickly. And it also allows them to comfortably and naturally build increasingly complex shapes onto the simple ones.

This approach feels revolutionary to me and I hope it feels like great fun to you.

Contact:
Darrin Koltow
dkoltow_NO_SPAM_@yahoo.com (remove the no spam part to contact)
(407) 292-0871
2812 North Powers Dr., Unit 69
Orlando, Fl 32818