06/12/2026
🎸 Recital Weekend Is Finally Here! 🎸
This year marks my 35th year of teaching guitar. While we didn’t begin holding recitals right away, I believe our first recital was in 2005. That makes this our 21st year of recitals and approximately our 42nd recital over the past two decades.
One thing which is a little different about our recitals is that they aren’t traditional student recitals. I perform live with every student. If you attend, you’ll see four Line 6 Powercabs, two HX Stomps, two Tom Anderson guitars, a BeatBuddy drum machine, and a PA system. There are no backing tracks. Everything is performed live.
In private lessons, I play every chord, scale, riff, and song alongside my students. The recitals follow that same format—except this time there’s an audience.
The June and December recitals give students an opportunity to share their progress with family, friends, and peers and to showcase what they’ve accomplished during the previous six months. There is always plenty of applause, laughter, smiles, and memorable moments.
After doing this for many years, we’ve learned that shorter is better. No parent wants to sit through a three- or four-hour recital! Tomorrow we’ll present three tightly organized recitals with 14 performers in each one, keeping each event to about an hour.
In addition to the performances, we’ll have treats, giveaways, and prizes. This year we’ll be giving away Mogami cables, headstock tuners, guitar strings, capos, picks, and more.
These events require months of planning—often beginning four months in advance—but the payoff is always worth it. Seeing the smiles on the faces of students, parents, grandparents, and friends at the end of the final recital makes all the work worthwhile.
Most importantly, students have the opportunity to overcome stage fright, build confidence, perform in front of an audience, and show just how far they’ve come.
I can’t wait to see everyone this weekend. Let’s make Recital #42 one to remember!
🎸 Celebrating 35 Years of Teaching Guitar 🎸
