When I first started to learn guitar I picked it up pretty easy, it felt natural. But I finally got to a point in my playing when I finally got tired of regurgitating the same old stuff. I wanted to be able to play the perfect solo over a song. I wanted to become a better songwriter. And I just couldn’t get there on my own.

A friend of mine in school is in a band with one of Dick’s students, and he was telling me how good his guitar player is, and how he knew theory like the back of his hand. That’s what I had been looking for in school, and I just couldn’t find anyone that could teach it on a level that is simple.

I was a music major before I took from Dick, and I wasn’t learning what I went there thinking I was going to learn. I was frustrated with the way they taught music theory, they were never able to relate it to anything I liked. And once I heard about him and his reputation I knew he was the guy for me.

Before I started taking lessons from Dick, I didn’t really have any confidence in my playing. I was pretty good, people told me I was good, I just didn’t believe them. That was one of the first things he knocked out of me, and it didn’t take long. Because I could tell that he cared about me enough to truly want me to know that I wasn’t a bad player. The reason I thought that was because I needed to play what I heard in my head, but because I couldn’t do that yet my mind was telling me that I was bad. I’ve learned how to control my mind and really believe in myself. And that alone has helped my playing, and put my level years ahead of where I was.

I’m much more confident when I play now because I believe in myself. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I know he’ll get me there!

I know I’m going to keep on getting better and better; there’s no one stopping me except for myself. I hope to be able to make a living from the guitar; and I’m 100% positive I will be able to do that with Dick as my teacher.