San Diego Guitar Lessons
Pitch loves teaching guitar because it is the most versatile and portable instrument out there, which gives us insight as to why it has become the most popular instrument to play in the whole world! From learning how to play guitar to accompany yourself all the way to become a rock star guitarist, Pitch can help you achieve your guitar playing goals.
For those who are completely new to guitar and looking for some online help . I have put together a section dedicated guitar resources, filled with buying guides, lessons, etc. to aide you on your journey. After looking over the page if you still have questions feel free to email me and I will be glad to help you.
Pitch also offers San Diego Piano Lessons, San Diego Voice Lessons.
San Diego Music Lessons
Pitch has been playing guitar since he was 10 years old. Don’t assume you are too young or too old, never be discouraged from learning music. Contact Pitch to set up a first session. If for some reason you and Pitch are not a good fit, Pitch will gladly refer you to a list of top notch instructors he knows from all over San Diego and, for that matter, all over the country.
Lesson scheduling and length can be arranged on a student-by-student basis and cost depends on location.
To set up a first music lesson and for more information, please email pitchmichael@gmail.com
Click here for general info about Pitch Michael ‘The Teacher’
Pacific Coast Academy Educational Vendor
Pacific Coast Academy Educational Vendor
Pitch Michael is proud to be an approved educational vendor through Pacific Coast Academy’s Enrichment Program. As stated on the Pacific Coast Academy website “Educational vendors are a valuable part of Pacific Coast Academy (“Charter School”) community and offer flexibility of choice and supplemental educational services for the benefit of our students and families.” As an approved vendor, Pacific Coast Academy students are able to use enrichment program educational funds to take music lessons with Pitch Michael.
Pacific Coast Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school serving transitional kindergarten through 12th-grade students in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, and Imperial Counties. They take great pride in being able to offer their students flexible personalized learning experiences through their many unique and dynamic programs. They are accredited and/or affiliated with WASC – Accrediting Commission for Schools, Charter Schools Development Center, California Homeschool Network, Homeschool Association of California, California Academic Decathlon, and Coalition of Public Independent Charter Schools.
The mission of Pacific Coast Academy is to develop the individual gifts of students in San Diego County and adjacent counties to become critical thinkers, responsible citizens and innovative leaders prepared for academic and real-life achievement in the 21st Century. The mission will be accomplished through quality, personalized, standards-based education which could include online coursework, offline textbook work, project-based learning, and unique hands-on and experiential learning experiences facilitated in partnership with students, parents, staff, and community.
Pacific Coast Academy Contact
Mailing Address: 13915 Danielson St. #200, Poway, CA 92064
Phone: (619) 215-0704
Fax: (619) 595-6089
Email: records@pacificcoastacademy.org
Website: http://www.pacificcoastacademy.org
Sign up for a FREE 1st lesson today!
What to do when Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp are all down?
Yes, we are starting out the week with a global shutdown, but not the kind of shutdown everyone has been anticipating. Today users around the world are experiencing outages on Facebook and related social media networks including Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. You may have thought it was an internet connection problem like I first did until I searched online and found some answers. Even Facebook internal communication platforms are down!
Not only are Facebook’s services and apps down for the public, its internal tools and communications platforms, including Workplace, are out as well. No one can do any work. Several people I’ve talked to said this is the equivalent of a “snow day” at the company.
— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 4, 2021
WHAT CAUSED IT? From what I read, the outage was caused by a DNS (domain name server) fail. I guess this is the naming structure that forms the web’s infrastructure! Not the greatest for facebook as their stock has dropped 5.5% since open! I’m sure they will get it all figured out soon…
So, @facebook‘s DNS is broken this morning…
TL;DR: Google anycast DNS returns SERVFAIL for Facebook queries; querying https://t.co/0BDgaIHmlr directly times out. pic.twitter.com/3GHJ3mW0P0
— Jim Salter (@jrssnet) October 4, 2021
THOUGHTS… At first this may feel like an inconvenience but let’s change that posture and think of this as a gift! Fight the urge to run to another social media outlet to like Twitter, Tiktok, or Snapchat to get your daily dose of social media. Instead take this time to unplug and work on a fun skill! I’d like to recommend taking this blessed time to learn music or take this time to practice your instrument of choice! If you have already started your musical journey maybe you could learn a new piece, work on a new solo/scale, write a song! If you are completely new to music and/or just need some guidance set up a music lesson today with a teacher in your area like me! I personally have openings and availability throughout the week including today! So if you reach out to me, you can start playing music before the day is over.
Music Lessons
Music Lessons
Accepting New Students for Private & Group Lessons
ABOUT STUDIO
Studios are located in San Marcos, La Mesa and Online. Masks are not required. Call or email for more information or to get started now by clicking the sign up button and we will contact you to set up your 1st lesson!
Offering: Guitar Lessons, Piano Lessons, Voice Lessons, Ukulele Lessons, and more!
San Diego Guitar Repair
Pricing
- Intonation
- Truss rod adjustment
- Fret polish
- Fret polish
- Guitar Cleaning
- Bridge Action
- Pickup height adjusment
- Restring (you provide strings of choice)
Other Services Offered
(contact for pricing)
- Pickup Installation
- Tuner Replacement/Repair
- Instrument Cleaning & Restrings
- Fretdress/Refrets
- Nut & Saddle Work
- Electronic Repair
- Installing after market hardware.
- Repainting/Touch ups
Recommended San Diego Guitar Tech
It’s great to officially have a guitar tech that I can recommend to all my San Diego students and local guitarists. He is more than just a guitar tech as he is a professional touring guitarist and knows what we as musicians are wanting and needing. As I am endorsing him please let me know how your experience is at SD Guitar Repair and if, in the unlikely case, there are any negative experiences I will personally help in remedying your situation.
About SD Guitar Repair
For those looking for a professional setup or repair for their guitar or bass guitar, Pitch recommends Don Vedda, owner of SD Guitar Repair.
Offering Free Consultations!
-Let him know Pitch sent you-
Guitar Buying Guide (updated 2021)
Guitar Basic Info
Types of Guitars:
The most common types of guitars are classical guitars, steel-string acoustic guitars, and electric guitars.
Classical Guitars
Steel String Guitars
Click Here to see a comprehensive list of other types of guitars
Electric Guitars
Buying Guide
What Guitar to buy for a beginner?
If you are new to playing guitar I would recommend purchasing an acoustic guitar and specifically a classical guitar instead of the steel string guitar because the strings are much easier on the fingers due to the fact that the strings are made of nylon instead of metal.
Yamah FD01S - Steel String Guitar (149.99)
Squier Strat by Fender - Electric Guitar ($209)
Online Resources
Guitar Tuners
First thing you need to learn before learning to play guitar is how to tune your guitar to the correct notes. Here are a few Guitar tuners I have used.
Guitar Tuna (Free)
Guitar-Tuner.org (Free)
This site teaches you how to…
Tune your acoustic, electric, bass guitar or ukulele
with Microphone or by Ear
Snark SN5X Clip-On Tuner ($11.95)
Learning to Play
Ultimate Guitar (Online FREE / App Purchase)
Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 ($6.99)
Stop Practicing So Long!
Practice Duration & Frequency
Many of my new students (and parents) ask me how long and
how often they should practice. After being asked this so many times I’ve learned to stop giving out a time frame or even a number of days per week that they should practice music because, honestly, everyone has different schedules and goals. I’m not going to quote a number that they will never be able to achieve because of lifestyle.
“it is better to practice 5-10 minutes everyday during the week than 2 hours one day of the week”
With that said, there is one rule I think is important when setting up your music practice routine. It is much better to practice consistently during the week in smaller time frames than only once a week for a long time. For example, it is better to practice 5-10 minutes everyday during the week than 2 hours one day of the week. Why? because getting to your instrument regularly for a few minutes everyday creates a habit for the long term where as playing your instrument for hours just one day will burn you out and will not nurture steady growth in your skill level or long term habits in practicing.
How To Practice
When starting your practice routine it’s not imperative that you divide your practice time into a specific ratio. Practice what you want or have time for and create a habit out of it. Again, the most important part is to get to your instrument regularly.
“start out the practice with instrument exercises… then lesson material
… and lastly songs“
With my students I usually have 3 different material archetypes going on each week: Exercises, Lesson material, and Song/Piece. If you are using more than one of these as well I recommend to start out the practice with instrument exercises (scales, vocal warmup, etc), then Lesson material (theory, technique, etc), and lastly songs/pieces (rock/pop, classical, etc).
Where To Practice
The best place to practice your instrument is somewhere you can focus on your music and not easily get distracted. Also, as a curtesy, try to make sure you aren’t distracting others when possible. If you are in an environment that is stimulating and distracting but want to practice I would recommend playing warmup type exercises (i.e. scales, licks, etc.). For example, many of my guitar students will practice their scales while they watch tv. This not only makes the practicing of scales less ‘boring’ but also can help pull the players eyes and mind off the their hands to solidify the scales into muscle memory. After you play enough you will come to a point where you won’t really think about notes and chords being played because your hand muscles know how to play them. When I’m playing guitar I can be playing and singing while at the same time thinking about something completely different, like what I am going to eat after, haha!