408 377-2504 (Union Ave Store)

408 629-1812 (Santa Teresa Blvd. Store)

James Reily

Instrument: Guitar Teacher

Store: Santa Teresa Store

  

James Reily
Instrument: Guitar, harmonica, Ukulele Teacher
Store: Santa Teresa Store
Santa Teresa - Guitar, Harmonica, Ukulele Teacher



GUITAR

I've been teaching guitar in the South Bay for over 30 years. I teach all levels from beginning to advanced/professional, and cover many styles with emphasis on rock, jazz, and  blues. 

I teach what you want to learn, as well as what you need to learn to become a well-rounded musician, an excellent player, or to just have fun if that's you're preference. I've  encountered many types  of learners over the years, and am confident that my approach will help you progress and break through any musical roadblocks you encounter along the way.  Many of my students have come to me as  beginners and developed into "monster" professional players. A few of my students are guitar teachers as well.

My expertise includes theory of improvisation, modern approaches, advanced chord voicing and chord substitutions, composition and arranging, harmony, rhythms, sight-reading,  transcribing, finger  picking, slide guitar, tapping, sweeping, use of harmonics and more. Some students want to learn it all, and others prefer to focus on their areas of interest. I use tablature, grid, and traditional   notation, again depending on the student's preference. 

I ask my students to practice for at least one half hour 5 days per week. If you honor that, I can guarantee we'll see good results. Call James to discuss lessons and schedule.  408-509-3216 


HARMONICA

I have been playing and teaching the harmonica well over 20 years in the bay area. It's an interesting instrument in its simplicity, but sometimes difficult to understand how to  contort the mouth to  get certain tones, bends, and screams. I am offering lessons on the diatonic harmonica. In other words your typical rock, blues, and country harp. I cover chord progressions, licks, popular melodies, bending, trills, octaves,  jamming with other instruments, and more. I have a library of tabs to send you and I can tab something new during your lesson. I will also teach how to pick the right key of harp for the key of the song you are playing. Covering cross harp and straight harp. Also if anybody is interested in playing the chromatic harmonica I am your man. I love teaching jazz on the chromatic. 408-509-3216

UKULELE

I've played ukulele about 20 years now. Been teaching it since 2011. It is a very user friendly instrument.
One can be playing popular songs in less than a month with minimal  practice.
I have plenty of tabs, charts, chord diagrams, scales, and rhythms to  share.  Weather you prefer the simplicity of Izzy's "Somewhere over the rainbow"  or the complexity of      Jake's "Somewhere  over the rainbow" I've got you covered.
Just grab your uke and let's get started. 408-509-3216 

Online Zoom lessons

Video links below: