Student Testimonials

“I began studying with Eric as a beginning adult student.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a huge music fan, especially of classic rock.  I’ve been to countless concerts over the years and I finally got to the point where I wanted to be able to do on the guitar what I saw so many others do.

Before I started with Eric, I knew some of the basic guitar chords but I also had a lot of bad habits and I never put it all together.

It wasn’t easy at first, but week after week I started to see big improvements in my playing.  Eric also helped correct the bad habits that were holding me back.

There were some weeks I struggled with switching chords and other weeks I had trouble with playing rhythm.  Regardless of what we were working on, Eric always had tips and exercises that helped me improve.

Eric is always patient with even if I’m having trouble learning something new.  Plus he is clear and thorough with his explanations.  Eric also has an organized system he uses for his teaching.  I’ve made a lot of progress in the few months I’ve studied with Eric and I can’t wait to see how much better I get going forward.

No matter what style of music you want to play on the guitar, I give Eric my highest recommendations as a teacher if you need help ‘putting it all together’ or if you are just starting out.”

“I am a somewhat ‘older’ adult who started studying guitar with Eric as a complete beginner.  I played trumpet growing up so I had some musical experience but learning guitar was a real challenge for me.

Even though I struggled a lot in the beginning, Eric was always understanding and very patient with me.  He helped me overcome my initial difficulties as I improved on the guitar.

Eric was very friendly, easy-going, and professional in his dealings with me.  If you’re an adult beginner, I highly recommend studying guitar with Eric.”

– John Beattie, Arvada, CO

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“I have been taking guitar lessons from Eric Stone for only two months, and I have already made tremendous progress.

As a former violin player, I have developed a feel for several different styles of musical instruction.

Eric has been unique in that he started by asking me about my musical preferences and background.  Within a couple of lessons, he began to tailor his lessons to my interests, strengths, and weaknesses.

Starting with basic musical notation, guitar technique, musical theory, rhythm, and chords, I have built a solid and lasting foundation that will continue to benefit me for years to come, whatever the instrument.

Eric’s emphasis on fundamentals, diverse musical knowledge, and patience create an excellent environment for building guitar technique and musical proficiency.”

“Eric Stone has a keen ability to identify and demystify those specific things that will help every guitarist ‘take it to the next level.’

His approach is tailored to the student’s specific needs; this is completely different from those cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all approaches that many teachers use.

Eric zeroes in on what is most important to each player and on the quickest way to get there.

I have been playing guitar for quite a long time.  I currently play in the rhythm section of a large community jazz band and in an eight piece jazz combo.

In a very short time, Eric has identified several areas of focus that are already improving my playing and my enjoyment.

Eric has helped me with timing and sight-reading through specific exercises that directly relate to the type of music I want to play.

These aren’t some tired academic etudes dusted off out of habit – nope, these exercises are just challenging enough and they swing.  As I look at new charts, I don’t feel as overwhelmed since I frequently recognize patterns and phrases that I have worked on with Eric.

Prior to working with Eric, I seemed to always go to the same part of the guitar for certain chords and melody lines.  He picked up on that almost immediately.

With Eric, I have learned about “shell chords” and other chord approaches and I have noticed that I don’t always have to go to my old standby chords anymore.

Instead, Eric has opened up many new fretboard options giving me alternate chord choices and notes all over the neck, and he has shown me how to find new approaches to soloing. All good stuff!

As they say, nobody can learn this for you, but a good teacher can help you learn faster and have more fun doing it.

I encourage guitar players at any level – from beginner to advanced – to check out Eric Stone.

Eric Stone is certainly an excellent guitar player, but more importantly, he is an excellent teacher. I had been playing a long time before I met Eric and was concerned that he might not get where I was coming from musically or understand what I needed as an experienced student. No worries – Eric spent considerable time exploring my playing, my history, and my goals before talking about a plan for taking my guitar playing to the next level. There was no “one size fits all” in his approach. His education and training as a teacher makes all the difference. Oh, and he can shred.”

“In addition to a knack for making musical concepts easily understandable, and being extremely patient, Eric’s ability to adapt our lesson plans to keep them relevant to what I needed to play with my band on any given week has been extremely valuable.

When I first started lessons I wasn’t playing on stage at all, but when we lost our 2nd guitar player and I needed to step in, Eric helped give me the tricks and build the confidence I needed to do so quickly and easily.

I loved taking guitar with Eric. If he was still in L.A. I’d still be his student. My loss is CO’s gain though. One of the best things about our lessons was how Eric was able to shift gears and tailor our lessons to what I needed most at any given time. When we started, I was looking to just get a much better grasp of the guitar and to learn some real fundamentals. Several months in, the band I front lost its rhythm guitar player, and suddenly I was going to need to step in. Eric was able to quickly come up with great ways to get me up to speed on the songs I needed to learn and the confidence I needed for that first gig playing guitar. He’s a cool, easy going guy who I highly recommend as a teacher.”

“Eric is a fine guitar teacher.  He really has a comprehensive understanding of music and guitar theory and is very good at passing on his knowledge to his students.

He always presents the coursework in a clear and understandable manner. I was able to absorb each week’s lessons and with some practice I experienced my rapid improvement with much joy.

Eric is always patient and encouraging. He will always stop to explain something in more depth or back up to cover material I was not too confident with.

Eric is also very knowledgeable of current trends in the music world and found that I learned a lot in our conversations about new and exciting guitarists and new directions in music.

Eric knows how to pace his lessons so he doesn’t give me too much work for the week or not enough. He is able to customize the lessons to my pace and will always take into consideration my own needs to either speed up or slow down.

Eric is a good choice for a beginner, intermediate or even advanced guitar teacher and you will always feel that you are moving toward your goals.

He is always on time and brings with him his mellow, considerate personality.”

“When we started guitar lessons with Eric, both of us were beginners on the guitar.  We didn’t even know how to hold a pick at that time.

Eric was extremely patient explaining every detail to us, including small things like how to pick the strings, how to play the chords, etc.  This was especially important for non-native English speakers like us.

He also knows and taught us music theory, which we think would be very helpful in the future if we want to compose songs.

The best part of the lesson for us is that he showed us how to play almost every rock song that we wished to learn, like the hits of Black Sabbath, Guns N Roses, and Nirvana.

We would certainly recommend Eric to our friends and those who are interested in indulging themselves in the enchanting world of music.”

“I’ve always wanted my son to play an instrument, perhaps because I’ve never had the chance to learn it myself. My son is seven years old and he chose to learn guitar.

At first I wasn’t sure if he was ready for it.  However, after a few lessons with Eric he told me me that he likes learning guitar with Eric.  I was relieved to hear that.

I was fortunate to be in the practice room with them during the first few lessons, so I had a chance to see how Eric teaches.  Eric uses positive reinforcement, keeps him motivated and keeps me informed with an update after each lesson.

Most importantly my son enjoys it and has fun learning.

We were saddened to hear that he had to move, and we miss him greatly.”