Brian Roberts Guitar Academy

April 9 • 6:00–8:00pm

I’m excited to quietly introduce a new student project: McJazz Band.

This is a soft opening — a gentle first step into getting my students out into a real-world jazz setting. If the vibe is right and it’s well supported, I’d love to grow this into a monthly gathering.

We’ll be playing blues and jazz standards from the Berklee Real Book (6th Edition).
Sign up and play — just like a traditional open jam.

A few notes for the evening:

• Small, intimate venue — no full drum kits at this time (I’ll be holding down the groove on acoustic). Low-volume only.
• C instruments for now — more versions coming soon.
• Young musicians are welcome — please respect the venue.
• One drink minimum is appreciated to support the space.
• Free street parking after 6:00pm.

This is an experiment. A stepping stone. A way to build something meaningful for our local music community.

Come play. Come listen. Let’s see where this goes.

Gonna have some students take the stage early on in the night. Pretty fun. Exactly how I envision a "recital" 😎

Some warm google reviews coming in. Thanks for taking the time to write that!

It's exciting when things get exciting. Always like it when my students share their victories and breakthroughs. 💪

Some feel goods!

Like a Kung fu practitioner snapping a dowel on the wooden sparring dummy or a grip strength person breaking the springs of their squeezer, is it a rite of passage to blow out a metronome? I wonder how long I'd been using old faithful... Out with the old, in with the new. If you can't figure out what's different or wrong with the two clips then maybe you need some lessons hahaha aka. Also, for fun, the final video demonstrates the strength of ensemble, aka the "first chair" heaving lifting.

Received a message from a newer student the other day. Thought I'd share: "Was very fun" that's what it's all about.

Gift Cards are now available!

For anyone attempting to teach themselves guitar, I highly recommend this book.

I bought it from a thrift store on Kauai whilst I was attending K.C.C. many years ago. During the dial up era, it was happenstance books like these and random VHS / DVDs that would begin to shine some light on the fretboard for me. There weren't too many resources available to a young aspiring guitarist on Kauai, but this book some how found me.

I would attempt to read this book sporadically through the years, progress was slow. I mean, my first crack at it I probably only got to page 3... but every time I'd attempt to read it / follow along some time later, I wouldn't get much further (maybe like another couple pages) but I'd get further and it'd actually would make some sense.

Ultimately I never finished reading this book front to back. About 50 pages in got me far enough. After all my experiences and musical revelations, now I can flip to any page and understand what it is I'm looking at, it's kind of incredible. So, I still keep this book as a momento and a symbol to myself and potentially to you, too. Life will give you tools at times, and although you may not realize it at that immediate moment, their may be avenues towards success right in front of you that you have yet to discover.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Happy birthday Bernard, whoever you are and wherever you are. I hope you have gotten past the cowboy chords and had "some fun beyond the 3rd fret" like your friend had written. I suspect I have you to thank for either mastering the book or giving up on your journey trying to master it like many do. Eventually it would up at Salvation Army on Kauai where I would eventually buy it and learn from it. Adopting many concepts, approaches, diagrams and explanations for my own teaching practice. Now this teaching affords me a lifestyle to continue playing and learning guitar and sharing my discoveries with the communities around me. Life is a trip!