Student Testimonials From Guitar Lessons
There are two deeply meaningful rewards that come from teaching a skill you not only understand, but genuinely love sharing.
One is watching students grow into their own musicianship — sometimes becoming professionals in the music industry, sometimes simply becoming more confident, expressive, and capable players through a combination of what they were taught and what they discovered for themselves.
The other is reconnecting with students years later and realizing that what was shared during lessons had staying power — that it continued to shape how they relate to the guitar, the music they make, and the way they express themselves long after our weekly time together ended.
The testimonials below come from both current and former students. Their words mean a great deal to me. I’m grateful that the time we spent working together left a lasting impression, and that the guitar became a deeper, more meaningful voice in their lives.
In all my years of teaching, I have never had a student who was so excited about the prospects of tapping into that part of himself that feels music so profoundly. In just about every lesson, regardless of the intensity of his day as a hand surgeon, Robert transforms into a being expressing uncontrollable joy with a guitar in his hands. It is my good fortune to have him as a student, because even though he’s not entirely sure how he’s going to get there, he knows exactly where he’s going.
I recently had the good fortune to find David Randle. I had been considering guitar lessons for quite a long time but had difficulty locating a suitable teacher. It was through a random conversation with an acquaintance that David’s name came up as a quality instructor and excellent teacher of all types of guitar methods. With reticence, because of disappointments in the past,
I called and made contact with a kind voice who explained how he approached the subject of learning the guitar. We chatted about my goals and aspirations and I immediately became excited as his passion about his craft became immediately palpable. I scheduled a trial lesson and met David in his home. He put me at ease and explained how his method of teaching was individualized and tailored, offering a pathway to ultimately master the guitar in a way that emphasized understanding the expression and phrasing of musical passages, and integrating techniques to learn how to express the emotions of music, weaving notes like the spoken language.
David is kind and he is knowledgeable. He loves what he does and has had many years perfecting his craft. His wife is a voice teacher and together they are a very colorful couple offering insights that are far ranging and informative, many outside the realm of music. But when examined, it really is all about the music, the universal expressions that bind us in the way we perceive and communicate with each other and our world. Like the primal rhythm of the ocean or the beating of the heart, David teaches his students to individually connect to our inner rhythms and to learn how to master expressing them though the guitar so that the music we make expresses the poetry inside of all of us.
That is a very special skill, and David is a very special instructor. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to connect with their inner music and learn how to express it.
It can be a thrilling moment for a teacher when a student embraces everything that you teach them and then proceeds to go out and touch the world with their talent. Recording artist Rachel Lynn Sebastian was a dream to teach and is definitely an artist on the rise. She leads with her heart and oozes passion in everything she does. I’m so happy for her and delighted to have been her teacher.
David Randle is a TRUE teacher – the kind that can explain, guide, nurture and empower talent at any level. He instilled songwriting and guitar skills in me that I still use to this day and has encouraged me non-stop in my musical journey. I recommend that anyone take the unique opportunity to study with David. You will see the benefit immediately and it will last a lifetime.
Rick came to me as a referral from another student, and was a delight to teach. Music was a big part of his life experience and he had a hunger and a thirst to express himself in the musical realm.
In my experience with David Randle as a guitar and music theory teacher, it was beyond expectations. Whatever you wish to learn on the guitar, he can teach it. Whatever your goals are musically, he can take you there!
It was very exciting to work with Jay, because he really maximized all his skills.As a top level professional psychologist, it would have been easy for him to be satisfied with being a good player like all the othe other doctor, lawyer, professionals who were weekend warriors. However, he pushed himself and form a performing music group on the weekends. Jay, my friend, I tip my cap to you.
I’ve played guitar for most of my life, but didn’t really start to understand what I was doing until I studied with David. He’s got an encyclopedic mind for music and constantly inspired me to play better leads with more interesting musical phrases. He taught me how to play smarter, melodically, and in control , not just fast. He helped me understand music theory and how to compliment others in my playing. He’s a brilliant teacher, an amazing musician , arranger and composer. He’s generous with his time, an all-around great guy . I can truly say that my experience with David was a gift for life.
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David was my first real guitar teacher. He gave me the tools to build my own style upon, and that’s the best thing a teacher can do. Anyone can show you the hot new thing, but to equip someone with the tools and confidence to develop their own thing is truly special. With great ears, years of experience and know-how, David Randle is the guy to help you chart your own course. Rock on my hammies!
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David is an unusually gifted musician, songwriter and producer. When he is teaching guitar, it is at the very highest level. Studying guitar is, in itself, a challenging task, but it also became a doorway that opened to a multi-layered dimension of understanding music from multiple angles. After 15 or so years of working through the material from the initial sessions with David, I am just scratching the surface of the possibilities he presented me with. I have more than enough information to last a couple more lifetimes. It has been and is time well spent.
There is always a potential challenge when you work with a student that you know in social circles before they begin training with you. Pamela is a glorious person and it would be really easy to get caught up in conversation instead of the task at hand. She has a great love of music and an existing experience playing the piano, so once she decided to “go for it,” in terms of learning the guitar, she has been a dream to teach.
I came to the “guitar game” late in life – at 58 in fact! My first choice for a guitar instructor was a man I have known of for over 43 years. David Randle was a legend, truly a legend in Chula Vista, California where we both grew up. He was teaching guitar to a few of my friends way back in the late 70’s. So I was overjoyed when he agreed to take me on. I was a bit concerned as I live in Colorado and David in California, but he was confident he could teach me via Skype. So Skype we did and I was amazed at how well it worked.
David has an incredible gift for knowing exactly how to connect with a student. I was far older than most of his students, and a female to boot, but he knew just how to connect and reach me. I had some music background and he quickly built on what I knew. He has an incredible ear – could even tell immediately when my guitar was out of tune!! He is patient, incredibly sharp and the best music instructor I have ever had. Our lessons were fun and educational at the same time.
Fantasic teacher, super talented musician, and we have become good friends. What more can you ask for?
Brad is such a great example of a person with incredible professional success in their chosen field deciding a little later on in life to take up guitar, and work as hard at it as he does his job. Brad had already developed some good proficiency playing fingerstyle blues in the style of Rev. Gary Davis and Blind Blake, but he wanted to learn how to improvise solos over his favorite songs. He’s well on his way.
Besides my wife and family, I have two great passions in my life: my work as a trial lawyer and my music. I started playing guitar in 1999 at age 55, mostly alone, to amuse myself, taking lessons from various teachers and online.
Although I manage to pick up my guitar almost every day, I recently noticed that I had stopped making progress. I needed help. I wanted to get better, to learn improvisation, and to play with others.
This is when I had the good fortune to find David Randle. I started lessons with him just 6 weeks ago and already I am making real progress. He was instantly able to assess my strengths and identify my weaknesses and to re-direct my skill building. He understands exactly where I am and where I want to go. His enthusiasm for the instrument and his level of professionalism are inspiring.
These lessons are a lot of fun, but the real pleasure comes from the feeling of developing competence with each session. I have a sense that I am going to be a much better player a few months down the line.
Tom was a student from an earlier stage of my teaching life. I remember him as being an insatiable learner who couldn’t get enough of the guitar and due to finances, had to quit lessons long before either of us expected him to. I still communicate regularly with him via Facebook and I know his appetite for the guitar has only grown in the time since we had our weekly guitar lessons.
Many years ago I had the pleasure of taking guitar lessons from David Randle. I was at least thrilled that I was sitting there with a local music hero from the days of the Brain Police…but mostly, the way he explained every phrase and action of whatever we were learning. He was complimentary, when he didn’t need to be, and he was motivating all at the same time. Though my lessons did not last as long as I would have liked them, I was a starving college student, everything he taught me has stuck with me some 30 plus years later. The most important thing a teacher can give a student is the foundation that never changes and allows you to grow from it. David did that. Thanks for getting me moving…it has been a long delightful road.
Dan just began the wonderful guitar playing journey with me, after some less than thrilling experiences of lessons in his past. He’s so enthusiastic and makes great use of his time with me by asking all the right questions to further his awareness. Plus he works hard at it! You go Dan!
It is never too late. That is what I told myself. To play guitar was and is a goal of mine. The question was how to go about it. I had looked at several options. There are online teachings that are impersonal and not designed to meet personal objectives. The old one-size fits all approaches to learning. Not for me. There were one on one instructors that would spend weekly sessions to learn to play a song or two. Nope. I wanted more. Oh, and did I mention that I am a retired senior. I wanted to dive into the deep end. I want to learn as much as I can about playing this instrument. Not just a song or two, but everything that would allow me to pick my own songs to play because I understood the basics and the theory behind what was being taught. So, I needed an instructor who was also a coach. Someone to encourage and support as well as teach. Someone with a plan.
I looked around and found David. From the very first session I knew I made the right selection for my teacher/coach. We developed a shared vision and started with the basics. His “cookie cutters.” Each week we add a little more. Chords, chord progressions, power chords, penatonics, selective strumming, base chord strumming, basic licks, finger exercises, and note timing. He has not shown me one song to play. That I can do on my own now as he has shown me where on the internet, I can find songs that use the chords I have mastered. I pick what I want.
He checks in with me each session on where I am and where I need some help. He asks every time we meet where I want to go next and we build a plan.
Lastly, he was/is a professional musician and former music shop owner who toured and recorded when my love for music was just getting started. A music historian who will talk about the “good old days” as he has been in it for his whole life.
David is a wonderful instructor and coach that I look forward to sitting down with each step of the way.
Mark has a vibrancy and excitement about his love of music and about the guitar in particular. So much so, that he drives a very long way to be in the room for his lessons. He’s passionate about his growth on guitar and is making steady progress in both his understanding and execution of the techniques.
I’ve been taking weekly guitar lessons from David for 2 years now. He has 65 years of experience. How he teaches is one of kind. He’s able to break down the guitar so that anyone can understand because he makes it relatable to the student. I had zero experience playing guitar. I now have a notebook full of all my lessons, with practice techniques, playing styles, chord progressions, tabs of songs and custom guitar solos that I requested.
Working full time gives me very little time to practice. David customizes my lessons based on this and we focus on a few specific things so I can start to engrain that into muscle memory. We circle back on things I was first introduced to a year ago and continue to improve and refine that technique. My goal is to be a well-rounded player, and David keeps me always exploring every aspect of becoming just that.
Whether you are brand new at guitar or a great guitarist, David will be able to teach you what you would like to learn or expand on to become truly great. I only know how to play in standard tuning, David can play in 23 different tunings! It’s always interesting and intriguing what each week will bring in my music journey, with David’s vast knowledge of not just the guitar but music itself, I hope it never ends.