Music Lessons

We currently offer in-home piano classes near me in these Toronto districts/neighbourhoods: North York, Bloor West Village, Swansea, Runnymede, High Park, the Junction, West Bend,Roncesvalles, Etobicoke, the Kingsway, Sunnylea, Lambton Mills, Old Mill, Baby Point, Rosedale, Summerhill, Casa Loma, Wychwood, Bracondale Hill, Regal Heights, Moore Park, Deer Park, Forest Hill, Humewood, York, Oakwood Village, Midtown, Davisville, Leaside, Belgravia, Briar Hill, Glen Park, Allenby, North Toronto, Lawrence Park, Willowdale, Bayview Village, York Mills, Newtonbrook, Westminster, Branson, Bathurst Manor, Wilson Heights, the Annex, Dufferin Grove, Little Italy, Trinity Belwoods, Downtown, Yorkville, St. James Town, Cabbage Town, East York, Danforth, Playter Estates, Riverdale, Lesliville, the Beaches. 

Award yourself or your child the gift of music with piano lessons from Neighbour Note. Start today with a free piano lesson!

• Classical Piano Lessons
• Jazz Piano Lessons

• Classic Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

CLASSICAL GUITAR LESSONS

A classical guitar or 'Spanish Guitar' is a wooden guitar that has nylon and plastic strings. It has a smaller body than some acoustic guitars which generally have steel strings. The neck on a classical guitar is usually flatter and wider than an acoustic guitar. A classical guitar typically has nineteen frets, twelve of which are clear of the body, unlike the acoustic guitar which generally has eighteen to twenty frets, fourteen of which are clear of the body. 

The origins of the classical guitar are difficult to pin point. Images of 'guitar like' instruments can be seen from ancient Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Arabia. We do know that the classical guitar derived from the Spanish fifteenth and sixteenth century stringed instruments called the Vihuela and Gittern. The Vihuela and Gittern then evolved into the seventeenth and eighteenth century Baroque guitar and Romantic guitar. The Baroque guitar and Romantic guitar then evolved into the nineteenth century modern classical guitar. Originally, the strings on all of these instruments were made of gut. 

Holding a classical guitar can be tricky for beginners in their private classical guitar lessons. The classical guitar is supported with either your left or right leg in an elevated position supported by a foot rest depending on which hand you pick or strum with. This places the classical guitar at a peculiar angle for playing which is generally unique to classical guitarists. Playing the classical guitar requires your left or right hand to pick or strum the strings near the back of the sound hole, bridge, or over the fret-board depending on the tone you want to achieve. 

Some of the most famous classical guitar composers include: Ferdinando Carulli, Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Matteo Carcassi, Dionisio Aguado, John Dowland, Gaspar Sanz, Niccolo Paganini, Julian Arcas, Johann Sebastian Bach, Napoleon Coste, Enrique Granados, Johann Kaspar Mertz, Isaac Albeniz, Miguel Llobet, Francisco Tarrega, Agustin Barrios, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Andres Segovia, Leo Brouwer, and Carlo Domeniconi.

Beginner Classical Guitar Lessons

The classical guitar is an excellent instrument for a beginner. It's quite a diverse instrument and is capable of playing both melody and harmony. With the right classical guitar teacher, students can sound good after only a few lessons. Our beginner classical guitar lessons in Toronto at Neighbour Note are fun, challenging, and eclectic. Students are quickly introduced to the parts of the classical guitar during the first lesson. From there, we like to begin by focusing on the picking or strumming hand with simple exercises that focus on proper technique. Open string arpeggios are a great place to start. We then move on to the fret-board hand by playing single finger chords. This allows students to focus on correct finger, hand, and wrist placement. From there a two or three finger single string chromatic pattern exercise works well for stretching out the hand and fingers. Some students are able to stretch a four fret span by using all four fingers for this exercise. It all depends on how young the student is. Some students are really young and have small hands and fingers. For smaller students it is best to stick to two and three frets for this exercise until their hands and fingers grow.

The main goal of learning classical guitar at Neighbour Note is to become as relaxed as possible when playing. Short meditation like exercises are extremely valuable. They relax the body and let it do what needs to be done, namely playing in a relaxed comfortable state of mind and body. A good way to get started is to pick some open string arpeggios with the picking hand while gently touching this hand with your fret-board hand while playing. This helps relax the picking hand. You can then move on to putting the hands together and playing some chromatic passages that will relax and loosen the fret-board hand, fingers and wrist. This is a really good warm up for classical guitarists. Playing with your eyes closed also helps relax the body and mind. We provide classical guitar lessons throughout Toronto for ages three and up. You can find classical guitar lessons near me by looking at our guitar faculty on our teachers page.

Classical Guitar Lessons for Kids

Classical guitar lessons are not just for adults. At Neighbour Note, we specialize in classical guitar lessons for kids. Young children need a classical guitar method designed for the young beginner since their hands and fingers are quite small especially at an early age. Again, as stated earlier it is a good idea to start with open string picking and strumming. Students first start to learn to pick with their index finger and then middle finger. It is important that students don't alternate the picking fingers until they are reasonably comfortable picking with one individual finger at a time. Once students can play the free stroke somewhat comfortably with the index and middle fingers, you can then add the ring finger to the mix. After playing single strings, it's a good idea to now play some three string open chords while picking the 'G', 'B', and 'E' strings. In terms of strumming, it's a good idea to start with three string chords using a thumb brush technique. Three string chords usually only require one finger to place on the fret-board at a time.

• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Our voice lessons are suitable for all ages and interests

At Neighbour Note, our singing lessons are suitable for all ages and interests. You can start singing lessons as early as four years of age. That being said, the optimal age for beginning formal singing lessons is the age of 11 or 12. At this age children are going through puberty and their bodies and voices are experiencing big changes. We offer group singing classes as well as private voice lessons. Our voice lessons Toronto have extremely talented, educated, and experienced voice teachers. Beginner voice students can expect to work on proper breathing and relaxation techniques, making sure the mind does not get in the way of the body when singing. Techniques such as the Alexander Technique are extremely helpful when learning to sing, especially at the early stages of development. At Neighbour Note we teach classical voice lessons including Opera, as well as Jazz, Pop, Rock, and Country vocals.

Our singing teachers

The voice teachers at Neighbour Note are top notch. Our singing lessons, voice lessons, and singing classes are all offered by highly educated and experienced voice teachers who make sure that all voice students get the individualized attention they need. Many of our singing teachers have completed Masters degrees. Singing teacher, Elizabeth Rodriguez was nominated for a Juno Award. Lauren Mayer has two Masters degrees. Dr. Viva Kay Kieswetter has completed a PhD in musicology. Dr. Nina Soyfer has completed a PhD, Masters degree, Bachelors degree, as well as an ARCT and LRCM from the Royal Conservatory of Music. These are just a few of the very talented and highly skilled voice teachers at Neighbour Note. Our voice lessons Toronto truly are the best in the city.

Why choose us?

Singing lessons are extremely beneficial. Research shows that singing can reduce stress and anxiety, relieve tension, and improve one's well being. Singing also boosts confidence and is a great way to express emotions. Learning to sing is simply fun! In a group setting singing classes are a great way for students to make new friends and improve social bonding. A student's first voice lesson usually begins with singing techniques focusing on proper breathing and vocal placement. As students perform these exercises feedback will be given by one of our voice teachers pointing out what the student is doing well and the areas needed for improvement. Singing students also get to choose some new music they would like to learn for their singing lessons or singing classes. For their first singing lesson, students won't need much to begin. Some voice teachers will ask that the student bring some sheet music to the lesson. Other than that, students only need to bring themselves to the lesson. Singing lessons and singing classes with Neighbour Note can be taken at school during school hours or before and after school hours. They can also be taken at home or at our High Park music studio with a teacher, or online. Try a free lesson with Neighbour Note and see why our voice lessons Toronto truly are top notch!

"At Vocal Studio, we provide more than just vocal lessons. We're building confidence, encouraging passion, and helping our students become complete artists. The classes are fun, yet challenging; engaging, but immersive. Expert coaches will guide you through every genre or vocal style including pop, jazz, rock/blues, classical, R&B, hip-hop, dance, and more." Eli Jacob

The total cost for these 60 min. lessons is $120

Bass Guitar Lessons Toronto

A bass guitar is usually a four, five, or six stringed instrument that resembles an acoustic or electric guitar in both construction and appearance. The body of a bass guitar is typically larger than a guitar and the bass guitar has a longer neck and scale length making it the lowest sounding instrument in the guitar family. The bass guitar is played by plucking the strings with fingers or picking strings with a pick for the picking hand. You can also slap and pop the bass guitar with your picking hand thumb and fingers. The opposite hand plays on the fret-board by pressing down the strings onto the fret-board and placing the fingers behind the fret wires while doing so. The bass guitar is responsible for driving the beat in a band while the drummer keeps the beat. Our bass guitar lessons in Toronto are both fun and challenging. To find bass guitar lessons near me check out our teachers page.

Bass Guitar Lessons for Kids 

At Neighbour Note our bass guitar lessons for kids are also eclectic. We allow students to learn bass lines from their favourite movie scores, video game soundtracks, and songs. Movie scores and video game soundtracks often require the bass guitar teacher to transcribe them by ear since the sheet music is usually not available. Many movie scores and video game soundtracks need to be arranged for the bass guitar to make them easier to play, especially for beginners. When students get to choose the music they love to listen to they often become extremely motivated to practice. Not only do students get to choose the music they want to learn but they also focus on bass guitar methods specifically designed for the young beginner. We teach beginner bass guitar lessons, as well as intermediate and advanced levels. Not only do we offer bass guitar lessons for kids but we also offer bass guitar lessons for adults. 

Private Bass Guitar Lessons 

Private bass guitar lessons are the best way to learn to play the bass. It's more difficult learning to play the bass guitar in a group setting. In private bass guitar lessons all of the attention is focused on the student. There are no distractions from other students in private one-on-one lessons. Our private bass guitar lessons usually start with students learning how to pluck the strings with their fingers or pick the strings with a pick. With plucking, we usually start with an index and middle finger combination exercise where students alternate these fingers by plucking the open strings of the bass. From there, we then move on to some single string chromatic exercises. Here, students press down on the strings with their fret-board hand fingers making sure to keep their finger or fingers behind the fret wire or fret wires. Since some children are quite small it is best to only do two or three frets at a time with these exercises until their hands and fingers grow. Once children can reach three frets it's a good idea to move on to a four fret span.

• Classical guitar lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

The Viola has often been called the Cinderella of the orchestra and has often been made fun of. Thanks to writers such as William Primrose and Lionel Tetris, the Viola has become more popular and more music is being written for it. Neighbour Note offers fun Viola lessons and we will come to your home to share our love of this instrument with you and your family. It truly is a great instrument to learn!

Loreena McKennitt, Jon Anderson, Carlos Salzedo, and Joanna Newsom are just some of the renowned harpists that have exemplified what the harp can achieve musically. Neighbour Note offers professional harp lessons in the comfort of your Toronto home or at one of our teacher's studios. Our harp teacher Dr. Angela Schwarzkopf is the president of the Toronto Chapter of the American Harp Society.

Although the tuba is usually found in ragtime and big band, as well as gracing the streets of New Orleans, there are many jazz and pop songs that have adopted this hard-hitting instrument. In orchestras, you will usually find only one tuba, so you will be the star of the brass section!

We offer private in-home lessons for students who prefer to practice in the comfort of their home where there is no added pressure. Students are also free to have their lessons at Neighbour Note’s studio if they want a preview of how it’ll feel when you play with the entire band and in front of a large audience!

Learning the tuba is a big responsibility, and it’s also a heavy instrument to play—weighing 13.6 kilograms, it gives off a deep ship-like horn with its wide conical bore. The tuba is a powerful instrument not meant to be taken lightly, so when you sign up for our professional tuba music lessons in Toronto, be prepared to make some noise!

Through our private in-home and studio classes, you will learn the fundamental differences between these instruments and which one is best suited to you. While both instruments look very similar, they have their own purpose. 

Contrary to its name, the baritone plays a lighter tone and fits into a four-part harmony of a band in the role of tenor.  The euphonium is more conical and thus produces a fuller  sound compared to the baritone.  The euphonium doesn’t fit into a four-part harmony; it is its own fifth part because it plays elements of the other parts.  When students take private in-home and studio classes with Neighbour Note, we allow them the freedom to learn tunes that they’re drawn to, whether it’s film and video game scores or classic rock. Our goal is to team them an eclectic assortment of ways to delight the ear with powerful music!

Lessons are available in downtown Toronto, Etobicoke, Bloor West Village, Swansea, High Park, Roncesvalles, the West Bend, the Annex.

Students will learn how to write chord progressions, by way of example. In other words, harmonic analysis of songs and compositions in multiple musical genres, is absolutely fundamental when learning to write chord progressions. What better way to learn then studying songs from the masters?

Students will also learn how to write melodies and lyrics, and how to set the two together in a song. Learning how to construct lyrics that communicate to the listener effectively and poetically can be extremely rewarding.

In terms of song structure, students will learn how different parts of a song function as a whole. They will also learn how to combine these parts, in hopes of creating a piece of art that moves people physically, emotionally, and intellectually.

One of the most important elements of song writing is continuity; the ability to create a cohesive song that the listener can follow, without getting lost, as it changes. One of the main goals of our songwriting program is to help all our students achieve some sort of continuity with their songwriting. All students will learn how to create continuity through the development of their musical ideas by way of guided discovery.

Our private composition lessons situate the ideas and interests of the budding composer at their core. As teachers, it is our role to give the student resources and skills to support his/her artistic vision, yet also to provide challenges to help them deepen their understanding of music (their own, and that of others). This balance is achieved by including carefully-selected exercises which are tailored to the student's needs, listening—exposing them to the work of other musicians (in various genres of music), but also devoting a significant amount of lesson-time to feedback on their own personal compositional works.

Recommended for the budding bedroom producer, the aspiring soundtrack composer, emerging electronic alchemist and novice symphonist, composition lessons are an excellent complement to traditional training for any creative-minded student.

Working creatively writing and producing music, is something which liberates musicians, getting them away from only listening to, performing, and reading about other great works, and into their own imagination to create their own. It's both an empowering and challenging activity, and with guidance and encouragement from an experienced instructor it can grow into a disciplined full-fledged artistic practice, even a fruitful career path.

Our recording and production lessons focus on the science and physics of sound in audio engineering. It's a non-musical way of learning about audio; learning about "the other side of the glass" in a recording session (so to speak). Students are introduced to the wide world of digital audio by way of exploration of common equipment used in a modern home recording studio, such as monitors and mixers; microphone technologies, placement, and techniques; digital audio workstation (DAW) software; processors such as compression, EQ, panning, reverb, delay, and other effects; and mixing, what it is and how to do it.

All students will have the opportunity to record and mix a project of their own including original material.

Toronto Electric Guitar Lessons 

An electric guitar is a guitar that has a device called a pickup that is embedded into the body of the guitar rather than an acoustic sound hole. A guitar pickup somehow converts the vibration of the strings into an electric signal that is sent to a guitar amplifier via a patch cable. The guitar amplifier then plays the sound produced by the signal. Most electric guitars have more than one guitar pickup. Electric guitars can be played without an amplifier but the sound will be quite low in volume. The amplifier and the electric guitar both have volume settings as well as different tone settings allowing the guitarist to create multiple different tones. Most guitar amplifiers have a button or switch that allows the sound of the electric guitar to become distorted. A distorted sound is used in most Rock, Metal, and Pop music just to name a few genres. Our electric guitar lessons in Toronto are fun, rewarding, and cool! To find Toronto electric guitar lessons nar me please look at our lessons page..

Beginner Electric Guitar Lessons 

Our beginner electric guitar lessons start with an exploration of the parts of the guitar and amplifier. Most electric guitars have one tone control and one volume control. Some models have two different tone controls and two different volume controls. One control adjusts the sound levels while the other changes the quality of sound to produce different tones. There is also a toggle switch or pickup selector on the electric guitar that allows players to significantly change the sound quality. Some tones produced by a pickup selector will have a deeper bass sound while others will be higher sounding almost twangy in tone. Electric guitars can be equipped with a three way pickup selector or a five way pickup selector. The guitar amplifier usually has many different options for tones as well as a couple of channels, one for a clean sound and the other for a distorted sound. All amplifiers have volume control settings. Not only do we teach electric guitar lessons for kids but we also teach electric guitar lessons for adults. 

Electric Guitar Lessons 

We also teach private electric guitar lessons for intermediate and advanced levels. This means we delve deeper into barre chords and movable scales. Students get to finish learning all five movable pentatonic scale patterns and major and minor scale patterns. They also learn about the modal system and how to play modes on the electric guitar. In terms of chords, students finishing learning all five movable barre chord shapes in the CAGED system or Formation system. From these five movable shapes students can then form minor chords, and all four note chords such as sevenths, ninths, elevenths, thirteenths and more! All chord notes are relative to the root making learning sequential. Guitar technique gets more advanced as students build speed and coordination with their guitar exercises. Students get to learn to play the guitar with a pick as well as learn to pick the strings with their fingers. Finger picking and guitar picking with a pick should both be taught since they both produce different sounds and tones.

• Classical guitar lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Toronto Acoustic Guitar Lessons

An acoustic guitar is a stringed instrument that is usually made of wood. Generally, most acoustic guitars have a hollow body with a sound hole or port, a head, a neck, a fret-board with frets, a bridge, a nut, posts and tuning keys. Acoustic guitars usually have six strings and they are usually made of steel. Sound on an acoustic guitar is produced when a string is picked or plucked. The vibration of the string produces sound that resonates from the body of the guitar and escapes through the sound hole. In other words, the vibration of the string or strings are amplified acoustically via the body and sound hole. The tone of an acoustic guitar can sound warm, bright, mellow, and metallic depending on where you pluck or pick the strings. The closer you pick towards the bridge the more metallic sounding it gets. The sound becomes warmer or more mellow when you pick the strings over the neck. Our Toronto acoustic guitar lessons inspire students so that they can become creative with the acoustic guitar. We teach acoustic guitar lessons throughout Toronto.

Acoustic Guitar Lessons for Kids

Our beginner acoustic guitar lessons for kids are similar to our electric guitar lessons in that we start by explaining all the parts of the acoustic guitar from the start. It's important that students get familiar with their instrument from the beginning. From there we get right into playing! Students get to start learning acoustic guitar by playing fun songs, scales, and chords right from the start. Pentatonic scales are a must since so many songs are based on these five different notes. Open chords are also important since they are generally easier to play than barre chords. Unlike barre chords that have no open strings, open chords have at least one open string that produces a warmer richer sound. In terms of learning songs, fun beginner songs that have open pentatonic riffs or licks as well as open and movable power chords should be chosen. The short riffs and licks are easier to play in open position and power chords only require one or two fingers to play. Not only do we teach acoustic guitar lessons for kids but we also teach acoustic guitar lessons for adults.

Private Acoustic Guitar Lessons

Our private acoustic guitar lessons are eclectic. After all, variety is the spice of life. Keeping things interesting can be challenging so making sure to mix things up is always a good idea. The more things students have to work on in a lesson the less chance they will have of being bored. Important things to learn in an acoustic guitar lesson are open and movable scale patterns for major, minor, and pentatonic scales. Learning all five movable patterns is a must. This will allow you to cover almost the entire fret-board. Open chords and barre chords are equally as important as scales. Chords allow us to play the harmony of songs. Open chords often sound warmer or richer than movable chords. Like the movable scale patterns, learning the five movable barre chord categories allow us to play all over the fret-board. To find acoustic guitar lessons near me please check our acoustic guitar lessons page.

• Classical guitar lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Blues Guitar Lessons

At Neighbour Note we make sure our blues guitar lessons are fun. We do this by teaching blues standards including blues turnarounds, blues shuffles, blues guitar fills, blues guitar solos, and even the Boogie Woogie. Blues Turnarounds can often sound flashy. The fancy guitar picking of harmonic major sixth intervals sounds really difficult top play but in reality they are not that hard. Blues turnarounds are often used as guitar fills so students not only learn how to play blues guitar turnarounds but they also learn the function of them, namely, moving the music back to the start. The blues shuffle is also really fun to play. The rhythm of the lazy eighth notes has just the right feel. The combination of the perfect fifth, major sixth, and minor seventh are idiomatic of this genre of music. They just sound like the blues! The Boogie Woogie is quite easy to feel. The driving rhythm and interval patterns are easy to recognize. As you can see, our Toronto blues guitar lessons are quite eclectic.

Beginner Blues Guitar Lessons

Our beginner blues guitar lessons are also challenging and rewarding. Beginner blues guitar students can sound good with only a few lessons. Starting with chromatic patterns often used at the start or ending of a blues song is a good place to begin. This way students get familiar with the unique sound of the blues. The Boogie Woogie is also a good place to start. It is so distinct sounding that many people can recognize this sub genre of blues music. The Boogie Woogie often sounds like the bass line is actually walking! Blues Rhythms are also important to teach. The blues shuffle has a distinct eight note pattern that is usually played as a swing rhythm. Triplets are also prominent throughout blues music so they are essential to learn as well. Blues scales and pentatonic scales are an absolute must to learn when playing blues guitar. These scales are prominent in blues guitar solos, fills, and turnarounds. Not only do we teach blues guitar lessons for kids but we also teach blues guitar lessons for adults.

Private Blues Guitar Lessons

Private blues guitar lessons are the way to go. It's easier to learn one-on-one than it is to in a small group of students since there are less people and less distractions. You will need all of your focus to master the blues! When it comes to learning blues guitar jamming and improvising is very important. Many blues songs are based on improvisation. Learning how to improvise is great fun. You get to get creative with scales by making up your own guitar riffs and guitar licks. Blues scales have a very unique sound. They are easy to recognize and easy to feel while playing. You are simply adding one note (a lowered fifth) to a pentatonic scale. Many blues guitarists will improvise using pentatonic scales and blues scales. Jamming on chord progressions is also fun. Here you can improvise some rhythms to the chord patterns you are playing. To find blues guitar lessons near me please check our lessons page.

• Classical guitar lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Metal Guitar Lessons in Toronto

At Neighbour Note, our Toronto metal guitar lessons are fun, rewarding, challenging and intense! We offer heavy metal guitar lessons throughout Toronto. There are multiple sub-genres to metal guitar: Traditional Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, and Black Metal are all important since they all offer different aspects of playing. Traditional Metal usually covers the span from the 1970's and eighties featuring bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica just to name a few. Thrash Metal requires rapid speed of playing for both rhythm and lead guitars and includes famous bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, and Exodus to name a few. Death Metal features themes such as death, horror and darkness. Popular Death Metal bands are Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and Entombed. Black Metal is downright evil sounding. Themes of Black Metal are Satanic in nature. Popular Black Metal bands include Darkthrone, Burzum, and Enslaved just to name a few.

Metal Guitar Lessons for Kids

Our beginner metal guitar lessons for kids usually start with an introduction to the parts of the guitar. We then show the student how to hold the pick in different playing situations by picking each of the open strings. From there we then start with some chromatic exercises so students can not only get familiar with the fret-board but also work on coordinating the picking hand with the fret-board hand. After this, it's time to learn some open power chords and play some beginner metal rhythm guitar passages. Once the open power chords are mastered it's time to move on to some open pentatonic scales in popular keys. From there the next step is to learn some movable power chords and some movable pentatonic scale patterns. This will give us a solid foundation in metal guitar lessons so students can start to play some metal songs. Many metal songs are extremely challenging and require some degree of skill to play. Without a proper foundation it will be extremely difficult to learn metal songs. Not only do we teach metal guitar lessons for kids we also teach metal guitar lessons for adults.

Private Metal Guitar Lessons

Metal guitar lessons tend to focus on building hand strength and developing speed while playing with a guitar pick. This can take years of dedication to be able to shred on the electric guitar. With the right amount of patience and consistent hard work with weekly practice students will be able to play guitar quite quickly. Our private metal guitar lessons are eclectic. We cover a plethora of techniques, exercises, and metal songs in our private metal guitar lessons in Toronto. Students will learn important concepts and techniques such as tremolo picking, sweep picking, palm muting, vibrato, slurs including slides, the hammer-on, the pull-off, trills, drone notes including the pedal point, chromatic exercises, hexatonic patterns or shapes, pentatonic patterns or shapes, the modal system including all five movable shapes or patterns, and octave displacement in our metal guitar lessons. To find metal guitar lessons near me please check our metal guitar lessons page.

• Classical guitar lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Toronto Rock Guitar Lessons

Rock guitar lessons are downright fun! Playing rock songs, power chords, open and full barre chords, and scales are a blast. Beginners can sound good from the get go with our Toronto rock guitar lessons. Rock guitar lessons are a great place to begin learning to play guitar. Many rock songs only have three chords so learning songs can be done quite quickly. Power chords are the easiest chords to play on the guitar and they are prominent in rock music. Like power chords, many open chords are not too difficult to learn. You can find an abundance of three chord songs in the rock music genre. Many rock songs use either open chords or power chords. In terms of scales, pentatonic scales only have five different notes so they can be learned quite quickly as well. Pentatonic scales are also prominent in rock music.

Both acoustic and electric guitar will sound good with rock guitar lessons. Our guitar lessons rock Toronto!

Beginner Rock Guitar Lessons

Beginner rock guitar lessons should start with learning to play open power chords. Open power chords only require two or three fingers to play so they are fairly simple to learn. From there, moving on to movable power chords is a great idea. Many rock songs combine open and movable power chords. The next step would be to start learning two and three finger open chords. Open chords are also prominent in rock music. From there, moving on to open pentatonic scales is a good idea. The pentatonic scale only has five different notes so it is easy to learn. Also, open scales are easier to play than movable scales since they require less of a finger stretch. Finally, moving on to movable pentatonic scales is the next logical step. Movable scales allow you to play all over the fret-board with one shape or pattern. This is a great plan of action to set up beginner guitar students for success. Not only do we teach rock guitar lessons for kids, we also teach rock guitar lessons for adults.

Private Rock Guitar Lessons

Private rock guitar lessons are the way to go. Learning one-on-one is the very best way to learn. While group guitar lessons can be fun they can be quite distracting as well. When you have multiple people trying to learn at the same time in the same space things can get quite distracting in a hurry. This can also lead to frustration. Not everyone learns at the same pace. Some students advance faster than others. In a group setting, students who progress faster can sometimes feel like they are being held back by other students who progress at a slower rate. Guitar students who progress at a slower rate may feel that they are simply not learning fast enough and this can be overwhelming. Private rock guitar lessons eliminate the extra distractions by focusing solely on the guitar teacher and the guitar student. To find rock guitar lessons near me please check our rock guitar lessons page.

• Classical Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Country Guitar Lessons in Toronto

Country music is one of the oldest genres in American popular music. It began as a mixture of styles such as blues, folk, and church music. The sub-genres of country music are: Western, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass, Rockabilly, and Modern Country. Western Country music associated with cowboys and western movies started around the 1930's and became popular in the 1960's with the live country music radio show called the 'Grand Ole Opry'. Honky Tonk is actually a bar, club, or dance hall where country music is played. It is also a style of country music related to ragtime music and focused more on rhythm than melody. Bluegrass music is a combination of Scottish, Irish, and English traditions and is typically played quite fast with high energy. Rockabilly music is a combination of Western Country and Rhythm and Blues. It became popular in the 1950's. Modern country music includes elements of rock, pop, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and even rural dance music. Modern country guitar combines traditional playing techniques with modern playing techniques which are borrowed from several related American styles. Try Toronto country guitar lessons and see how much fun it can be!

Country Guitar Lessons for Adults

It's never too late to learn how to play country guitar! At Neighbour Note we teach beginner country guitar lessons as well as intermediate and advanced levels. Our country guitar lessons focus on fun. We include both traditional country music and modern country music with all their sub-genres into our country guitar lessons. This way guitar students get exposed to multiple different styles of country music. When it comes to country guitar lessons variety usually makes things interesting. Both traditional country music and modern country music feature many different ballads and dance tunes. In terms of instrumentation, both traditional country music and modern country music feature multiple different guitars such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and even steel guitar. Country guitar can be incredibly challenging since many songs feature fancy fast picking! For this reason it is absolutely imperative that students get a solid foundation in technique when learning country guitar lessons. Not only do we teach country guitar for adults but we also teach country guitar for kids.

Private Country Guitar Lessons

Our private country guitar lessons are fun, challenging, and rewarding. We make the lessons eclectic in terms of sub genre as well as technique. We do our best to teach elements of Western, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass, Rockabilly, and Modern Country music with our country guitar lessons. In terms of technique, we teach a wide variety of exercises to cover the many different sub-genres of country music. Guitar techniques taught in our country guitar lessons include: slurs such as slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, hammer-pulls, pull-hammers, and string bends, double stops, flat picking, hybrid picking, and finger picking. Exercises include open scale runs and movable scale runs, hybrid picking with double stops, and short guitar solo excerpts that incorporate all or most of the country guitar techniques previously listed. We also work on improvisation with the pentatonic scales (both open and movable) as well as the major scale and the country guitar scale that features a lowered third in the major pentatonic scale. To find country guitar lessons near me please check our lessons page.

• Classical Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Toronto Jazz Guitar Lessons

Our Toronto jazz guitar lessons are definitely challenging. Jazz guitar features improvised melodies and harmonies, multiple four note chords, challenging chord progressions, syncopation, and jazz forms. There are two types of melodies used in jazz guitar lessons: written and improvised. Written melodies are often altered by jazz guitarists as they add additional notes and change some of the rhythms. For improvisation, many jazz guitarists use modes and scales, chromatic notes, and chord notes. In terms of harmony, jazz guitar uses seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and altered chords. Playing four different notes per chord is definitely tricky. Common jazz chord progressions used in jazz guitar lessons are: I VI ii V and ii V I as well as variations on these. Accenting weak beats or syncopation is common in jazz guitar. Traditional jazz forms are derived from the blues. The twelve bar blues and forms such as A A B A are common in jazz music. Try our jazz guitar lessons in Toronto and online!

Beginner Jazz Guitar Lessons

Our beginner jazz guitar lessons focus on the fundamentals such as scales, chords, arpeggios, rhythm, and form. Pentatonic scales and jazz scales are widely used in jazz music. Four note chords are also prominent in jazz guitar. Playing four note chords as arpeggios and solid chord blocks is important. Solid chord blocks are used when comping and arpeggios can have a melodic effect. We also teach guitar students how to improvise with melody and harmony. In terms of improvising melody, using chromatic notes and organizing them into passing notes, neighbour notes, and appoggiaturas is widely used when improvising melodies in jazz guitar. Improvising harmony consists of comping which is a type of guitar accompaniment where rhythms are improvised by the guitarist. Comping can be challenging since many jazz guitarists don't always play on the beat! Also, syncopation, swing rhythms, and triplets can be tricky to play. It's not easy to accent a weak beat or delay every second note of a beat. Stretching out a triplet can also be tough for guitarists. As you can see we cover a great deal of material in our Toronto jazz guitar lessons. Not only do we teach jazz guitar lessons for adults but we also teach jazz guitar lessons for kids.

Free Jazz Guitar Lessons

All new students receive one free jazz guitar lesson when they sign up for private jazz guitar lessons with us. We do this to allow students to 'try' before they 'buy' so to speak. It's similar to auditioning a guitar before you buy it. Most people want to try something first without a commitment. Not everyone will like jazz guitar lessons so a free introductory guitar lesson is a good idea. Our jazz guitar lessons are eclectic. We cover a broad range of concepts such as jazz scales, blues scales, pentatonic scales, major scales, modes and more! We teach all four note chords including sevenths, ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths, as well as altered chords. Jazz guitar students will learn all about rhythms used in jazz music such as triplets, swing rhythms, and syncopation. Students will not only learn how to play arpeggios, but they will also learn all about jazz forms which covers musical structure. To find jazz guitar lessons near me please check our lessons page.

• Classical Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Flamenco Guitar Lessons in Toronto

Flamenco features virtuoso guitar playing, dancing, and gypsy singing. Our Flamenco guitar lessons in Toronto will move you! The dance like rhythms and beautiful accompaniments are so much fun to play on the guitar. A Flamenco guitar is similar to a classical guitar. Both guitars have nylon and plastic strings and both guitars are quite similar in appearance. That being said, the body of a Flamenco guitar is thinner than a classical guitar. The strings on a Flamenco guitar are positioned lower than that of a classical guitar creating a lower action. Some Flamenco guitars have tap plates on the guitar that protects the guitar body from the guitarist's finger nails. Classical guitars do not have tap plates since it would impede the classical guitar's overall sound. The difference between Flamenco guitar technique and classical guitar technique is the hand position. Flamenco guitar players tend to play with their picking hand on more of an outward angle closer to the bridge than classical guitarists. Try our Toronto Flamenco guitar lessons today!

Flamenco Guitar Lessons for Kids

Our beginner Flamenco guitar lessons are extremely fun. Learning to play dance like rhythms on the guitar is a blast. Children can start learning to play Flamenco guitar as young as six years old. In terms of technique, we like to start off our beginner Flamenco guitar lessons with the free stroke (tirando) since it is the most fundamental technique of them all. The free stroke is the basis of all other Flamenco guitar techniques. Once guitar students are comfortable with the free-stroke they can then start learning to play the rest stroke (picado). At this stage a good exercise is to combine both rest stroke and free stroke by using the thumb (pulgar) to play rest strokes while the other fingers play free strokes. The Flamenco pulgar requires a different right hand posture than the free stroke technique so you are ultimately working on two different hand positions. From there, Flamenco guitar students can begin learning Flamenco guitar tremolo using a five note five finger pattern: P i a m i. This is a good start for Flamenco guitar lessons for kids. Not only do we teach Flamenco guitar lessons for kids we also teach Flamenco guitar lessons for adults.

Private Flamenco Guitar Lessons

Private Flamenco guitar lessons in Toronto at Neighbour Note are also challenging. Flamenco guitar music can require a great deal of skill to play. For this reason it's imperative that Flamenco guitar students get a solid foundation in Flamenco guitar technique. Learning arpeggios is a must for any Flamenco guitar student. Many Flamenco guitar pieces have arpeggios in them. When learning to play arpeggios, Flamenco guitar students will also learn a technique called 'planting' for practising. Some of the Flamenco guitar techniques Flamenco guitar students will learn are the: Alzapua, Rasqueado, Abanico, Apagado, Apoyando, Arrastre, Golpe, Ligado, Picado, Tapado, Tirando, and Flamenco Tremolo. The alzapua is a technique that is unique to Flamenco guitar. Here you use your thumbnail like a pick playing in both directions. The rasqueado is a Flamenco guitar strumming technique played by flicking the strings with the pinky, ring, middle, and index fingers successively. Sometimes the thumb is included at the end of this strum technique. The abanico requires mobility in the wrist for speed of the picking hand. The abanico is a picking hand triplet rasqueado technique where the following finger sequence occurs: middle and ring fingers play together in a strong downward strum followed by a second strum with a down stroke and then up stroke of the thumb. The apagado is a Flaemco guitar technique where chords are muted quickly by damping the strings with the pinky finger of the fret-board hand or the palm of the picking hand. The apoyando is simply a rest stroke played using the thumb. The arrastre is a Flamenco guitar picking hand technique where the ring finger rakes across the strings from the highest pitch to the lowest pitch. The golpe is a tap of the body of the guitar played with the ring finger below the thinnest string or with the thumb above the thickest string. The ligado is a slur technique (hammer-ons, pull-offs...). The picado is simply a rest stroke usually played with the index and middle fingers of the picking hand. The tapado is when the guitar is played like a percussion instrument while the strings are being dampened with the fret-board hand. The tirando is simply the free stroke. Flamenco tremolo is both a Flamenco and classical guitar technique. To find Flamenco guitar lessons near me please check our guitar lessons page.

• Classical Guitar Lessons
• Bass Guitar Lessons
• Electric Guitar Lessons
• Acoustic Guitar Lessons
• Blues Guitar Lessons
• Metal Guitar Lessons
• Rock Guitar Lessons
• Country Guitar Lessons
• Jazz Guitar Lessons

Classical Piano Lessons in Toronto

Classical piano lessons are often the first introduction piano students have to learning to play the piano. For this reason it is absolutely imperative that classical piano lessons are not boring and stressful. Keeping things interesting can be challenging when teaching classical piano lessons. There is so much to learn. Students need to learn how to read music, develop hand and finger strength through technical exercises, and build up their piano repertoire by memorizing and mastering piano pieces. At Neighbour Note our classical piano lessons in Toronto are fun, rewarding, and challenging. We use a modern approach to teach our Toronto classical piano lessons and this includes the use of videos, digital applications and traditional books. The classical piano repertoire is absolutely amazing. Some of the most famous songs and compositions in the world come from the genre of classical piano music. The word classical piano applies to different time periods spanning multiple eras of music history all the way from the Renaissance era to the 20th Century and including the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras respectively. Byrd, Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Wagner, Chopin, Liszt, Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, and Joplin are just some of the classical piano masters that may inspire you!

Classical Piano Lessons for Kids

Our beginner classical piano lessons are typically taught with a modern approach. We use engaging free digital applications such flowkey, piano academy, simply piano, yousician, perfect ear, skoove, and perfect piano. These modern applications help make learning fun. We use these applications in conjunction with traditional books. Children need stimulation. If we only used traditional books then our classical piano lessons would be boring. Modern digital music applications make learning interactive and enjoyable. We also use instructional videos in our Toronto classical piano lessons. Many of our piano teachers create personal practice videos at the end of each lesson so the student knows exactly what to practice and how to play it. Piano students can save these videos into a practice log that will help keep them organized. For online piano lessons we like to use programs such as Sonatico instead of applications such as Skype or Zoom. The sound quality is not the greatest on Skype or Zoom and Zoom has a tendency to mute the background noise which in turn mutes the sound of the piano! Muting the background noise is a real frustration for piano teachers. There is an audio setting that corrects this issue but it does not always work. Unlike Skype and Zoom, Sonatico is an application dedicated for teaching music lessons. The sound quality in Sonatico is much better than Skype or Zoom. There is no muting of the background noise and there are musical tools within Sonatico that allow teachers to send instant messages for dynamic markings, staccato, legato... Not only do we teach classical piano lessons for kids we also teach classical piano lessons for adults.

Private Classical Piano Lessons

Private classical piano lessons are the way to go. Classical piano is extremely challenging and therefore requires one-on-one instruction. Trying to learn classical piano in a group setting is a mistake. There are simply too many distractions in a group setting. People have different ways of learning. Some people excel with rote instruction while others need to see the sheet music in front of them while playing and therefore learn better with a book. Not only do people learn differently, they also progress differently. Some piano students progress at a faster rate while others can progress at a much slower rate. Piano students who progress quickly may feel like they are being held back by some of the slower learners in the group. The slower learners may become easily frustrated and may feel like they cannot keep up with the other students. For these reasons it's best to stick with private one-on-one classical piano lessons. To find classical piano lessons near me please check our classical piano lessons page.

• Jazz Piano Lessons

Toronto Jazz Piano Lessons

We offer jazz piano lessons in Toronto and online. Our Toronto jazz piano lessons are highly educational. Jazz piano lessons feature improvised melodies and harmonies, four note chords such as sevenths, ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, altered chords, challenging chord progressions, jazz forms, syncopation, and comping. Improvising on melodies can involve adding additional notes such as chromatic notes and chord notes, as well as changing the rhythms of written melodies or completely improvising on a mode or scale. Improvising on harmonies can include rhythm comping with the use of four note chords and altered chords. Making up different rhythms for comping definitely makes things fun and interesting. Triplets and syncopated rhythms are common in jazz piano. Four note chords commonly used in jazz piano lessons include: seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords. Four note chords are more difficult to play than basic three note chords. The addition of the fourth note can sometimes confuse a beginner. Common jazz chord progressions used in jazz piano lessons are: I VI ii V and ii V I as well as variations on these. Traditional jazz forms are derived from the blues. The twelve bar blues and forms such as A A B A are common in jazz music.

Beginner Jazz Piano Lessons

At Neighbour Note we like to start our beginner jazz piano lessons off with a bang! We do this by getting creative in our teaching. Learning to improvise is at the heart of our jazz piano lessons. For beginners, we like to start with basic improvising skills for both melody and harmony. Pentatonic and melodic minor are great scales to begin with for learning how to improvise melodies. In terms of harmony, starting with seventh chords (Major 7th, Minor 7th, and 7th) is a great place to start. Seventh chords are widely used in jazz music. For this reason it is important for students to learn and memorize seventh chords as soon as possible. For improvising rhythms by comping it is a good idea to keep things simple in the beginning. Start with some basic rhythms before branching out into triplets and syncopation. Not only do we teach jazz piano lessons for kids we also teach jazz piano lessons for adults.

Private Jazz Piano Lessons

Jazz piano lessons can be quite challenging and often they require a great deal of skill to play. For this reason it is imperative that jazz piano students get a good musical foundation in jazz piano technique and music theory. Learning and practising scales and modes is a must for melodic improvisation. All songs are based on some type of scale or mode. The whole tone, diminished, augmented, bebop, pentatonic, blues, and melodic minor are just some of the melodic concepts that are essential building blocks for melodic improvisation. The modal system is also fun to improvise with. There are seven different modes to choose from: Ionian, Dorian, Phyrgian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. In terms of harmony, we teach jazz piano students how to play and improvise with four note chords. Seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteen chords are all used in jazz so they are essential to learn. Our private jazz piano lessons are fun and rewarding. To find jazz piano lessons near me please check our lessons page.

• Classical Piano Lessons