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Our Teachers and Team

Our Teachers and Team

Our teachers came from around the globe to New York City to master and share their craft. Their world-class skills, performing experience and education are matched by a passion for helping their students grow.

Whether you are just getting started or are an advanced player reaching for the next level, your NYC Guitar School teacher will help you reach your goals! Select any teacher to instantly book a live online lesson.

NEW STUDENT SPECIAL: Use code “new23″at checkout to take your first lesson for only $20.

Adam Ray

Adam Ray is a multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer. He began his professional music career at the age of 16, studied under Quentin Baxter at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. After graduating, Adam became one of the most in-demand musicians in the Southeast, performing with region
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Aki Ishiguro

Aki Ishiguro has been playing and practicing for more than 11 years. He still remembers the first lesson he received when he learned to play a Nirvana song.
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Alec Goldfarb

Alec Goldfarb is a Brooklyn based composer, guitarist, and Hindustani classical musician. He performs in diverse settings across the East Coast, and as a teacher coaches fundamentals that translate to novel musical situations. A graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in Music Compositio
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Anthony Hollock

Anthony has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End, as well as various theaters around the US. He has received a BA in Musical Theatre from Point Park University. Throughout his training, he has shaped his voice with almost a dozen voice teachers combining all of their best methods i
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Ben Fitts

Ben grew up with New York City Guitar School. After studying with NYCGS in camps and lessons, Ben began gigging as a professional musician at 17 and started teaching lessons soon thereafter. Ben has a B.A. from Hampshire College where he studied music composition, guitar performance, and music produ
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Charlie Looker

Charlie Looker is a native New Yorker who has been teaching guitar since the 00s to students of all ages and skill levels. He studied composition at Wesleyan University with Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier, jazz guitar with Chris Rosenberg (Manhattan School of Music), and classical music theory/cou
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Clayton Hopkins

Clayton Hopkins is a NYC/NJ based guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He studied Music Engineering, Production, Contemporary Guitar, and Composition/Songwriting at Frost School of Music before moving to NYC to pursue his original music full-time. Clayton’s contemporary rock n roll group, Clayto
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Curtis Brewer

American guitarist Curtis Brewer educates in diverse styles ranging from riff-heavy grunge to twang-tinged rock while simultaneously honoring every shade of America music. He’s gained a reputation as a first-call studio guitarist, charming vocalist, and trusted educator, teaching music at Southern I
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Dan Emery

Dan Emery is dedicated to bringing the thrill and pride of guitar playing to all who desire it. He is the founder of NYC's friendliest and fastest growing guitar schools, New York City Guitar School, Brooklyn Guitar School and Queens Guitar School.
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David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez has been performing and teaching classical guitar for over 30 years. He has two degrees in music and received his Suzuki training from Paul Landefeld and Frank Lontay.
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David Kuhn

David was born in Nashville, TN (Go Titans!) and began playing guitar at age 12. He holds a BFA in Jazz Guitar Performance from the New School and also has a strong background in hospitality. David is a patient, caring, and enthusiastic teacher. He is excited to build relationships with his students
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Dylan Charles

Dylan Charles was so excited when he got his first guitar at age thirteen, he started waking up extra early so he could jam a few chords before catching the bus to school. Only two years later he was gigging professionally in his hometown of Ann Arbor, MI.
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Elaine Chu

Before she found NYC Guitar School, Elaine graduated with a degree in psychology from NYU and held a position as a Compliance Officer in options trading surveillance on Wall Street. Through her daughters' desire to learn the guitar, she joined us through our work study program and later transitioned
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Eliane Delage

Eliane Delage has been playing the guitar since the early 80's when she started learning the guitar in São Paulo, Brasil. She's been in several bands ranging in style from Funk, Brazilian Music, Hard Rock, Blues, and even Metal!
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Emilio Tostado

A Chicago native, Emilio picked up a guitar at the age of 12 with his dad at a local music store. Fueled by the excitement and energy he got from classic rock, Motown and 90s alternative, guitar went from being a hobby to an all out obsession. Since then, he recorded and shared the stage with with t
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Emily Kay Shrader

Born and raised in Northern California, Emily discovered her love for music when she began to sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” at the top of her lungs on a family bike ride. Her parents took her to her first voice lesson and she instantly fell in love. Emily received her Bachelor of Arts
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Eoin O’Mara

Eoin O’Mara is a guitarist and composer based in New York City. He began his musical career through New York City Guitar School at age 14 in a week-long beginners boot camp. From there, he continued playing and practicing classic rock and funk through the weekend and summer rock band programs
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Eric Thachuk

Eric is joining us from Hamilton, Canada. This is his second stint making America “home”. The first was as a scholarship student at Berklee College of Music in Boston studying bass and guitar performance. His professional experience includes everything from bar gigs co-starring the weekly hockey gam
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Gaby Pilagonia

Gabrielle is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the Bronx who has been gigging as a professional musician in NYC since age 16. She grew up as a student of New York City Guitar School herself, and began as a teenaged intern before rising through the ranks to become a full time vocal c
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George Schatzlein

George is a musician, composer, and sound engineer based in Queens, NY. Originally from Indianapolis, IN George studied Jazz Guitar at Indiana University under NYC Based Jazz Guitarist Dave Stryker. George played in various acts while living in Indiana, and also spent time playing in pit orchestras,
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Greg Sardella

Born and raised in the outskirts of New York City, Greg began studying music at an early age into his college years. Starting with the saxophone in grade school and later moving on to guitar, it became clear that music would be a lifelong passion. Greg moved to the city in 2010 to intern at a record
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Hector Marin

Hector Marin joins the NYCGS team of amazing teachers from Costa Rica, has been playing the guitar for over ten years, and has been been teaching guitar for many years as well.
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Issac Hernandez

Our Summer Camp Director, Issac Hernandez, discovered his passion for guitar as a child when his grandfather introduced him to the instrument, starting with Mexican music. He was captivated with the guitar’s beautiful sounds and rhythms. As he grew older, his musical tastes evolved, and he became in
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Jaime Garamella

Jaime teaches singing, guitar, and bass, and heads the Voice Studio at NYC Guitar School. Teaching at NYCGS since 2007, he especially loves working with beginners. He has literally written the book on singing for our Vocal Workshop group classes. Students are often surprised to find they really can
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Jarrett Shedd

Jarrett Shedd grew up in a musical family where the guitar was used as a common accompaniment to daily life in Amarillo, TX. This same city has been used as inspiration for songs such as “Amarillo by Morning” and “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.” He began his formal music education by studying the ele
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Jasper Jagd

Jasper Jagd is a New York based musician, educator, and audio engineer. He has more than 15 years of experience as a teacher and has taught guitar, electric bass, acoustic bass, ear training, composition, and music production to students of all ages and ability levels. Jasper is originally from Denm
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Jeff McLaughlin

Guitarist Jeff McLaughlin is a composer/performer who loves teaching his students. He started playing guitar at age 13 and fell in love with the instrument immediately. Soon after he began learning the solos of Steve Vai, John Petrucci, and Buckethead.
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Jen Elliott

Jen started out as a singer and songwriter before she found the guitar. Releasing two albums on indie label, City Canyon Records, her band toured the east coast.
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Josh Torvi

Josh Torvi is a guitarist, teacher, and composer living in Brooklyn, NYC. He spends his time leading his own Jazz groups, performing with the funk/soul band “The Haveners”, and teaching students of all ages. Josh received his BA in Music from Bard College. He has performed at Cornelia Street Cafe, S
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Julian Barthold

Julian Barthold first picked up the guitar at age 11 and almost instantly discovered his passion for music. It was not long thereafter that he came to New York City Guitar School for lessons and Summer Rock Camp, which set him on his path towards interning and now teaching at NYCGS! Julian earned hi
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Ti - one of our Suzuki early childhood certified teachers

Katty Mayorga

Katty Anna Mayorga began her guitar studies in Guatemala at the age of 6, concentrating in Latin American pop music on acoustic guitar. She also studied electric bass, mandolin, ukulele and banjo, but fell in love with the classical guitar. At the age of 18 she decided to concentrate solely on class
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Koby Williamson

A graduate of Mannes College's classical guitar program, Koby has been studying the guitar for 16 years, thanks to some amazing teachers! He has performed at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Neue Galerie...
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Kyle Tigges

We are so pleased that we convinced the amazing Kyle Tigges to join our staff! Hundreds of students of all ages and levels have become proficient guitar players and intelligent musicians with Kyle's patient and expert coaching.
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Lance Piebenga

A native of Vancouver, Lance made his way to Los Angeles as a studio musician before relocating to New York, where he is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in classical guitar performance at Hunter College. Lance began his music studies at the age of 6 as a Suzuki piano student and went on t
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Lenny Molotov

Lenny is an accomplished finger picker and applies this technique to both folk and blues. You could say he wrote the book on finger picking—literally, since he is the author of the book "Finger Style Basics for Guitar", which is published by the Guitar School.
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Leonid Morozov

Leonid Morozov is a fifth generation musician from Kursk, Russia. He started out by playing harmonica on the streets of Moscow to earn lunch money at the age of nine. Leonid later picked up the guitar after hearing blues masters Mississippi Fred McDowell, B.B. King and others, and fell in love with
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Louie Leager

Louie Leager is bassist, guitarist, and composer from Portland, OR. Since moving to New York in 2017, Louie has toured worldwide, recorded on over a dozen albums, performed with a wide variety of artists in multiple styles (Jazz, Rock, Blues, Folk, Hip-Hop, Country, Brazilian), and has taught studen
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Madeline Johnson

Madeline is a vocalist and educator based out of Brooklyn, NY. She developed her love of singing and performing as a child in school choir and community theatre. She later trained as a classical soprano, and also specializes in musical theatre, singer-songwriter, pop, and folk vocal styles. Madeline
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Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson first moved to America from his hometown of London, UK in 2005 as a scholarship student studying guitar and composition at Berklee College of Music. He has since taken up residence in NYC, where he has worked for Interscope records, Atlantic Records, Sony Music, The Oscars, Google, YouT
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Martin Jacobs

Martin is returning to NYC Guitar School after spending a few years back in his home state of Oklahoma. 3 things brought him back to New York City — the people, Shake Shack and Brooklyn. His love for music, passion for building meaningful connections and eagerness to continue to become a bette
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Matt Kaplan

Matt Kaplan is a classical guitarist based in New York City. He holds bachelor’s degrees of Music Education and Music Performance with a minor in Piano from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a master’s of Music Performance from Mannes College – The New School for Music where he studi
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Michael “Suke” Cerulo

We are so excited that Michael "Suke" Cerulo is teaching for NYC Guitar School. Suke's band Schleigo charted in the top 20 on CMJ and college jazz radio charts, and played with not only The Allman Brothers, but Bela Fleck, John Scofield, G. Love and Special Sauce, Galactic, Moe and many more top act
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Michelangelo Quirinale

An expert in all things rock, Michelangelo brings over 15 years of teaching experience to the Brooklyn Guitar School. A childhood learning the music of rock greats such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Guns N’ Roses brought him to Berklee College of Music, where he received his BM in Guitar Pe
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Myko Manzi

Myko started playing guitar as a teenage student at New York City Guitar School in 2014. Almost a decade later, after years of playing in group classes, private lessons, and school rock bands and camps–and performing and writing songs on their own and with other NYCGS students around the city,
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Olin Clark

Olin Clark is a Michigan native and current resident of Brooklyn, NY. As a composer and arranger, Olin’s music has been performed by many ensembles around the United States and abroad. Olin has has played with bands/artists like Etienne Charles’ Creole Soul, Ray Parker, Marcus Elliot, Randy Na
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Pete Matthiessen

Pete began playing the guitar when he was 11 years old. He soon began working on his calluses learning songs by Megadeth, Metallica, The Beatles, and Yes. He also made sure to attend the National Guitar Workshop every summer.
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Rob Adler

Rob has come to us in New York City from Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a young teenager Rob became captivated by blues greats Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King and decided guitar was the thing for him.
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Samoa Jodha

Samoa spends most of her time making things and laughing. She has been part of NYCGS since 2009 photographing and shooting video of thousands of Open Mics, Rock Bands, and Student Showcases. When you meet her at the school, Samoa will most likely be on a ladder painting a wall. Samoa is a long time
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Sean McCann

As a native New Yorker, Sean is a performing musician in multiple bands across the tri-state area. He plays bass in the avant-pop act Diana Lopez, as well as the rock group Damn Jackals. Sean’s musical identity has always been defined by his curiosity for different styles. Although his first love is
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Sean Saville

Sean Saville’s love for music began as he started attending and eventually organizing local DIY concerts in his hometown of Utica, NY. He later moved to Rocheter, NY, where he earned a degree in Music Business while minoring in and focusing on jazz improvisation. In Rochester, he played a wide
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Shane Chapman

Shane Chapman is the lead singer and guitarist for Brooklyn Americana band anacortes who has just released their second album. When he’s not doing that, he is the guitarist and arranger for NYC’s premiere Dolly Parton cover band Doll Parts. Also as a performer, he was featured on the ste
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Shannon Mulraney

Originally from the shores of southern New Jersey, Shannon, an avid lover of live music and a musician herself, began working with the NYC Guitar School as a Student Experience Coordinator in January of 2023. Before making her New York debut, she spent the majority of her life either in the crowd or
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Tia Vincent-Clark

Tia Vincent-Clark grew up in a family of professional musicians and began her teaching career in 1999. Her patience, enthusiasm and committment to teaching are all reasons that we are thrilled to have Tia as an integral part of NYC Guitar School!
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Tony Calabro

Tony has been playing guitar since he was a young child and teaching for over 15 years. He simply loves what he does and it shows. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, where he studied guitar performance and music production, Tony enjoys a successful career as a performer, teacher and producer.
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Vicky Alvarez

Vicky Alvarez is native to Asunción, Paraguay and moved to the United States in 2012. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in classical guitar performance from SUNY Purchase College. Vicky’s goal is to share her music with those who need it and broaden her horizons by tra
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Vinnie DeMasi

Vincent has been a full-time musician and teacher since 1995, and is especially patient with adult beginners. He's performed on Broadway as an understudy lead guitarist in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp collaborative Moving Out, is currently a regular sub in the pit orchestra of Mamma Mia.
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