Lessons: Instructors

Rich Burnett - guitar - lapsteel

Basic to advanced popular, folk, and blues guitar for all ages, including theory. Basic to intermediate lap steel.

Rich has been writing and studying music for over 20 years. For the last ten years he's been a performing singer-songwriter and sideman in the GTA. An accomplished guitarist, Burnett teaches beginner to advanced levels of both acoustic & electric guitar. Happy teaching students of all ages, lessons are structured around each students' abilities and interests. Lessons include the fundamentals of rhythm, reading, flat-picking, finger-picking, theory, composition and improvisation. Styles include popular song, rock, folk, country blues, slide, open tunings & Travis/Atkins style.

Nicholas Russel - Guitar

Basic to Advanced Jass, Blues, Rock, Folk, Metal, Theory and Harmony guitar and Intermediate pop, blues & rock for all ages

Nick is a fourth generation musician, having the collective experience of the big band, bebop and fusion eras in his blood. Nick is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s music program where he studied jazz with guitarists and musicologists Dr. Howard Spring and Dr. Andrew Scott. He also augmented his education by taking private ear training and harmony lessons. Nick, being a multi-instrumentalist, has worked as a composer for dance troupes and video game companies, and also works as musician in feature films. He is an active recording and performing artist, playing around the Toronto and Guelph areas. Nick’s focuses are on Jazz and Harmony/Orchestration as well as the recording arts.

Ian Reid - uke- guitar

Basic to intermediate uke, songwriting and fingerstyle guitar for all ages.

After years of teaching and traveling in Asia, Ian Reid returned to his hometown of Rockwood to record his second album and pursue a music career. Since 2008, he has played more than 300 shows, but he continues teaching and plays music with children in a group home every week. Ian had been playing guitar for over ten years when he first picked up the ukulele, and it only elevated his songwriting and scope of music. Ian's first song written with a ukulele 'Patsy's Place' has won two songwriting awards and has been played on CBC Radio. Ian has a nice way with people and his experience teaching a second language and providing music therapy make him an excellent candidate to work with beginners and students who might feel apprehensive.

Greg Denton - banjo

Three finger/blue grass style banjo

Greg picked up the banjo in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1991 and first cut his teeth on the instrument playing with the rag tag art school jug band ‘Uncle Jobie's Spit Trick’. He now lives in Guelph, Ontario, where he teaches painting in the School of Fine Art & Music at the University of Guelph and entangles himself in the downtown music scene. Over the last few years he has fronted the band ‘Dry Tickle’, and has lent his reedy vocals, banjo, and guitar skills to two all-murder-ballad groups ‘The Trembling Brides’ and ‘The Gnashvillains’. He currently plucks the banjo with ‘Richard Laviolette & The Oil Spills’and can be heard on their CD “All Of Your Raw Materials”. Greg also hosts the very popular Cornerstone Café Campfire Sessions (Nov-April) and hosts ‘This Un-Godly Hour’ (Sundays at 7:00 AM on CFRU 93.3FM), an eclectic vintage and contemporary roots music radio show.

Bob McLean - guitar

Fingerstyle guitar, folk traditional, celtic, blues styles

Bob is a guitarist, folksinger, arranger and composer who has pursued formal music training, obtaining music degrees from McGill and Western. With roots in Cape Breton and Quebec, Bob has played lots of styles including rock n' roll, classical, pop, folk and traditional/celtic. He performs frequently as a solo player (traditional and celtic folk music with lots of percussive Fingerstyle guitar) and in various ensembles with Randy Jackiw, Juanita Wilkins and Whirley Gig In addition to 2 independent solo CD projects, Bob has recorded with Allison Lupton, Mary Anderson, Doug Jamieson, and contributed to a compilation CD of noted Canadian guitarists. Bob's students can go back to basics with lots studies and exercises to advance both left and right hand techniques to increase dexterity and expand knowledge of the fretboard.

Don Moore - guitar

Beginner and intermediate guitar

Don Moore has been a teacher and professional musician for about 15 years. He has toured and recorded with pop, jazz/fusion, blues, and celtic influenced bands such as Mary Knickle, Taliesin, and Max Bent, and has performed at venues across the country including Harbourfront, Mariposa Festival, Sunshine Festival, Songs of Sail festival, the Victoria Playhouse, the Dini Petty Show, and CBC radio. He has been a studio musician, pit musician, and a singer/actor in numerous professional theatre productions. His main influences are jazz, fusion, blues, rock, country, and celtic music, but is comfortable in any style. Don's teaching focuses on building the student's theoretical, sight-reading, and technical skills in order to develop a well-rounded player who is comfortable and competent in any musical style or performance situation.

Norman Liota - classical

Basic to Advanced Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar

Norman Liota is an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist who performs both original music and expansive classical guitar repertoire dating from the 1400's to present. A music graduate from York University, Norman has built on his classical training with years of touring and recording and has mastered dozens of styles. He has released three solo recordings and is currently busy wowing audiences around Ontario with an eclectic show, harnessing incredible guitar techniques to meld classical, jazz and folk. Norman is skilled in teaching most styles of fingerstyle guitar and students of all ages. He can be seen most Fridays and Saturdays at The Royal Ambassador in Caledon East.

Jesse Turton - bass

Basic to advanced instruction of electric bass (fretted or fretless) and upright acoustic bass; Pizzicato (plucked) or Coll'arco (with a bow).

Jesse Turton has been playing music all his life, starting on the drums at the age of 9. He picked up the bass at 14, and a year later won a scholarship to the world-renowned Berklee College of Music for their 1992 summer program. At the age of 17, Jesse won the 1993 Galaxie CBC Rising Star Award at MusicFest Canada, and entered Humber College with a scholarship the following year. Since he was 15, Jesse has played professionally in jazz, blues, rock, and R&B bands in both Canada and the US, and has appeared on a number of recordings. His preferred instruments are the upright acoustic bass and both fretted and fretless electric bass. He presently plays in a number of ensembles and lives in Guelph, Ontario.