Lessons

We are very proud of our teaching staff and our facilities. We offer private one-on-one lessons in air conditioned, studios. We have a comfortable waiting area for parents and others.

The cost for lessons is $25.00 per week. You receive a half hour private lesson tailored to your needs and desires. From "Fun Approach" to dedicated study, we attempt to fulfill your needs.

Each member of our teaching staff can help beginning to advanced players understand and master a variety of guitar styles.

Our Teaching Staff

John Heussenstamm John has been teaching guitar for over 30 years. His specialties are jazz, blues, and modern fusion styles*. Since his days as the original "Johny Malibu" in the Surf Punks, he has toured with Denise Williams, Jackie Lomax, and with his own band. He continues to play many blues festivals. John’s latest CD "Light Touch", a live jazz performance should be available this summer.

Bob Hawkins Bob has been teaching guitar for over 35 years. His musical styles include folk, rock, jazz and other pop styles. He has performed since 1971. He has opened for Bonnie Rait, Los Lobos, Kenny Rankin, Spirit, and Lonnie Walk. He currently plays lead guitar and sings back-up vocals with the Missles of October, Sunday afternoons at the Marine Room in Laguna Beach. Bob’s newest CD "The Tropic of Soul Folk" is available at Sound Spectrum and The Guitar Shoppe, both located in Laguna Beach.

Randy Rusk Randy had been teaching guitar for over 35 years; the last 30 at The Guitar Shoppe and the most recent 25 at Saddleback College as well. He has a B.A. in Music Composition from UCI. Randy has opened for America, Poco and others. He teaches all styles of guitar, although his specialty is fingerstyle as played by such greats as:Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, and John Knowles. Randy has written an inspired guitar method book titled "The Key". It is available from The Guitar Shoppe.

Will Brady Will has been a full-time working musician for “over 100 years”, 25 of which have been spent here in Laguna Beach. He specializes in blues. Will is a Pro member of the National Academy of Songwriters and B.M.I. He has opened for many artists among them are David Wilcox, Leon Russel, The Beach Boys, Loggins & Messina, Linda Ronstat, Santana, Chicago, Jackson Browne, Van Halen and many more.Will has spent the last 5 years as a solo performer and has produced 3 CD’s; "Next Door to The Blues", "Caveman Brain" and his latest all instrumental solo acoustic "BOXWORK", available at The Guitar Shoppe or direct from Will at www.willbrady.com

Greg Coleman Greg will always be missed. Greg passed away September 16th, 2005 following a valiant battle with cancer. He stretched a “3-month prognosis” into two years. Beside being an accomplished mountain climber and wilderness hiker, Greg taught classical and flamenco guitar for over 40 years. He studied with Pepe Romero, Fredrick Noad and Joe Pass. Greg has 3 recently published books of fingerstyle arrangements put out by Warner Brothers. The books’ titles are "Movie Themes", "Great Standards", and "The Official Star Wars Song Book". On April 11th 2006, Greg was posthumously awarded his hard-earned Master’s Degree in Music from the University of California.

David Cross Dave has enjoyed over 40 years as a teacher and professional musician. Dave is the leader (in theory , anyway) of a musical family - his lovely wife Sue plays all styles of bass guitar including the upright bass and son Nate plays bass and also teaches here at The Guitar Shoppe. Dave attributes his silver hair not to age at all, but rather to a busy schedule that includes over 200 club dates this year. The latest of his 3 CD’s is titled "Simple". It is available at Tower Records and The Guitar Shoppe. Visit davecross.net for more.

Peter Dobson Peter is a prolific composer, recording artist, and record producer. An Oxford graduate and BBC composer, he began his recording career at Abbey Road for George Martin’s AIR label. His touring and recording bio includes such artists as The Crusaders, The Soul Train Band, The Wailers, The International Reggae Allstars, and Taj Majal’s Phantom Blues Band. Peter’s students keep his ear open to the ever evolving diversity of musical styles. In return he respects the goal each student sets, be it professional, academic, recreational.

Ed Krajec Ed is our resident rock guitarist. He’s been playing guitar for 23 years and specializes in classic rock, heavy metal, and blues. He played the Hollywood strip for 10 years while landing a record deal with Capitol Records “Armed Forces”. Ed currently plays solo acoustic guitar at local art shows as well as many band gigs in Southern California area. His favorite saying is remember to “have fun” while you learn.

Ben Wagner Ben started his guitar career at the age of 10 at the Guitar Shoppe, and has studied many styles of guitar under Peter Dobson and Dave Cross. Being obsessed with Blues starting at a young age, he’s shared the stage with Blues Masters, Dewey Terry, Henry Butler, Leo Nocentelli and Steve Froehn. Ben now performs throughout the southland and teaches the styles of blues, rock, country, reggae, folk and finger style..

Gabe Rosales With over 14 years experience in bass and guitar playing, song writing, touring, and producing, Gabe has come to work with many big name in the industry. Including guitar virtuosos George Lynch and Prashant Aswani, pop-stars Jennifer Lopez, Sheena Easton, and Christina Milian as well as many others. Not only is he a accomplished player, Gabe is a dedicated teacher. We our proud to have Gabe on our staff of teachers.

Alex Bodrero Alex had been playing guitar professionally for ten years. In addition to his studies at The Guitar Shoppe he has achievement awards from Berkeley and UCI for his participation in music and performing arts program. He is currently enrolled at Orange Coast College majoring in music. Alex teaches beginners of all ages the fundamentals of guitar and gets them having fun with their instrument learning songs, technique and basic theory.

Mark Sproull Mark started lessons at The Guitar Shoppe when he was 11. A graduate of L.A. Musicians Institute, he has studied with Joe Pass, Tony Rizzi, Joe D’iorio, and Lenny Breau. His popular Surf/Rock Band “The Blue Hawaiians” has done numerous films and T.V. including soundtracks for “Spongebob Squarepants”. Mark teaches students of all ages and specializes in the styles of Jazz, Rock, Classical, and Fingerstyle.

Regimen:

Lessons are given Monday through Saturday, late morning to early evening. Instructors require 24 hour notice to avoid charging for canceled or missed appointments. Please make lesson payments directly to the instructors. Monthly payments are appreciated and encouraged. Metered parking is available on the highway and side streets. Please do not park in the lighting store lot.

We also offer a large selection of books, tapes, CD’s & videos
to enhance the lessons or self-taught approach.