The School Of Feedback Guitar

My son started on guitar as a child, learning from Dave, and 8 years later, credits him with giving him a strong foundation in guitar that still serves him. Dave is wonderfully patient and encouraging, and employs a well thought-​out, obviously successful approach to teaching guitar. Plus it’s so important to note that Dave is a very talented guitarist, songwriter, and performer. He thoroughly DISproves the old adage, «Those who can’t,…Teach.»

Total newbie to guitar. I picked Dave based on reviews and have not been disappointed. The hour flies by and each week I am progressing. Dave has the knack to calmly guide you to the next step and is always encouraging. The automatic lesson reminder emails and online material works well.
Thanks Guitar Dave.

I write this feeling bitter sweet. Yesterday Dave «graduated» my daughter from his services and commented that she has become a great guitarist. He watched her literally grow up in the 5 years he was her teacher.
Dave is a master teacher: he knew where she started as a guitarist, knew where she was going, set goals and expected her to meet them, focused on quality instead of quantity, and supported her every step of the way. My daughter never had a problem playing by ear so eventually Dave taught her to read music and music theory (I know, boring, but useful if she’s planning on music in college.) He helped her develop songs she was writing, and learn covers she was interested in adding to her set (she’s in a band). He showed up at several of her band shows throughout these past 5 years to show support and to hang out (I’m not saying he’ll do this for everyone but who can resist a 14 yr old’s debut at ACL?).
It’s not easy getting kids to practice (she started at 10 yrs old) and I shout from the rooftops that his method of 10 minutes a day made her into the dedicated musician she is now. Genius. We will miss Dave, BUT plan on signing up for every single Awesome Day that’s posted. (You don’t know about Awesome Day!!! He posts it on his site.)

Over the past decade, I made multiple attempts to learn the guitar and failed every time. I found The School Of Feedback Guitar via Unilocal and decided to try it out based on all the good reviews. I have been going for the last 4 months and I have not been disappointed.
Dave Wirth is a tremendous motivator and a great teacher. He spends time not only teaching you the guitar «from scratch» but also makes the experience enjoyable! He has a knack of reading my preparation for every session and knows when to push and when to lay off. He tries different tips and tricks if I feel like I am stuck, is always patient and gives good advice.
Also, his online scheduling system is perfect! He lets you cancel a session 6 hours before the start. This sort of flexibility is unheard of.
If not for his optimism and encouragement, I would surely have quit. Now I really have fun with the guitar and look forward to practicing every day. It is no surprise that Dave has all 5-​star reviews!
I am very happy with The School Of Feedback Guitar and will continue learning and improving my guitar skills with Dave.

So just an update here but I’m hitting on 2 years with Dave now and for the past couple of months he has been teaching me to play by ear, which is something I never thought I had the capacity to do. For at least 5 years, I played clarinet rather badly in school because I never practiced or really absorbed many of the concepts being taught in the music theory heavy curriculum. I was f — ing terrible. Sight reading would give me a panic attack. It convinced me that I was terrible at music.
Buuuuuut I’ve always been able to «naturally» sing on key. I find singing much easier/​more enjoyable than playing any kind of instrument. So anyway, this may not make much sense because I may be in my own head here a bit, but through some trial and error, somehow Dave has managed to get me to connect and use the way I can sing or hum the melody of a song, into figuring out the chords on the guitar. He just made it click for me in a way that no one else ever has. That is teaching, man.

Last fall I casually asked my musician husband if, at some point in the future, he would like to try teaching me to play guitar. Much to my delight, my super generous husband surprised me with a Taylor guitar for Christmas. I quickly realized that I wanted to learn how to really play the guitar, not just play along to the songs my husband was able to teach me so I hopped on Unilocal and found Dave.
WOW! What a GREAT find! Dave is an amazing teacher. He is unassuming and unintimidating and has the great gift of encouragement that makes you want to learn more. His «just practice 5 minutes a day» régime is genius because the things he gives you to practice are so fun that the 5 minutes quickly turns into 10, then 20, then 30… Dave is also great at methodically teaching chords, strum patterns, and songs that develop competence and confidence. As Dave says, once you get the basics down, then you can decide how far you want to take this, whether it is as the casual guitarist who plays along to favorite songs or if it means understanding music theory and all that goes along with that.
Enough said. You get the picture. Book your lesson now. You really will be glad you did!

I had always wanted to learn guitar. It’s one of those things I had put off for years. I started looking around for teachers, without even having a guitar, just to see what was out there. As soon as I found Dave’s webpage and blog, I knew this was it. His style spoke directly to me and was far more nuanced, professional and unique than anything I had seen before. I scheduled a lesson with him a few days later, went out and bought a guitar off craigslist the day before and haven’t regretted a single thing since. That was all back in 2009.
I took lessons from Dave regularly for several months. And after that, semi-​regularly. Some things along the way:
–Dave has impeccable taste in music.
–He’s a very, very patient teacher.
–He will teach you exactly what you want to know. this requires you to figure out what you want to know at some point. It could be anything from learning how to play a Beatles song to free improvisation but eventually, once you have the basics you will want to take it in your own direction.
–He is a professional. This isn’t a jam session and he is a teacher first and foremost.
–It seems expensive up front, but I guarantee it is worth every penny. Lessons are easy to find. Having a dynamic teacher that can adapt to individual needs and is intuitive to those needs AND makes learning fun is a one in a million shot.
I’m now to the point of creating my own songs but still try to take a lesson when I have enough cash lying around. It’s come down to gear vs Dave which means he did his job right.

This is the first time I’m reviewing anything on here, and that’s because I’m not one to sing praises without a REALLY good reason to do so. Like others have mentiond in their reviews, I’m the guy that tried to learn guitar on my own several years ago from a book, and that flew like a lead balloon. Long story short, I sold that guitar in a yard sale with much muttering under my breath, as it was a reminder of my failed attempt at musical glory.
Flash to five years later (about a year ago now), living in Austin, TX and after soaking up so much live music I started to get the itch to take another shot at one of my top bucket list items. After much intense perusing of the interweb, I came across Dave’s website and thought to myself, «if this guy is really as cool about teaching guitar to noobs as his website comes across, I might have a shot at being able to play a stringed instrument one day.»
Turns out, Dave is everything that I expected and more as a guitar instructor. His five minutes a day approach and low pressure demeanor in lessons is amazing. I ended up having so much fun playing that my «five minutes a day» turned into about 20 five minute sessions a day basically every time I walked by the guitar, and all of a sudden I realized that I was actually playing a guitar. He doesn’t have a set song list, he’ll take requests if you have something you want to play, and if not he’ll tailor your lessons and what you’re playing to your own musical tastes.
I’m a really busy person, and Dave has never given me any grief if I’m out of town for a week and couldn’t put in the effort that I would’ve liked to. Being a busy person, I find that if I pick up a hobby and don’t enjoy it pretty quickly, I drop it and move on. Dave’s approach kept me interested, kept me feeling positive and energized, and I have no doubt that I’ll be playing guitar long into the future.
I couldn’t recommend Dave’s School of Feedback Guitar more highly, and I hope that if you’re someone that is wanting to learn fresh, is picking up after a long layoff from guitar, or just wants to fine tune what they’ve been doing for a while now, that you’ll get in touch with Dave and see for yourself why every review on here is five stars!

I just started taking lessons from Dave about a month ago. Never picked up a guitar before… a true «learn from scratch» beginner. Dave is great at giving simple tasks and stretching you at the same time. I love his attitude and enthusiasm. I look forward to continuing my time with him and with the guitar.

I’ve been a student’s of Dave’s for a little over a year now. The first time I ever even held a guitar in my hands was just a few days before my first lesson. But dammit — I was turning 40, and I was finally gonna pick up the guitar.
From the first lesson, Dave has been a great teacher.
He knows his stuff, is unbelievably patient, and constantly encouraging.
I’ll probably end up being an aging rocker wannabe who only knows 3 chords and a handful of songs, but Dave’s cool with that.
He gets jazzed seeing progress in his students, and even more jazzed seeing his students having fun and enjoying themselves. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
I’m frequently bringing in new songs that I want to learn, and Dave’s always happy to help me learn them — regardless of musical style or genre.
I also like that he’s always willing to teach some tricks and shortcuts that increase my abilities and allow me to play songs I probably have no business playing.
Rock on.

I took lessons from Dave in fall of 2008, and I was really amazed by him (and I’m not easily impressed). I started lessons wanting to develop a really strong technical foundation, having only played a saxophone before. He’s a genuinely nice guy, but more important than that, he definitely knows his stuff. I felt his methodology was great for beginning students. After every lesson, I felt like I learned a lot and had good material to work on.
I was going to start up lessons again in the spring but some medical problems on top of school stuff left me without that possibility. I’ve been practicing independently a little since the start of the year, and I made far, far more progress in the few months I took lessons with Dave than I have in all the time since.
I’m really, really looking forward to starting again come fall.

I really enjoy learning from Dave. I’ve kept at it for two months and I usually have a teeny-​tiny attention span for new hobbies! I like that Dave lets me learn the pieces I’m interested in. He lets me explore my creative side, is really patient, and keeps me from getting frustrated (and quitting!).

If you peruse my reviews you know I’m no BS: if something is good, I’ll tell you. Dave is the truth; he’s knowledgeable and skilled enough to satisfy the tight pant indie kids and the dark shredders of the world. He’s impressed with his skill for 2 straight years; he teaches and creates because he’s compelled and that’s the type of person you want as a teacher. With that in mind, Dave only wants what YOU want as a student. Just want to learn 3 chord guitar? He’ll teach. Complex 3 octave shredding? He’ll get you there.
Take home message? Dave should be charging more; his knowledge is that valuable. Book a lesson before he wises up!