James Lipka, Guitar Instructor

04/30/2023

Guitar Tip of the Week:

It’s important to learn the notes of the fretboard, but simply memorizing a diagram of the notes will do you little good. You need to learn the notes in a functional way. A great way of doing this is to work out simple and familiar melodies on the guitar in a variety of ways. In this video I’m playing through the first few notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in several different approaches that build different visualization skills. Each of these start from the same note (but not necessarily in the same place!). Working them out in different ways like this will help to see how the neck overlaps and repeats, which will help you move more fluidly around it.

If you’re interested in learning more about the guitar and my approaches, I’ve had a few prime slots open up in my teaching schedule, so now is a great time to get started. Everyone from total beginners to advanced welcome. Fell free to drop me a line here, or through my website www.jameslipka.com

And if you’re a little bit more of an advanced player who is looking to seriously up their game, take a look at Diatonic 7-Tone. This program is an EXHAUSTIVE study of the 7 diatonic modes, and if you come out the other side your guitar game WILL be changed forever. www.jameslipka.com/diatonic-7-tone

03/22/2023

Practicing your scales in intervals, such as thirds, fifths or sixths is an excellent way to build dexterity and to break out of simply running up and down the scale. Here I am running through a series of intervals with varying approaches.

Intervals are also just one part of the massive Diatonic 7-Tone program, which is an in depth study of the 7 diatonic modes of the major scale. I’ve decided to open up a few slots in my teaching schedule specifically for people interested in taking on 7-Tone. 7-Tone is designed to fill in all of the holes in the fretboard and to expand your harmonic sense as well. Even after 4 years at Berklee and hundreds of professional gigs 7-Tone was an absolute game changer for me. If you’re interested in taking the journey check out the link below and drop me a line. 7-Tone is very virtual friendly so you don’t have to be local to me, but if you are and want to do it in person, we can work that out too.

https://www.jameslipka.com/diatonic-7-tone

And, if you're looking for more traditional guitar lessons, I have had a few of my weekday evening slots open up, so feel free to reach out to me about those too!

10/09/2020

An exercise in throwing imperfection out to the world. First take of late night improvisation from last night.

03/07/2020

Check out this video I did for the shop this week. I'm currently looking to fill some lesson slots, so reach out if you want to get started with some lessons! Shoot me a message here or give me a call at (717)-538-3988.

10/19/2019

My schedule is changing a little bit and I’m now going to be available on Tuesdays to teach. If you’ve been thinking about taking guitar lessons now is an excellent time to start. Give me a call at (717)-538-3988. And if you’d like to know more about my teaching philosophy and what I have to offer, watch this short clip:

Guitar lessons with James at Tone Tailors 201 Rock Lititz Blvd Suite 54 Lititz PA 17543 717.553.5199

03/29/2019

Have you ever wanted to take guitar lessons, but weren't sure about taking private lessons? Well come check out our open house at Tone Tailors next Saturday, 4/6. Myself and several of our instructors will be here to answer all your questions. Plus I'm sure there will be snacks....

Guitar and Bass lessons! All ages and levels are welcomed and encouraged to develop their music skills

01/04/2018

I've started a page just for my guitar lessons business, and also to keep people apprised of upcoming gigs, etc. If you, or anyone you know is interested in lessons, let me know. Check out this great promo vid we made at the store.