Style

(Guitar)
Colin plays and teaches Rhythm and Lead guitar stylings for mostly Rock, Funk, Metal, and Pop. As a forever student himself, he is happy to delve into any genre or musical subject that catches your interest.

(Voice)
Colin sings and teaches Vocal stylings for mostly Rock, Funk, R&B, Indie, and Pop. As a forever student himself, he is happy to delve into any genre or musical subject that catches your interest.

Bio

Colin is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and career musician of many categories. He has worked in studios, played on stages up and down both coasts of the U.S., has taught individual students and even full bands for more than a decade, and composes scores for video games and other media.
His band Love Mischief is an up-and-coming touring funk/rock/jam band based out of our home right here in Sacramento.

Starting as a drum student with Skip’s own Kelly Smith, he brought rhythm to the forefront of his musical approach. A short time later he picked up guitar with Tommy Armstrong-Leavitt and vocal lessons with Larisa Bryski (both former Skip’s teachers)
In his time at Berklee he was able to learn from giants in the industry including Instrumental instruction from Victor Wooten, Bruce Bartlett (legendary Boston guitarist), Livingston Taylor (brother of James Taylor), Kenny Werner (jazz pianist and author of ‘Effortless Mastery’), as well as Songwriting instruction from Pat Pattison, Mark Simos, and Jimmy Buffett.

Method

Guitar)
Colin believes every student has different learning tendencies and likes treat his lessons with that in mind. Sometimes learning a song repertoire makes it easier to digest crucial musical theory aspects, sometimes it is the other way around. For the most part Colin likes to start new guitar students with the book series written by his first teacher Tommy Armstrong-Leavitt. (which can be found on the shelf in Skip’s Music)
Starting with Chord Camp 1 and Finger Fitness 1 and moving through the series until the student has a firm grasp on all the concepts.


(Voice)
Colin believes every student has different learning tendencies and likes treat his lessons with that in mind. Sometimes learning a song repertoire makes it easier to digest crucial musical theory aspects, sometimes it is the other way around. For the most part Colin likes to start new Vocal students with a series of warm ups and exercises to help them acclimate to what being a vocalist entails.