Hello, my name is Marlou. I was nine years old when I first held a guitar. It was love at first sight. I always have my guitar with me. I've been teaching for ten years, and after a year of lessons, one of my students uttered the unforgettable line: "My guitar is my soulmate." With a guitar, you have a friend for life. I want everyone to experience that. Everyone learns differently. Some people want to learn notes and visualize sheet music, while others play by ear. Some want to hear a song first and sing it without a guitar, while others want to play along right away. It's all possible. In your first lesson, you can tell me what you want to learn, and I tailor my lessons accordingly. After each lesson, I'll give you exercises to practice at home. The more you practice at home, the faster we'll progress. If you'd like, you can record the lesson so you can listen to it again at home and practice along with it. I'll teach you all the basic chords. I'll pay close attention to your guitar posture and the way you place your hands and fingers on the guitar. The better you master the basic chords, the easier it will be to learn new and more complex things later. I can also teach you how to strum the guitar. And if you're interested, I can teach you how to read music. If you'd like to learn to sing while you perform, I can teach you simple tricks to make singing easier. I'm not a singing teacher, but thanks to my initial training in speech therapy, CVT (Complete Vocal Training) singing lessons, and my stage experience as a singer, I have extensive knowledge of learning proper breathing and training your breath support. I can also teach you how to overcome your shyness, if that's your problem. Playing and singing at the same time will then become a lot of fun.