One of the things I spend a lot of time on with my students is teaching them how to practice, for I wasted a number of years in my life not knowing how to go about it effectively. I also teach a specialized method of memorization so that my students can feel confident in a piece of music if they should choose to perform it. I focus on proper technique and musicality, and I also make sure my students can read music and count well. Additionally, I will also teach some beginning music theory as applied to guitar, because I believe that understanding this helps not only with phrasing and memorization, but it also equips guitarists to compose their own music, which I also teach if a student is interested. I work with each student at his/her level and work up from there according to each person’s individual rate of progress. I also think it’s important that my students play music which appeals to them personally, so I try to pick musical selections that the student likes while still achieving my teaching objectives.