Portland Guitar Lessons

My name is Dillon Nadler, and I’m a musician and educator who has been working out of the Portland Area for the last ten years. I received my Bachelors Degree in Arts and Letters from Portland State University, and I’ve studied with Darrell Grant, Or Bareket, George Colligan, David Friesen, and Alan Jones, amongst many others. I have worked with hundreds of guitar students from all musical backgrounds, age groups and learning styles. My considerable experience has allowed me to create dynamic guitar lessons that help students identify creative goals, target the weakest areas of their musicianship, and develop their natural strengths. 

What is the benefit of having regular private lessons?

In our age of digital plenty, it’s easy to learn for free, whether from youtube, instagram or other forms of internet content. Students can find a dizzying array of knowledge on any musical subject one can imagine. Despite the easy access to high quality education, most music students struggle to stay motivated and develop when learning exclusively from the internet.

In order to improve at an instrument, one must commit daily time to studying discrete subjects until they are fully integrated into the ears, hands and mind. It is very hard to do this work without utilizing a private teacher who has gone through the learning process countless times themselves.

As a private teacher, I provide unique value by guiding the student through the learning process, providing accountability and insight to the various challenges that come with building and maintaining a music practice. I also am able to create many personalized practice plans and exercises tailored to each student’s unique goals, so they don’t have to comb through mountains of internet content to find a solution to their specific musical problem.

Singer/Songwriter  

  • Repertoire 

    • How to learn any song by ear 

    • Strategies for internalizing songs so they aren’t forgotten

    • Organizing song structures into their most basic components

    • Overcoming technical challenges

  • Accompaniment 

    • Strengthening one’s sense of time and internal pulse

    • Creating dynamic arrangements to enhance the song’s basic structure

    • Using the guitar to support the vocals 

  • Composing original music 

    • Finding the necessary theoretical and aesthetic information to write personal songs

    • How to stay on a consistent writing schedule

    • Organizing music to be quickly interpreted by other musicians

Although there are always exceptions, I have found that most of my guitar students fit into 3 basic categories. Below are some general topics I cover with each category.  Of course we can explore all three! 

Improvising Guitarist

  • Full Aural and Technical Fluency

    • How to play anything anywhere on the guitar fretboard

    • Strengthening the ear and it’s relationship to the fretboard

    • Technical exercises to build speed and accuracy in both hands

  • Vocabulary

    • Identifying meaningful vocabulary from the student’s favorite artists

    • Transcribing and learning vocabulary

    • Developing exercises to assimilate vocabulary into playing

  • Repertoire

    • How to learn any song by ear

    • Repertoire as a vehicle for improvisation 

    • Internalizing songs so they can be improvised over

  • Playing with others

    • Listening strategies

    • How to be a supportive accompanist 

    • The importance of having a good sense of time

Beginning Guitarist

  • Repertoire

    • Learning easy classics

    • Learning any song of the student’s choice

  • Basic Chord shapes

    • Transitioning between chords

    • Applying chords to repertoire

    • Using basic shapes to create more nuanced accompaniment

  • Scales and Arpeggios

    • Their function as technique builders and the “alphabet” of musical language

    • Application within repertoire

  • Literacy

    • Standard Notation

    • Tablature

    • Chord Grids

  • Ear Training

    • How to Identify basic sounds and internalize them

    • Application within Repertoire

Testimonials

  • Dillon has created his own unique curriculum and is well prepared every day, implementing his lesson plans which gave students a wide understanding of music theory, music history, and specific technical points of the instrument. Students were given an opportunity to learn music in a cooperative fun way that will inspire them as musicians. Dillon is constantly professional, knowledgeable and friendly. We appreciate the investment he has made in working with our students and the musical community.

    Veronica (Principle of Goleta Valley Jr High)

  • Dillon helped guide me to my abilities, didn’t push things I had issues with, and worked with me at my pace and comfort levels. He showed me ways to strengthen the things I could do and use them as building blocks to other areas of exploration.

    Sean G.

  • Nathan is now grasping the basics of the guitar through Dillon’s lessons…Each week, I can hear the improvements in Nathan’s playing! Dillon is a tremendous resource for teaching, both at a group and private level and we highly recommend him.

    Sherry T.

  • Dillon has worked with both of my children who are 8 and 12. He did great with both ages and really took the time and effort to get to know who they are individually, what they liked, and how they learned the best. My children loved working him and I highly recommend him as a guitar teacher.

    Nisha S.

  • Dillon has been great. Easy going but with good skills. I’m enjoying the feedback he’s providing. And the tips/tricks to practice!

    Martin J.

  • Dillon is so knowledgeable and patient. He's entertaining and makes our lessons fun!

    Lindsey S.