Jakub Kowalczyk

I am a professional guitarist from Poland with a Master's degree from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, in the Faculty of Conducting, Jazz Music and Music Education, with a specialism in jazz guitar in Piotr Olszewski's class. As a session musician with extensive studio and stage experience I am able to efficiently navigate a variety of styles ranging from: Jazz, Blues, Pop, Rock, Fringerstyle, Funk, Soul, Gospel, Contemporary etc. I have cooperated with many great institutions such as: Opera Nova, Proscenium Theater, Pomeranian Philharmonic, Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic (always as a electric/acoustic guitarist). I was a band member in many TV concerts and music festivals (where I shared the stage with many popular Polish artists).

I am also a producer, songwriter and bandleader for my two original bands: 21 Gram and à la.

I have been teaching at the Rock Academy in Warsaw for three years, but my experience as a teacher is much longer as I have been teaching continuously for almost 10 years. During this time, I learned to adapt materials and teaching methods to the age and needs of the student, and to ensure learning is always fun.

How i teach:

My teaching style depends on the student's goals and needs. If a student wants to have fun and play a few simple songs, I don't see the need to teach them advanced music theory, but if their goal is to become a better musician I have my own methods to rapidly increase progress. In this case I recommend 45min lesson at least, which I divide into 3 parts.

1. Technical skills

This is the basis of instrument playing. If your technique is incorrect, your progress will be much slower and learning new pieces will be frustrating. That's why at first we learn proper right and left hand technique (correcting bad habits from the past if necessary), then we do exercises that build up our accuracy, speed and technical diversity.

2. Musical theory/harmony/ear training/improvisation

This part will help you understand what music is all about. We learn the notes on the fretboard, how to build chords and scales on a guitar, create voicings, sight-reading, understanding rhythmic patterns and anything else you want to know about music theory. We also practice hearing by recognizing notes, chords and chord progressions. Then we train improvisation skills based on the knowledge of harmony and scales.

3. Songs learning/solo transcribe

In my opinion, this is the most important part of the lesson. Learning music is very similar to learning a language and we pick up our vocabulary from songs and solos. In this part we not only learn the material, but also analyze it, break it down into prime factors and try to use the licks in other contexts, keys and tempos.  The first two parts only give us tools, but the real connection with art takes place when we play songs, so this is the part that I put the most emphasis on.

Additional information:

1. The time of each part is fluid and depends on the student's needs and the degree of complexity of the issue (for example we will not pay much attention to theory if you are a beginner).
2. I use open source and self prepared materials mostly.