Justin Butler

My name is Justin Butler. I am 37 years old and I am from St. Louis, MO. I am a professional musician and music producer/audio engineer as well as a part time singer-songwriter. My two main instruments are the guitar and the drums, and I have been playing both for 24 years. I have been playing the bass guitar and singing almost just as long going on 23 years, and I also play the piano. I obtained my Associated Degree in Music Performance with a specialization. in classical and jazz guitar from Lewis and Clark Community College in 2013. I was in musical theater all through Jr. High and High School having played the lead characters Scar in The Lion King, Conrad Birdie in Bye, Bye Birdie, and most notably the part of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

I also studied at Berklee College of Music where I earned a specialist certification in music production, and finished my bachelor's in technical management at DeVry University recently. I have experience teaching music lessons and gave lessons to students both online and face to face for 5 years between 2017 and 2022. As a songwriter I focus on different musical styles and am most familiar with rock, progressive rock, pop, indie, and punk music though I love to study all styles of music. 

I base my teaching style on each of my students. No student of mine will have the exact same lesson structure and curriculum. This is because every student is special in that they are all going to be at different stages in their journey into learning and studying their musical instrument of choice. I like to let what the student likes, as far as song choices and music style is concerned, dictate much of the lesson plan because I believe that no student is going to succeed if they are not allowed to have fun while doing so. This does not mean that there won't ever be song choices that I choose specifically for the student. At the end of each stage of lessons about every 3 months the student will be required to learn and memorize a piece of music in order to perform in what I call a recital. Depending on the situation and how many other students I have this recital could just be them performing the piece for me and their parents or anyone they want to invite. The recital could also be an event that would be like a concert with all the students performing their pieces in front of an audience. These events give the student the chance to know what it is like to perform in front of a crowd and is a vital part of becoming a professional musician.