Zachary Roth

I have been a musician since I was 6 years old - I learned "She Loves You" by The Beatles and have never stopped playing. 

After playing in rock bands throughout high school and taking time off from college to tour the Midwest, I decided to enroll in DePaul University's Music School to focus on composition. I was accepted and enrolled as a classical guitarist but quickly became fascinated with music theory and the piano. Music theory on guitar is very nuanced, while music theory on piano is extremely straightforward. This dual obsession of piano and theory led me to formulating my own music theories, which has turned into a lifelong practice of mine. I am 25 years old now and I have been teaching private lessons since I was 19. Most of my students were at either School of Rock Chicago or Guitar Center Chicago, where I was the lead guitar teacher. 

After 19 years of playing guitar and 7 years of playing piano, and 6 years of teaching, I have developed a very broad understanding and appreciation of what music has to offer. Let me tell you, it's a lot. 

It is important to understand what music has to offer but I believe it is equally as important to have a thorough understanding of the business side as well. While studying classical composition in college, I founded and managed Forgotten Tropics, a record label and production company that handled touring, distribution, and large social media campaigns for multiple bands. These were indispensable experiences that have shaped my understanding of the music business and how the sausage is made. 

I have released music with many many musicians but over the past few years I have focused on releasing solo material. All of it can be found on streaming sites under the pseudonym Catmandu.

Ultimately, my music goals are simply to play and share with the world what music has to offer. 

Learning guitar prepared me for playing piano, and learning piano made me better at playing guitar. I am happy to teach either of the instruments, or both, to students. I see music theory as an extremely useful tool but it is absolutely not necessary for everyone all the time. If a student is not ready to learn it, that's fine. On the other hand, if a student is ready, I'm happy to teach it exclusively or cumulatively with guitar and / or piano. 

For beginner students, I like to find out what led them to the instrument and what they want to get out of playing it. In other words, who inspires them and why. From there, I develop customized curriculums that cover the basics of posture, playing, and if requested, music theory. I am open to teaching beginners using a standard music text such as Hal Lennard, or through building a completely customized course. 

I highly recommend the principles found in the Alexander Technique when it comes to playing any instrument. Primarily, I like to focus on utilizing posture, leverage, and form to get the most out of every movement, in a painless fashion. It should feel good to play piano, or guitar, or sing for that matter. Straining leads to poor playing and injury.

For more advanced students, I follow a similar process but focus on teaching the topics I think would be worthwhile for them to know. That could be recommending them to listen to and study specific pieces from a multitude of genres, downloading a useful music app, or practicing an exotic scale in every key - it could be a variety of things, it depends on the situation. 

I am happy to offer a 15 minute free trial lesson where I will ask you what your goals are, give a few playing tips here and there, and show you how to make the most of the LessonFace platform.