The number one educator in my life right now that is a teacher is my guitar instructor. My guitar instructor Pete Mcmanaman (who works at Hartland Music) has taught me so many things and how to play the guitar. How I met Pete was through my dad calling him and saying “my son wants to learn how to play the guitar.” He’s shown me so much music like blues music and other types of rock that I’ve never heard before or has made me understand even more about music I already listen to. My teacher, Pete, is a really funny guy and is one of the most amazing guitarists that I’ve ever seen. The things he has shown me over the time we’ve spent together (like lots of cords, rock songs how to play certain things) are amazing things to learn. Not only is Pete funny, but he’s also nice, caring, smart, creative and cool.

When I first met Pete, I was pretty shy because he was someone I just met and I wasn’t even close to being good at the guitar either, so If I messed up I would be embarrassed. Over the time we’ve spent together, I wasn’t shy or afraid to ask any questions. I still mess up a lot and we’ll laugh about it and then he’ll tell me what I did wrong.

Pete cares about me and believes I’m a great student and that I’ve learned how to play guitar a lot faster than other people would. He makes me want to play the guitar a lot more even after practice. Pete will tell me things like “you can do it!” or “you’re amazing Fynn, honestly.” Those things that he says to me makes me really happy and glad that I have a teacher like him to teach me so many wonderful things. 

Pete connects with me on many levels he knows what kind of music I like and I like a lot of the music Pete likes as well as Rock. Another thing that I love about Pete is that when I ask “can you teach me how to play Like a Stone by Audioslave?” he’ll look it up, listen to it and teach me how to play it. I also feel I’ve gotten way better at the guitar because of Pete and I’ve learned to love music so much more than I used to. 

Pete would play live and he’s made his own music and I’ve actually listened to some of it and I think it’s pretty amazing. The way Pete plays makes me want to play my guitar forever. I don’t think Pete’s like any other teacher I can create a bond with him and seeing him play and knowing that he’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever seen play is awesome.