We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dave Isaacs. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dave below.
Dave, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I started teaching guitar because it was a way to get paid with an instrument in my hand. After ten years I had built a successful neighborhood practice, But it wasn’t until I moved to Nashville in 2005 that I began to see teaching as a mission.
I love to play music, and I love to share that enthusiasm. And Nashville was full of people as excited about music as I was, Even better, the standards in the community were (and remain) high. Songwriters and vocalists aren’t expected to be able to play at the level of their backing musicians, but there is an expectation that you can deliver your songs. Most people can manage, but I found myself surprised by how often I would hear people say things like “well, I’m not a musician “.
A strumming singer songwriter might not be a virtuoso, but it’s pretty undeniable that they play music. And when you look around at the larger culture, particularly musicians on the Internet, you could be led to believe that being a “musician “means being able to play a lot of notes. It’s more than semantics, because that belief can make people shy away from learning more about music.
There’s even a superstition among some creative people that knowing more about what you’re doing will hurt your creativity. All that kind of thinking does is discourage the struggling when they get stuck, or make you endlessly repeat yourself. So my mission became to spread the opposite message: that the tools of music making are accessible and understandable for everyone.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started out like lots of kids did, a teenager that fell in love with music and wanted to commit my life to it. (Read: be a rock star). I studied seriously all through high school and earned two degrees in classical guitar performance. But after I developed hand injuries from overpracticing that I realized I didn’t love classical music enough to continue forward. When I was able to play again, I started a band. I have been both a band leader and a side player in multiple genres of music, picking up other instruments and technical skills along the way. But in Nashville I began to really concentrate on teaching, moving from neighborhood music store to a university position to finally opening my own private studio.
I’ve operated Nashville Guitar Guru since 2009, with a focus on helping people with more enthusiasm than skill become more confident players. There’s no shortage of competent guitar teachers in Guitar Town. But I would hear from people again and again how their lessons just didn’t connect. They left with information, but not knowledge and skill. And people were telling me that my way of teaching was different. A bigger picture approach that starts with each person’s individual “why” and then shows the way, not just the stepping stones. My goal most of all is to teach people to be musical problem-solvers, so they can learn to find their own solutions.
I have former students playing professionally, touring the country, and appearing on national TV. But I’m most proud of the ones that would not pick up a guitar in front of people, and now perform on a regular basis. These are the people I want to reach most of all, the ones that want to but don’t think they can.
Aside from building a musical life in a highly competitive environment, my other proudest accomplishment is the publication of my book The Perpetual Beginner in 2019. It tells the story of how my musical perspective developed, but also how the lessons learned are relevant and practically applicable to anyone that wants to play better.. Three years after its release it continues to sell steadily, and has been my most successful project by far..
Have you ever had to pivot?
In the summer of 2008 the full-time performing project I had spent the past two years devoting myself to fell apart and left me with a garage full of brand new CDs and an empty schedule. Around the same time, my wife was laid off from her insurance job, and that year’s financial collapse just made things worse all over.
Not a week later, I was offered a position teaching a single class at the Art Institute of TN – Nashville. Best of all, best of all, the company offered health insurance to part-time employees. My paycheck barely covered the premium, but at least we were insured. One class turned into two, and then three. An adjunct position opened up at Tennessee State University and I began teaching some guitar students there. A year later, I was offered a temporary full-time position in the music department for one year.
My contract was renewed twice more and I seriously considered starting a doctorate and remaining in academia. My five year detour into full-time college teaching taught me that I am happier as an entrepreneur than in an institution, but it made me fully commit myself to teaching and becoming a more effective teacher. It was a life-saving side trip and an essential step in getting my business moving when I left a salary and benefits to build a full-time studio.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I had put more effort into learning about audio technology sooner. As a bandleader I owned a PA system but knew little about sound. I enjoyed the recording studio but left the voodoo to the engineers. When I was offered a teaching position at Tennessee State they asked if I could teaching the recording studio class. I had never touched a full-size recording console.. I had already been offered.a critical listening class at Art Institute, where I was still a little nervous every day that I would need to solve technical problems I wasn’t equipped for. I spent the next three years trying to stay one step ahead of my classes.
It was a fantastic learning experience and I came out the other side with a much better practical knowledge of audio and a stronger technical skill set. There’s nothing like a trial by fire, of course. But having more curiosity and interest in audio technology would have enhanced my performing and teaching, and would’ve left me much better prepared for the teaching opportunities when they came along.
Contact Info:
- Website: NashvilleGuitarGuru.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/nashvilleguitarguru
- Facebook: Facebook.com/nashvilleguitarguru
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveisaacsmusic
- Youtube: YouTube.com/nashvilleguitarguru
- Other: The Perpetual Beginner on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Beginner-musicians-lifelong-learning/dp/0578520834 Nashville Guitar Guru on MusicNotes: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheet-music/artist/nashville-guitar-guru
Image Credits
Andy Ellis, Lyn Stevens, ZDD Photography