Some time back, I mentioned that I was taking up guitar lessons in Singapore from Aureus Academy. Here’s my review after three months of taking classes in their i12 Katong branch.
I have a 30-minute class once a week under my capable and patient teacher Christeven Valenzuela. You can read his bio which I took from their website. I don’t know about you, but I am pretty impressed.
The great thing about Aureus Academy is that they specialize in providing individually tailored piano, violin, guitar, and vocal lessons to students of all ages and abilities. Through one-on-one settings, lessons can be tailored to engage each student in a way that suits their learning style and interests.
I really agree that one-on-one settings are the way to go, because different people have different pacing and goals. Take me as an example. I’m not a kid anymore so I’m a bit slow to pick up the skill or maybe musical instruments are just not something I’m great at. Also I’m not super serious about this and only learning guitar for fun, so it makes sense for my teacher to teach me in a different way than he would a child prodigy whose aim is to be a professional performer.
Steven taught me not just chords, but other basics like how to tune my guitar using an app called Guitar Tuna, as well as where to buy a capo and pick to accompany the beginner’s guitar that I bought from Aureus Academy for $120. But if you don’t want to buy a guitar, you can also rent one from them.
Steven writes out the chords of the songs I learn, and includes finger positions and strumming patterns. He is so flexible that he even asks me what songs I want to learn.
And guess what, I actually managed to learn a couple of songs! One is Perfect while the other one is Huling El Bimbo, an OPM (Original Pinoy Music) classic. You can watch me play (and sing) them below.
They’re not perfect, but they surprisingly sound decent. I’m amazed that my fingers have memorised the chords even though I haven’t been practising much. Muscle memory for the win!
If you or your child is interested in taking guitar lessons in Singapore, please visit the Aureus Academy website for more details. They have a lot of branches all over the island and you can book a free trial lesson to get a feel for whether this is right for you.
They were voted best for one-to-one music lessons in Singapore by Parents World. If my thirty-something self can learn music, your kid definitely can!
P.S. Below is a bonus video of me jamming with my friend Mark many years ago. I love jamming, which is the main reason why I decided to learn to play guitar in the first place. I hope someday to be good enough so that others can jam with me!
Disclosure: I was offered free lessons in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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