PRESENCE - Volume 60
Inspiration For Guitarists
When I was in my early twenties I did a summer session at Berklee.
I wasn't there long — just a few weeks — but I think about it more than almost any other experience I've had as a musician. Not because of the instruction, though that was great. It was the people.
Everyone around me was serious about guitar. They'd given up part of their summer to be there. Some were further along the path than me. Some weren't as far. Some were older, some younger. But everyone was wrestling with the same fundamental things, and everyone got it. Just being in that room — surrounded by people who understood why this mattered — made me better faster than any lesson I'd taken on my own.
I've chased that feeling ever since.
Earlier this year something happened that I didn't entirely see coming: YouTube and the course took over.
In the best possible way. But between filming, editing, course work, and everything else that comes with building something online, my calendar filled up fast. Teaching 1:1 lessons — something I'd done for years and genuinely loved — just didn't fit anymore. It wasn't really a choice so much as a reality I had to accept.
The honest part though? Most of my students didn't need a full hour of private instruction every week. What they really needed was someone to look at what they were working on and say yes, keep going or here's what's actually going to move the needle for you. Direction more than instruction. And there were only so many hours in a week, which meant only so many people I could help that way.
So I leaned fully into YouTube and the course. Which has been great. But something was missing.
Then a few months ago I ran a couple of group coaching calls. And that Berklee feeling came back.
People asking questions I hadn't been asked quite that way before. Someone's question landing differently for another member than it would have in a 1:1 conversation. An energy in the room that you just can't manufacture when it's only two people on a Zoom call.
I realized this was the thing I'd been looking for — a way to help more people and create something that feels like a real community of guitarists growing together.
That's what Office Hours is.
It's a monthly membership built around a weekly group coaching call on Zoom — a place to get guidance, ask questions, get feedback on your playing if you want it, and make sure the practice time you're putting in is actually pointed in the right direction.
The first call is Monday, April 21st.
I'm opening it at a founding member rate of $47/month. When the founding period ends that goes to $67/month — and anyone who joins now locks in the lower rate as long as they stay a member.
If this sounds like something you've been looking for, I'd love to have you in the room!
Talk soon, Dustin