I spent many years looking for a teacher who could help me take my playing to the next level. Ive been studying with Joe for over a year now and my playing and my understanding of the guitar has improved dramatically. Joe brings a rigor and attention to detail that was critical for me to improve. The first few classes were pretty tough but I value having a teacher that inspires me to do my best work, and I found that with practice I have been able to really improve as a player and feel like I am earning it. I cant recommend Joe more highly if you want to make progress on guitar.

Joe is an excellent and thorough guitar instructor. He begins from the ground up with ownership of the fundamentals of playing guitar. Joe also stresses the theory and scales behind everything you play. The comprehensive curriculum leaves me feeling not just like I’m learning to play the guitar, but like I’m learning to be a musician. I highly recommend Joe as a teacher and am very fortunate to have signed up for his lessons.

Ive been taking lessons with Joe for several years, focusing on 50s, 60s and early 70s blues and rock electric guitar. Joes method centers around learning songs from the ground up, by diagramming the structure and creating chord charts and, when working on solos, identifying phrasing and individual figures. Attention is given to every measure, with detailed focus on both rhythm and pitch. Accordingly, the lessons emphasize music theory and composition. Assignments alternate between rhythm and solo parts, as well as songs chosen by the student. Joes knowledge of music theory and music history is unsurpassed, and his approach has provided at least as much value in terms of music appreciation as it has with respect to my guitar playing.Joe has developed an organized and thoughtful curriculum of high-quality songs by a range of artists, and the curriculum is tailored such that the songs are always challenging but within reach. Id recommend Joe to anyone who wants to have an in-depth understanding of songs or is interested in the history and evolution of blues/rock guitar.

Ive been taking lessons with Joe for about a year now. I spent a couple months using Fender Play, but wanted a base of knowledge instead of just memorizing songs. I had never played guitar before, and had no prior musical background - so Joe started from scratch. His lessons incorporate fundamentals of guitar, music theory, and songs.After a year, I have built a very solid foundation, and feel that Im starting to enter into the next phase of guitar where things become easier and more fun. My goal was to develop a base of knowledge, where Id be able to play songs I like, or improvise at home. I have now achieved that goal, but am excited to keep going with lessons.There is so much to learn with guitar. As others have mentioned, Joes material can be challenging and at times demanding. Theres enough material to cover a college music class, and in isolation Id spend 45 mins a day practicing it. In reality, I get nowhere near that much time, and Joe is able to adjust my pace accordingly. Highly recommended.

I was a true beginner at guitar when I started taking lessons from Joe about one year ago. Further details below, but in short I think Joe is not good...he’s great. I find my time with Joe to be productive, enjoyable and well worth the money spent.To provide a little more context, below are the three primary areas where I think Joe excels.1. Not a Teacher, But a Coach - learning guitar is not something that can be done by everyone at the same pace and level. Based on prior experience, commitment level and inherent musical ability...each individual person will respond and progress at different levels. Joe is not simply a guitar “teacher” who applies the same approach to everyone he works with, but rather he takes the time to truly understand you as a person (your background and goals) and then acts as a “coach” by customizing his approach toward working with you. I find this to be incredibly helpful.2. An Honest Professional - Joe is not here to make you feel good about mediocrity, but rather he strikes the right balance of pushing you while also encouraging/supporting you. He is a professional craftsman when it comes to helping others play guitar and he is just as vested in your development/success as you are. This of course requires him to be honest and manage your expectations as to what is achievable at certain points of your development and what steps need to be taken to get where you want to go. I find that he often slows me down and forces me to do some of the mundane things that develop my foundation before moving on to the next thing. At the time this may feel frustrating, but when looking back he is 100% right every time.3. Generous with Time - Joe is of course trying to run a business, so he must keep a set schedule. However, I find him to be incredibly generous with his time and flexible with his schedule when he can be. If we’re wrapping up a lesson, he will always take a few minutes to make sure you grasp that last concept. He never lets you walk out without a deep enough understanding of how to continue practicing and progressing. Definitely not a guy “in it for the money”!Net net, I greatly enjoy working with Joe and think others will as well.

I studied with Joe for about 10 months. Joe is like the Mr. Miyagi of guitar. He had me doing all kinds of tedious timing and rhythm exercises to fix my terrible sense of rhythm (felt a lot like wax on, wax off). At the time I was incredibly frustrated and wanted to get to the real guitar playing. But in the end, it really brought my playing to an entirely new level. Ive been jamming with friends lately and have noticed a considerable difference. Be advised: Joes lessons are tough. He is unapologetic in his approach and will bluntly tell you when you are wrong. But thats actually the thing that makes his teaching so effective; he will not coddle you. Im really pleased with my results and would recommend Joe to anyone who is really serious about improving their playing.

I’ve been learning the guitar for about a year with Joe. As background, I had about 1-2 years of guitar instruction under a different teacher and I’d seen teachers of other instruments for my family (such as voice, tabla etc). There are a few things that set him apart.The first is his attention to the details of playing and this has helped me improve my ability to spot these and to use them when playing. For example, he emphasizes the listener’s role - how to keep them engaged with the playing style, how to surprise them appropriately etc. And as another example, he regularly emphasizes (from the very first classes) the techniques for changing the tone of notes (picking style, damping style etc) to build a more varied and interesting sound - even if it’s just for a few notes among many bars. And his knowledge of guitar history is vast and he weaves these through his structured curriculum - I learned about many artists I had not heard of previously, and began to appreciate their place in music history.Secondly, he expects a lot from students - this is challenging but it pays off in the long run. I go into every session prepared to be mildly embarrassed by my level of practice or my recollection of some theory from a previous class. But Joe is very patient and approaches instruction in multiple ways to help lessons stick. Furthermore, on days where I think I have mastered something, Joe is gracious when showing me ways to improve and advance.Lastly, the quality of his instruction is very high. He has developed his materials over a long time and the classes are tuned towards the player’s weaknesses instead of merely progressing through a book or set of formulae. In addition, he develops three directions at all times: riffs leading to soloing, Blues-Rock, and songs the student selects. This maintains an interesting variety of homework exercises and there’s always at least one piece that is challenging and another that has gone from challenging to simple.Overall, I would say that Joe is an excellent teacher. My earlier opinion of music instruction was to pick the artform that was personally interesting and then find a teacher for that. But because of Joe, I’ve changed my opinion and believe it’s far more helpful and illuminating to find a good teacher to build foundational curiosity/interest in an area and later branch out to a specific area. If you’re interested in committing to learning guitar, I wholeheartedly recommend learning from Joe.

Context: This review is for a few lessons taken with Joe over Skype. I casually wrote the review over the course of a few days so I could adequately collect my thoughts and provide an opinion not tainted by the heat of the moment.My experience with Joe as a teacher was not very pleasant, and to be honest I am pretty surprised to see so many favorable ratings. I’ve been playing guitar for a little over ten years now and consider myself to be an intermediate player (can tackle most rhythm parts without too much trouble, number of reasonably speedy solos with help of metronome, some play by ear, can jam with others w/o totally botching, etc.). Bored during quarantine, I decided to find someone who could personally teach me more about music theory and who could help expand my technique. Enter Joe. During our introductory phone call I explained to Joe my situation and Joe went through a spiel about what would be learned, etc.On the day of our first lesson Joe arrived 15 minutes late. To his credit he did let me know shortly before ‘go time’ that he was running late. Within five minutes of starting Joe abruptly stops speaking and VERY mockingly rattles off “Am I distracting you from something? Is now not a good time? Is this not interesting to you?”. Needless to say I was pretty unprepared for that outburst, but did slowly lift up my out of frame pen and pad that I was using to jot notes. Joe awkwardly apologized for “how weird that was, man” (this reaction tells me he is consciously aware of when being a jerk) and said I didn’t need to take notes as his notes are good enough. Throughout the remainder of the lesson there were other moments when Joe was rude, but I wrote it off as him having a bad day and having to work over Skype. At the end I committed to a month of lessons (Joe pushed for this and at the time I went along without really reflecting on the past ~hour -- my mistake).During the next lesson, Joe’s character really came out. Throughout he was arrogant and degrading/belittling. I could never give a good response to Joe’s queries as any question asked by him had to be answered in a super mechanical manner that he devised (e.g. if he casually asks what CAGED shapes have their root on the 6th string don’t dare say “E & G”! - that is “out of order”!). If you don’t correctly answer in the robotic way he expects, even if your answer is contextually correct, he will slow his speech and go over the answer ad nauseum in the most condescending way imaginable. This type of patronizing behavior from an instructor is downright unacceptable and it’s where I draw the line. Anyways, about 40 minutes in Joe can sense that I’m not appreciating the lesson and attempts to rescue the session by assigning some riffs. For me this made things worse as he wanted me to practice “Smoke on the Water” and a few other beginner riffs (at first I thought he was kidding until he started to demonstrate [to be clear - nothing wrong with these songs/riffs, they are classics for a reason, but they are first things you might learn as a beginner]).The kicker is that during our two hours together Joe never asked for me to play anything on the guitar outside of asking me to play the same chord in a few locations (CAGED test) and asking me to point to where a note was on a particular string. Didn’t care to (1) learn where I was and (2) adapt the lesson plan to that anchor (even though he stated we’d do that).All said, if you are a new guitar player Joe could be great if you are willing to put up with the vibe. He is clearly very adept at music theory and definitely knows his way around the fretboard. If you are beyond beginner you might look elsewhere unless you want to pay for someone to demean you for an hour a week.For the doubters: Make no mistake, I wasn’t looking for a ‘pal/yes man’ as an instructor; bluntness is fine, but at minimum I expect a nontoxic atmosphere that isn’t detrimental to learning. FYI Joe himself did offer to refund me for lessons not taken and gave me a list of other instructors in the area: I found this redeeming.

Im not going to write about Joe Deloros guitar instruction abilities in this review. But note that he has played guitar since the 60s, has a music degree, has instructed for decades and is versed in the latest information technology, which, today, is a huge aide to learning. With that, it should be obvious that instruction will be superb. And I am sure that is what the others reviewers will write about.The subject of my review is about all the ancillary benefits a student gets from studying with Joe. The biggest is exposure and appreciation for the most influential artist of each of the last decades starting from the middle of the last century. That comes from his syllabus, which is the holy grail for the evolution of popular music. Your horizons will be expanded significantly and so will your music library and your ear for music. Especially interesting are his insights into the music business and what worked in popular songs for specified period and how technique and composition continued to evolve and how it was often resurrected, in some form, many years later. I am sure his experience working for Bill Graham starting with the big 60s groups gave him sensitivity for this.The conclusion here is that there are other reasons to study guitar than just to create sounds, especially for those of us who will probably never play for anyone else but ourselves. But you have to have a teacher with Joes experience and abilities to get those added benefits. But be warned, it takes a lot of work. However, the longer you are able to stick with it, the more fulfilling it gets.

I have taken guitar lessons from Joe for several years. In a word, he is outstanding. He is very skilled at helping figure out areas that need work and putting together lesson plans that really work and are fun. He has structured my lessons primarily around the kinds of music I am most interested in, blues and rock, with doses of other genres. Joes consistent explanations about why a particular phrase or line is being played and how it fits into the overall piece has helped with better understanding and appreciating whatever I am playing. The rhythm work we have done has been especially helpful. I finally get eighth and quarter note triplets. If you are looking for a guitar teacher, Joe is definitely worth checking out.

I have been working with Joe for several years. He is a fantastic guitar teacher. My skills and enjoyment with the instrument have increased immensely and I always look forward to the lessons. Joe maintains focus on fundamentals (like rhythm and music theory) but keeps the lessons fun and interesting. The teaching is blues/rock oriented with virtually all of the lessons geared toward learning specific songs and showing how the material relates to important concepts needed to master the guitar. Joe has an encyclopedic knowledge of music history that he weaves into the lessons as well. Not only do you learn how to play the songs, but also interesting facts about the musicians who wrote them and how they leveraged prior material and music theory to arrive at the hit songs we all love. He is also incredibly patient and adjusts the lessons and pace to the individual student. I couldn’t recommend him more highly.

Joe is great! I started at a beginner guitar level and after a few months Ive progressed tremendously. Joe not only teaches you how to play better, but helps you understand why guitar progressions are written like they are. If you are looking for someone to help you understand music so that you are more confident to write your own, then Joe is the perfect choice.

Ive been taking guitar lessons from Joe for about 2 years and hes a great teacher, I couldnt recommend him more highly. Its been eye opening as an amateur rock/blues guitar player how much I was missing until now (Ive been classically trained, and noodling on the guitar for 10 years) - even just fundamental technique and musicianship. Im enjoying guitar so much more now. Hes exactly the teacher I was looking for.Joe alternates between teaching more-or-less-whole rock/blues songs, and solos (and when there is time, studying what you choose). Lessons progress as the style of music changes over time/geography/economics, e.g. for a basic example, youll tackle older blues songs, then later see how that influenced Zeppelin, then how they evolved the genre (Ive gained even more respect for Jimmy Page).But I dont want to give the impression that Joe just teaches songs. He teaches everything that rock/blues music is constructed from, the physical guitar techniques you can learn from them, and how to make it all come naturally. Holistic, if you will.

I started lessons with Joe over a year ago and have been doing lessons with him once a week since. Over this period, I have truly enjoyed my guitar lessons with him. Firstly, I have been impressed that Joe has been teaching guitar for a long time and has a pretty effective technique and material for teaching. Secondly he challenges, pushes and provides detailed analysis and advice in a way that truly improves technique and understanding. Thirdly, I am pleased with myself as I feel I am improving, which of course is a great credit to Joe and makes the process fun. Joe also has a great fund of knowledge about all aspects of music and provides a lot of background information that is useful and interesting in understanding the domain. It’s also a joy to listen to Joe play. I whole heartedly recommend Joe for anyone that is looking for a real guitar teacher that can truly improve their skills substantially.

As a beginner Joes class was just what I was looking for. A comprehensive class on guitar and theory so that I can get the most out of my practicing and playing. The program along with his great anecdotes about guitarists and music are a highlight to my week. I would recommend Joe to guitarists of any level.

I have been taking guitar lessons with Joe for half a year now and couldnt be happier. He has made it fun to learn big ideas about music with ease. I am very thankful to have learned so much about playing, technique, and theory in this short amount of time. Joe is the best guitar teacher I have come across. His lesson plans are built to develop all areas of your learning the guitar, and he gives out extremely helpful handouts and homework. Deciding to take lessons here was probably one of the best decisions I could have made for myself. If you love music and really want to play well, this is your place to go for lessons. Every week I leave my lesson inspired.

Being on the road frequently, Ive worked with Joe via Skype, and though hesitant at first, Ive been very pleased the process. I work primarily with my cell phone and it is effective. It allows me to stay on top of my weekly lessons. Back in town, I m able to fine tune my work and carry on. Joes a great instructor and Im amazed at my progress.

Joe is a one of a kind teacher. He is not just about teaching how to play an instrument - guitar. Joe opens you up to the world of music. I was a student of Joes many years ago but his influence on my playing has been profound.

After years of teaching myself guitar through YouTube videos and hitting walls in my progression, I finally took the plunge and started taking lessons with Joe. In the 8 months that I have taken lessons with Joe, my playing and theory knowledge have improved considerably. I would recommend lessons with Joe Deloro for people that take guitar seriously and are willing to work hard to get better and learn more.

Joe is a great guitar teacher. His lessons are very structured and thoughtful, with a focus on building a strong foundation in theory without being too overwhelming. Ive been playing guitar for nearly 8 years (read: memorizing tabs and scales) and have already learned so much in my lessons with Joe. Hes very patient and takes the time to explain not only what he wants you to do, but also why.Highly recommended!

Ive been studying electric guitar with Joe for five months now and he has far exceeded my expectations. I could not be more thrilled to have found what has to be one of the best guitar instructors on the planet. I cant recommend his services highly enough.Heres my top 5 list of things I love about Joe.5. He started as a drummer before learning guitar. Joe has a drummers sense of rhythm and tempo and spends a lot of time and effort making sure his students cultivate that same sense. It takes a lot of time and work to develop that sense (at least it does for me), but...4. Joe is extremely patient. Playing guitar is hard. Even the novice student must learn multiple skills that he or she must perform simultaneously (like pat your head, rub your belly on steroids). Joe keeps a positive, constructive vibe going in the lesson even when youre not executing the song/technique/whatever. Often hell identify which underlying skill is failing and work on that before returning to the task at hand.3. Hes classically trained. Youll be speaking the language of music within the first few weeks and training like a professional musician. This pays big dividends down the road because you will have learned correct fundamental technique which will allow you to go as far as you want and in any direction without having to unlearn techniques that may have turned out to be only short-term solutions.2. Joe knows music. He knows the history of rock and roll and all of the successful innovations that artists have introduced throughout that history. He knows that makes songs work or not work, and what artistic influences and techniques are under the hood. He also knows the business side of music which I think is something you would rarely get with guitar instruction. Its a huge plus to know that you have someone that could advise you of what moves to make and not make should you ever get good enough that someone might actually pay to hear you.1. He really cares about the students progress. He spends approximately half the lesson developing the fundamental skill the student will need to become a good musician and he spends the other half teaching the student a song of their choosing. This is brilliant because learning guitar is hard and frustrating at times, but Joe understands that the love of your particular favorite music is what will keep you persevering and progressing.

Since it looks like Joe personally asked his students for 5 star reviews, Ill be a little truthful here with my first encounter with him. It has been over 10 years since my last guitar lesson, so I remember barely anything about reading sheet music as well as music theory as Im usually the guy who likes to look up tabs for songs and listen to the songs repeatedly while looking at the tab to learn. I was eager to get back into learning the guitar even though I knew a little. Ive never met anyone before where the sounded so fake. When I met Joe, you can just tell how fake the nice demeanor he put on was. I definitely felt like his true attitude came out later in the introductory lesson. Although I made it clear I dont remember anything about music theory or reading sheet music, Joe proceeded to ask me questions anyways and proceeded to tell me how wrong I was. I already told him i dont really remember anything, so to be talked down to and asked questions I dont know was a very confusing experience.... Joe is the teacher after all? Shouldnt I be learning new things, rather than confirming what I already dont know with Joes prompt No, thats incorrect replies? He then proceeded to tell me I want you to unlearn everything and start from scratch. At the end of the lesson, he reviewed the questionnaire I filled out and laughed to himself for a bit before proceeding to tell me yeah, youre not gonna be able to play these songs, though you can try if you want. They were all songs I learned when I first started playing guitar in middle school. I was hoping to go through them again with a teacher as a refresher, but it was this point I knew Joe wasnt the best fit for me.Apparently when he said time was out, he said we went for over an hour and said merry christmas and seemed relieved we were done. He then proceeded to put on a fake smile and said I hoped you enjoyed your lesson, and talked about possible next steps. Now, Id just like to say: Id gone through a bunch of private lessons with a bunch of teachers for different instruments when I was growing up, so dont get me wrong that Im misunderstanding that Joe is running a business with guitar lessons as a service. However, in sharp contrast to the private music instructors Ive had in the past for different instruments, I know that Joe really only cares about the money. Why? Well his big ego with asking you questions you dont know, replying with No, thats incorrect even though he knows you dont know since you told him prior to your lesson but still wants the chance to put you down so he asks you anyway. I questioned why this was the majority of our lesson. This behavior is the complete opposite of someone who truly cares about their students.If you know absolutely nothing about guitar, then Id say try a lesson with Joe. If you know a little about guitar, Id stay away from Joe. Im not really sure what sane person wants to pay him over $60 for 50 minutes where he would spend the majority of the time asking you questions you dont know the answer to even though youve already told him you dont know prior to the lesson... its a complete waste of money and to get laughed in the face with those songs I already knew as well as told to start all the way from scratch was something I was not willing to do. Id be putting my cash into something I wouldnt get much out of. Definitely would recommend to find someone else in the area if you know a little about guitar.

I started taking lessons with Joe a little over 6 months ago as a beginning guitar player. I have only the best things to say about Joe - hes a great teacher, very experienced, patient, and pushes students to progress. As a working professional, its difficult for me to find time to practice, but he keeps me honest and motivated. If you are considering taking lessons from Joe, its a no-brainer!

I first started studying with Joe in the 90s. Life got in the way and I took a 15 year break and started again with him 2 years ago.My passion is classic rock and Joe is a virtual rock encyclopedia, though also well versed with almost all styles.He has such a knack for transcribing songs by ear, he doesnt just show you how to play a song, but digs deep and breaks down the parts bar by bar.During lessons, he is consistently on-point and willing to field any type of music question and gives detailed analysis. He tailors The lessons to his students abilities, and encourages you to bring in your own material to study,If your serious about guitar, Joe is highly recommended!

Ive been taking lessons with Joe for 14 years--roughly 13 years at his studio in San Francisco and more recently over Skype after I moved to Chicago. I started out knowing absolutely nothing about music or the guitar. If you can imagine a mix between Eric Clapton and a Berklee School of Music professor, you will get a picture of Joe. He can pull a 1960s blues classic out of the memory bank or play any of the thirty plus best guitar solos of the past 50 years and then give you a great explanation of the theory and the history. His musical knowledge always amazes me. You are not going to find a better resource for studying guitar and music.

If you want to build your musicianship from the ground up, Joes your guy! His teaching style is solid and I always walk away with two things: more knowledge than when we began and excitement to apply what Ive learned.

I have been taking lessons with Joe for 6 years, and I have learned so much during that time. My goal was to play a bit of Clapton, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, and other well known rock artists. As a complete beginner, it all seemed unattainable. With Joes guidance and support, all those songs that I have always wanted to play are now within my reach. Joes extremely focused and methodical approach took me from a complete novice to where I can now play many of my favorite artists.I have a long way to go, but I now can truly enjoy myself on the guitar.Also, because of Joe vast knowledge of blues/rock music, I have learned about many artists that I knew of only by name, but did not really listen to. Working with Joe has increased the range of music I like, and it has given me a new appreciation for many artists.Also, Joe pushed me to work on songs that I would never have touched, just because of my perception of how difficult they are (in other words, too scary). I watched him play parts of a new song, thinking that there is no way Ill be able to play the solo, only to be comfortable with it within a few weeks of practice.Finally, Joe is a fantastic guitarist! Watching him play is a fantastic experience and so inspiring!I highly recommend Joe to anyone who is serious about learning to play the guitar.

I have been taking lessons with Joe for over a year now.- I previously taught myself guitar off the internet. It does not scale after a while. Tabs are not the solution you want to seek. I knew I had an appetite for more and I found a guitar guru in form of Joe.- Joe is extremely comprehensive and knowledgable. He exhibits deep understanding of music across genres. Blues and Rock is what I came for, but have to say it has gone beyond that. Note: He has a degree in composition.- Sessions with Joe have the gravity of a class out of an institute. He expects very high standards of his students. But at the same time he understands the limitations of a working professional. Extremely patient. He also doesnt mind going over things again and again.- With Joe one will not only transform into a better guitar player but will develop significant musicianship. I have certainly experienced higher musical consciousness.No matter at what level someone is at, I would recommend Joe to anyone who would want to grow musically through guitar.

Joe is an incredibly sound musician and great teacher. Highly recommend him to any guitar player in the area!

If you want the real deal take lessons with Joe.Been taking lessons for bout a year now after playing for most of my life, and I wish I had started sooner! Lessons build a solid foundation of music knowledge and skills.