David Naidu offers guitar lessons in Ocoee

Whether guitar students are young or old, new or experienced, and no matter what genre they’re interested in learning, David Naidu seeks to customize the private lesson experience so it can be fun and engaging for everyone.

Naidu has played and performed with the guitar for 40 years and taught for more than 10. He recently moved his teaching studio from the Mall of Millennia area to his home in Ocoee, which makes it more easily accessible for guitar students in West Orange County.

“It really takes experience to teach effectively to all different people,” Naidu said. “I try to introduce everybody to at least a little bit of everything. … I try to weigh both their interest and what will help develop them as a musician.”

Naidu’s youngest students are 4-year-old triplets who have just started to pick up the ukulele. Some of his older students include a CEO, a doctor and business owners. He teaches college students, high-school students and people from all other stages of life.

“My son has been taking guitar lessons from David for just under a year now, however, has made more progress than he had in the previous couple of years with his previous instructors,” said Benu Patel, mother of Naidu’s student Nikhil Patel. “He provides music that is recognizable and fun and works with the student to get it played perfectly.”

During his or her first few lessons with Naidu, a child will learn how to sit and hold the guitar or ukulele properly, which Naidu knows isn’t the most exciting part of being a musician, but is highly important, he said. Next, students learn the physicality of playing a stringed instrument, and the goal is for musicianship to follow.

“It’s such a wide variety of skills that’s required to make music with the guitar,” Naidu said. “There’s the physical aspect, there’s the mental aspect, there’s the emotional aspect. One without the other two doesn’t really do justice to making music on the guitar.”

Naidu also works with parents of young children to make sure they have an instrument that is the appropriate size.

Some of Naidu’s teenage students take lessons with him to supplement the musical instruction they receive at school.

More and more high schools are offering guitar classes, but one-on-one instruction is still a key part of learning the instrument. Other times, a high-school band director might be well versed in music and orchestral instruments, but doesn’t know the intricacies of the guitar.

“Unfortunately, most of (the high-school guitar classes) are so popular that they become so overcrowded that they really don’t get the individual attention,” Naidu said.

Naidu said he is eager to find opportunities for his students to perform and increase their experience. One young student in particular, whom Naidu noticed as a competent vocalist, got to record vocals on Naidu’s most recent album.

In addition to his new home studio, Naidu will continue to offer traveling lessons at the homes of students who would prefer such an arrangement.

“I think that there are many aspiring guitarists that start taking lessons because they’ve gotten the impression that it’s an easy instrument to play,” Naidu said. “It can be a lot of fun, but it’s a different kind of fun. … It’s more a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment.”

To learn more about David Naidu or to inquire about lessons, go to davidnaiduguitar.com.

Contact Catherine Sinclair at [email protected].