“As long as you're excited about what you're playing, and as long as it comes from your heart, it's going to be great.” - John Frusciante
Relieve Stress
Enhance Creativity
Have a sense of accomplishment
Enjoy a unique form of human connection
Improve memory and focus
Impress friends and family
Express yourself
Build confidence and self-esteem
Turn poems into songs
Unite body, heart, mind, and spirit
Play your favorite songs
Have fun
What your neighbors are saying
“I had tried for years to learn guitar on my own but always ended up frustrated and discouraged. That all changed when I started lessons with Forrest. He brought structure to my learning, helping me finally master the basics and build real confidence.
Forrest tailors each lesson to your goals. He creates visuals to explain tricky concepts and even writes custom sheet music for the songs you want to learn. His ear is incredible; he can hear a song once, play it back instantly, and have you learning it within minutes.
What really sets him apart is how he connects guitar to broader music theory. He often plays the piano during lessons to show how chords, scales, and harmony all fit together, which has completely deepened my understanding of music.
Forrest is an awesome, patient teacher who made learning the guitar a whole lot less intimidating!”
- Danny K, West Seattle
What do you want to learn?
Lead with Feeling
Finger Picking
Sing While Playing
Acoustic Lead
Riffs and Licks
Melody Over Chords
Reasons to Learn from Me
30 years playing guitar
Passionate about teaching
Highly empathetic
Your goals are my goals
Patient and understanding
Effective communicator
Adept at making music theory fun and accessible
Supportive, encouraging mentality
Teach to each student’s unique learning styles and preferences
Skill Levels I Teach
Absolute beginner; never touched a guitar
Know a few chords and a pentatonic shape or two
Can strum chords with confidence; want to learn more interesting progressions and embellishments
Ages 14 and up
Location
I teach out of my home in the Admiral neighborhood of West Seattle.
For those outside the area, or more comfortable with learning remotely, I offer lessons over Google Meet.
Philosophy and Commitment
We are all musical beings. Music is the birthright of every human being on this planet. Modern society tends to place a huge emphasis on the importance of being “good” at music. As if there are those chosen few who are qualified to be musicians, and the rest of us had better be satisfied to enjoy our favorite music on Spotify, and by attending the occasional show. I couldn’t disagree more. If you are moved by the music that you hear; if music does something to your heart, then you have just as much right as anybody to pick up guitar and learn to play.
Unfortunately, when it comes to learning music, a lot of us have some “unlearning” to do. Many of us carry baggage from childhood, when we may have been told that we couldn’t sing, or that we weren’t musical, often by well-meaning adults in whom we placed a great deal of trust.
I see learning the guitar as much more than training our ears to hear the notes and our fingers to fret the strings. In a very real sense, learning music is about learning to reclaim the childlike wonder of music that we were born with, and to embrace harmony, rhythm and melody, on our own terms.
As someone who is currently on this life-long journey, I place great emphasis not only on teaching the fundamentals of guitar playing, but on providing a safe, supportive, encouraging setting as well. Improving at anything meaningful involves taking risks and making mistakes. Selecting a teacher means picking someone with whom you feel comfortable taking these risks and make these mistakes.
I am honored that you are considering choosing me for that role, and you have my heartfelt commitment to take that responsibility seriously always.
Musically,
Forrest Sallee
Cancellation Policy
Lessons cancelled within 24 hours must be paid for and cannot be rescheduled.
Lessons cancelled with more than 24 hours notice can be rescheduled or skipped at no additional charge.
Exceptions: Obviously I understand that the unexpected can happen. In cases of illness, emergency or other unforeseen/extenuating circumstances can be handled on a case-by-case basis.