Guitar & Piano Lessons
with Roger

  • Located in Communipaw, Jersey City.

    • 5-min walk to Liberty State Park Light rail.

  • Online lessons are for music theory lessons, practice and compositional advice only.

    • $85/hour

    • optional 5-lesson package for $400

    • travel fees may apply for at-home lessons depending on the distance.

    • Email: rogerlinmusic@gmail.com
      for scheduling and more info


Nomiddleman Music Lessons

A wall decorated with two electric guitars, a framed colorful landscape painting, and a small potted plant. Below are amplifiers and guitar effects pedals.

  • "May I have some of your earplugs? My sister talks too much at home."

    — James, 9-years old (guitar student)

  • "So playing F natural is now a federal crime because we're in the key of G."

    — Brant, 10-year-old (guitar, piano student)

  • "How did you do that! What you played sounds like real music."

    — William, 7-year-old (piano student)

Some thoughts…

  • I try to make music approachable to everyone at all ages. I think that’s what this is about.

  • I wish to help my students learn to appreciate music itself, the art of rhythms and 12 tones, excluding much of the technological side of music production

  • Through music, I hope to help my students understand the value of patience, perseverance, problem solving, open-mindedness— always keeping a growing mindset and have fun finding answers along the way.

  • Most importantly, I hope my students will appreciate humanity, and remember to listen and feel because of the experience of learning instruments, especially in an era of advanced technology.


Nomiddleman Music Lessons

Studio
Space

Music studio room with electric guitars on the wall, a keyboard on a stand, a small amplifier, a chair, and a carpet with geometric patterns.
A music room with a keyboard, music stand, two guitars hanging on the wall, an amplifier, a desk, chairs, a window with curtains, and an area rug.
A wall with a framed poster titled 'Red Sky' and an illustrated landscape, a vintage Sunburst Gibson semi-hollow electric guitar mounted on the wall, a small green potted plant with large striped leaves on a white surface, and a black guitar amplifier labeled 'Quilter' placed beside the plant.
A digital keyboard with printed sheet music resting on top, and an electric guitar and amplifier in the background.

Lesson footages

Guitar student playing "Blackbird"- 1 year of study (at-home lessons) - 14 years old

Piano student playing "Minuet in G" - 1 month of study (1 semester with other teacher)- 7 years old

Piano Lessons

In piano lessons, we do simple exercises to build up techniques, play pop songs with simple melodies and triads to build up repertoire, and learn the classical repertoire from Bach to Mozart, Beethoven, and others. We also learn different voicings and apply them to playing well-known jazz standards.


Nomiddleman Music Lessons

Sheet music with musical notes, clefs, and symbols by Roger Lin, copyright 2018.
Sheet music for 'Part 2 Mount Stupid and Bottom of Wells' by Roger Lin, with musical notations, chords, and performance instructions.
Sheet music titled 'Happy Birthday' with lyrics and musical notes.
Guitar chord chart for C minor 7b5 arpeggios with finger positions across the fretboard, showing root notes on strings 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.
Chart titled 'Intervals on Guitar' with two sections showing finger positions for major and minor 6ths, illustrating fretboard diagrams with note placements, and the GuitarScientist.com logo in the bottom right corner.
Guitar chord diagram for C minor 7 (Cmin7) with instructions to drop 2 and 4 strings, with four inversion diagrams showing finger positions on the fretboard.
Guitar fretboard chart showing root notes on the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings with note names on each fret.
Diagram of the C major scale on a guitar fretboard showing finger positions for notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C in a box labeled 'C Major Scale (Box 5)'.

Guitar Lessons

In guitar lessons, we work on building techniques and fingerboard knowledge, through learning songs of your choice, or mine, in various styles.

We also transcribe riffs, solos, and tunes. Through learning those music, we move towards being able to freely improvise on the guitar.


Nomiddleman Music Lessons

Sheet music titled 'Secondary Dominants in Minor Keys' showing chords in natural minor key, with notes and chord symbols.
Sheet music titled 'The Vision' by Cedar Walton, consisting of musical notes and chords for piano or other melodic instruments.


Nomiddleman Music Lessons

A chart showing various musical scales and their corresponding chords in different keys, including Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor.
Circle chart of musical notes with corresponding musical notation and key signatures
Sheet music titled 'Loose Bloose' composed by Bill Evans, with multiple musical staffs, notes, and annotations for performance.

Composition & Music Theory

In composition and theory lessons, we look at songs we like, in various styles, and re-learn them (get deeper understanding) with a harmony system that developed from classical music and the history of the great american songbook.

We look at song forms, rhythms, melody-bass relationship, functional harmony, voice-leading, and others. And further create our own music on the shoulders of the greats.