Joy Goh

Joy Goh is a guitarist, composer, and recording artist currently based in the Netherlands.

He graduated from one of the most admired schools in the world, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag). During his studies, he had his main lessons with the great  Martijn van Iterson, Anotine Boyer, Pedro Martins, John Ruocco, Toon Roos, Jarmo Hoogendijk, and Youngchan Na.

By chasing his biggest passion, Brazilian music, he also followed his Brazilian music lesson with Professor Kees Gelderblom from Codarts. He also has his lessons with the son of Brazilian guitar legend Baden Powell, Marcel Powell Marcel was Baden Powell's sole student. And Joy learned Baden Powell's secret technique from the only person who knows. He is leading the band, Orixa no Yokai.

Why did you become a guitar teacher?

In general, I like to share things with my friends. Moreover, I like to do, share things. I also teach music with great passion, so I always learn new things again. Because I have to solve it before I can explain it to someone else.

Sometimes, when I had my own bottleneck that I couldn't break through, it often helped me to teach students, allowing me to play it better myself. I also went down many "wrong" roads myself, which took me unnecessarily more time. For that reason, I've always thought that if I could have let someone else tell me this, life would be much easier.

Describe yourself as a musician.

I am a jazz guitarist. After so many years of playing music and practicing instruments, I started to realize how important it is to be able to play what I can actually hear. It was years ago, I always sang what I played. But I didn't know I couldn't play what I sang. I started to notice that when I had no instruments with me, I couldn't sing music in my head. I had nothing in mind; I couldn't even talk about changes after learning jazz for 4-5 years. That's why I started to change my priorities to put singing first. In the end, it had changed my life and my game, making most of the problems I had resolve themselves.

And more importantly, I started to appreciate more of what I played when I listened to my recordings, which I never could have done. As a result, my first vision of playing music is to be honest in music.In addition, my greatest passion is Brazilian music. Brazilian music and the community have completely changed my life. My biggest influence is Baden Powell.

How has it changed you?

It's just too much to say how this music has changed me. I think in an artistic aspect, and I will say because of that, I started playing with the persona more and more. It may not be easy to apply to jazz standards. But when I play my own compositions, other compositions, or some appropriate songs, I like to try out different things in the songs with the musicians I play with.

In this guitar class, we will focus on building your: Guitar techniques, rhythm, improvisation, music theory, and mentality are all important aspects of making music.

The direction of the lesson depends on each individual. A tailor-made course is what you will find in these lessons. 

However, according to my experience, I conclude that a better strategy is needed for my students to improve.

What I do is, every 2 weeks, I will propose a specific topic or assignment that I think the student needs. The remaining lessons could involve students proposing what they want to learn in order to keep their passion alive. because passion can bring improvement.

So 

For Beginner Level:

You will be learning:

- Understanding the fretboard

- Posture 

- Principles of how your hands should move

- How to make a good sound

- How to Practice Your Rhythm, Playing Melody-Wise, Accompanying-Wise, and Playing Guitar Solo Pieces-Wise

- How to play with others

- Picking technique/ Finger picking technique

- Legato technique

- Music Theory

How to build a chord and understand the logic behind it so that when you come across a new chord, you can generate it yourself.

- The ability to read and play chords/melody

- The ability to read rhythm

And if your goal is to be able to read and play chords in any songs  in the style of pop music. From zero to this step, you only need 3–4 months. Of course, if you could practice regularly too. 

For the Intermediate Level:

More or less the points mentioned above, but beginning to discuss which goal you want to pursue. 

For Advanced Level:

- Jazz Guitar / Brazilian Guitar

- Advanced picking technique

- Improvisation

- How to improve timing

- Advanced comping rhythm

Jazz, classical, pop, Brazilian, rock, etc. All genres are welcomed.

I focus a lot on correcting the physical hand movement mistake, which is often done in an inefficient way.

You will learn both general theory and practical theory (Jazz Theory) in this lesson.At the end of the lesson, you will be able to understand the theory. Not only by applying it to your playing, but also  improving your ears and understanding what happens in the music you are listening to. 

You will be learning:

- Scales

- Arppegios 

- Keys

- Chord (Triad/7th) and how to construct it

- Chord extension

- How to transpose

- Roman Numeral system

- Modal interchange

- Modul

- Rhythmic Notation

- Pitch Notation

- Ear Training

- Chord Substitution

- Embelishment tone

- Walking Bass Line

- Chord function

- Harmony Rhythm

- Music Forms

- Blues

- Poly Rhythm / Cross Rhythm

- Writing in a specific style

Analyzing harmony

- Cadences

- The Pivot Chord

- Slash chord System

- Triad Pairs

- Modal music

- Chord Scale system

- Chord Inversion

- Counterpoint Writing

-  Solfege