I play guitar and came occasionally to a Brazilian jam in Global Music Academy in Berlin where my journey with Chester started. For one year we studied mainly Brazilian/Cabo-Verdian songs and guitar improvisation. His way of teaching was very constructive, relaxed and on a high instrumental level. If you want to dive deeper into improvisation and are looking for a good teacher, Chester is the right person. I am still sad that he left Berlin ;)
I am a piano player and have studied improvisational concepts with Chester for about two years. A patient teacher who helped me with my understanding of improvisation, harmony and composition. He is open to a wide range of musical styles and has always pushed me to explore further.
I have had the chance to study with Chester for over two years. Nice cat, brilliant musician and killer player. If you really want to bring your playing to the next level, Chester is the man! 🙌🏻
Thanks to a friend of mine, I used to work with Chester for one year.
He helped me to focus on my goals with a structured method that increased a lot my knowledge on the guitar and my abilities for improvisation. He finally became a kind of mentor which was supervising my progression.
Chester successfully mixes the basics and student's wills.
I learned from Chester for about 5 years and haven't met such a dedicated and downright efficient teacher ever since (in conservatories, music schools or while studying with well known players). He gave me structure and comprehensive steps to follow to progress very fast. He also had the skills to engage in personal conversations quite often which helped me to align myself with my musical practice. I never improved so much, so fast.
He also happens to be an excellent musician whose sense of taste I liked very much which allowed us to go farther than just laying down the basics of improvisation as he showed a lot of elements from his personal approach to improvising and building musical phrases. This work was very influential as I liked his playing very much, being a contemporary jazz enthusiast.
It was very liberating to find such a teacher after going through tons of online material with which I wasn't going forward. To put it simply, Chester is not a teacher for aspiring guitarists as much as a teacher for aspiring musicians : he helped me study improvisational approches from horn players, pianists, drummers and anything music, really.
Chester is also the best teacher through his approach adapted to people, his listening skills, his experience, patience and the relevance of his advices/lessons.
I highly recommend because since I took lessons my perspective of the guitar and my playing changed significantly.
Currently taking guitar lessons with Chester for 6 months now, I have nothing but praises for his patience, adaptability and will to help me understand and appreciate music theory.
I took several months of guitar lessons with Chester. His pedagogy is very good, and he knows how to vehicle his skills as a guitarist in a way which comprehensible for a student. Highly recommend
Taking guitar lessons with Chester (both remote and personally) means to get a binding relationship to a fascinating musician. During our 2 years of regular lessons he gave me a big boost on my way to discover and enjoy my musical expression. For this he provided me with helpful exersizes followed by attentive and appreciative feedback. Furthermore I liked his way to recognize the making of music in a sociocultural context - from remembering childrens' songs, sung by your mom ... to the use of the dorian scale by Plato to support the courage of ancient greek soldiers. Thank you!
Chester is truly an extraordinary guitar teacher and music coach: rigorous, clear, caring, demanding, all the qualities that in my opinion are essential to progress in this field. Not the least of which is that he always pushes you to think in terms of music and composition, and not just guitar playing.
Chester Harlan ma fait ouvrir les portes de la musicalité et du plaisir en guitare en très peu de temps grâce à ses conseils, son accompagnement et sa discipline ! Je prends à présent du plaisir à travailler et à essayer de progresser, j’ai pu comprendre certaines choses. J’ai eu beaucoup de chance de bénéficier de ses cours qui ont changé mon jeu, qui malgrès beaucoup de pratique, manquait et manque toujours de compréhension et de musicalité. Mais le fait de pouvoir poser des questions aide bcp, sans avoir à être face à un prof robot qui récite son cours. C’est tout le contraire, un prof très passionné et patient, qui m’a beaucoup aidé. Merci à lui . Merci de permettre à la créativité de chacuns d’avoir un jour la chance d’acquérir savoir et technique, indispensable pour pouvoir être libre en musique
I have been taking lessons with Chester for a while now, I had been playing guitar for so many years but I felt that I really needed to go further, to figure out what and how I wanted to play, to learn new things and change my relationship with the instrument and more broadly to music. Well, I can say that Chester is really teaching me to understand, play and feel (as well as listen to) music – not just guitar – in a very different way. He is such a patient and creative teacher, his vision of music goes far beyond music itself, and his teaching method is at the same time extremely rational, reasoned, just as one would expect from a professional musician, and spontaneous – just as one would expect from a true musician.
I started taking guitar lesson with Chester a few months ago and I really feel accompanied in my evolution. Chester is an attentive teacher who wants to see you improve and always looks forward for the next step of your guitar playing.
I try to plau guitar since my 25 and i'm 57 old now. Those last months, i decided to seriously look into the subject and looked for semeone who could help. I met Chester. And i'm very glad about that because I feel i'm on the right way to play what i wish to thanks to his clever pedagogy and inspirating personality.
Still working with Chester after several years (to be honnest I don’t know how many…).
From the beginning I didn’t want a new teacher. No « one more teacher » anymore…
My wish was to find a real coach. If you ask me the question « what difference? ». Simple : a teacher has a student and a teaching plan, a coach has to help a musician to find himself.
That is what Chester is for me; able to understand what is your new « baby step » and how to reach it.
When it was difficult for me to go further, he just understood what was my real concern and not only « play each day 3 hours and everything will be ok ». He detected the real failure which held me back. And he helped me to get over the obstacle. Even Imaginating sometimes brand new exercices in real time to find the way.
I can only thank him because now I feel the progress.
I can only highly recommend Chester. Physically or remotely, no matter, same intensity and efficiency.
I took classes for years with Chester, I made a lot of progress. His pedagogy is quite exciting and he really adapts to everyone.
Claude from Paris
I play guitar and came occasionally to a Brazilian jam in Global Music Academy in Berlin where my journey with Chester started. For one year we studied mainly Brazilian/Cabo-Verdian songs and guitar improvisation. His way of teaching was very constructive, relaxed and on a high instrumental level. If you want to dive deeper into improvisation and are looking for a good teacher, Chester is the right person. I am still sad that he left Berlin ;)
I am a piano player and have studied improvisational concepts with Chester for about two years. A patient teacher who helped me with my understanding of improvisation, harmony and composition. He is open to a wide range of musical styles and has always pushed me to explore further.
I have had the chance to study with Chester for over two years. Nice cat, brilliant musician and killer player. If you really want to bring your playing to the next level, Chester is the man! 🙌🏻
Thanks to a friend of mine, I used to work with Chester for one year.
He helped me to focus on my goals with a structured method that increased a lot my knowledge on the guitar and my abilities for improvisation. He finally became a kind of mentor which was supervising my progression.
Chester successfully mixes the basics and student's wills.
Thanks for all
I learned from Chester for about 5 years and haven't met such a dedicated and downright efficient teacher ever since (in conservatories, music schools or while studying with well known players). He gave me structure and comprehensive steps to follow to progress very fast. He also had the skills to engage in personal conversations quite often which helped me to align myself with my musical practice. I never improved so much, so fast.
He also happens to be an excellent musician whose sense of taste I liked very much which allowed us to go farther than just laying down the basics of improvisation as he showed a lot of elements from his personal approach to improvising and building musical phrases. This work was very influential as I liked his playing very much, being a contemporary jazz enthusiast.
It was very liberating to find such a teacher after going through tons of online material with which I wasn't going forward. To put it simply, Chester is not a teacher for aspiring guitarists as much as a teacher for aspiring musicians : he helped me study improvisational approches from horn players, pianists, drummers and anything music, really.
Besides being an inspiration.
Chester is also the best teacher through his approach adapted to people, his listening skills, his experience, patience and the relevance of his advices/lessons.
I highly recommend because since I took lessons my perspective of the guitar and my playing changed significantly.
Currently taking guitar lessons with Chester for 6 months now, I have nothing but praises for his patience, adaptability and will to help me understand and appreciate music theory.
Highly recommend !
I took several months of guitar lessons with Chester. His pedagogy is very good, and he knows how to vehicle his skills as a guitarist in a way which comprehensible for a student. Highly recommend
Taking guitar lessons with Chester (both remote and personally) means to get a binding relationship to a fascinating musician. During our 2 years of regular lessons he gave me a big boost on my way to discover and enjoy my musical expression. For this he provided me with helpful exersizes followed by attentive and appreciative feedback. Furthermore I liked his way to recognize the making of music in a sociocultural context - from remembering childrens' songs, sung by your mom ... to the use of the dorian scale by Plato to support the courage of ancient greek soldiers. Thank you!
Michael (Berlin)
Chester is truly an extraordinary guitar teacher and music coach: rigorous, clear, caring, demanding, all the qualities that in my opinion are essential to progress in this field. Not the least of which is that he always pushes you to think in terms of music and composition, and not just guitar playing.
Chester Harlan ma fait ouvrir les portes de la musicalité et du plaisir en guitare en très peu de temps grâce à ses conseils, son accompagnement et sa discipline ! Je prends à présent du plaisir à travailler et à essayer de progresser, j’ai pu comprendre certaines choses. J’ai eu beaucoup de chance de bénéficier de ses cours qui ont changé mon jeu, qui malgrès beaucoup de pratique, manquait et manque toujours de compréhension et de musicalité. Mais le fait de pouvoir poser des questions aide bcp, sans avoir à être face à un prof robot qui récite son cours. C’est tout le contraire, un prof très passionné et patient, qui m’a beaucoup aidé. Merci à lui . Merci de permettre à la créativité de chacuns d’avoir un jour la chance d’acquérir savoir et technique, indispensable pour pouvoir être libre en musique
I have been taking lessons with Chester for a while now, I had been playing guitar for so many years but I felt that I really needed to go further, to figure out what and how I wanted to play, to learn new things and change my relationship with the instrument and more broadly to music. Well, I can say that Chester is really teaching me to understand, play and feel (as well as listen to) music – not just guitar – in a very different way. He is such a patient and creative teacher, his vision of music goes far beyond music itself, and his teaching method is at the same time extremely rational, reasoned, just as one would expect from a professional musician, and spontaneous – just as one would expect from a true musician.
I started taking guitar lesson with Chester a few months ago and I really feel accompanied in my evolution. Chester is an attentive teacher who wants to see you improve and always looks forward for the next step of your guitar playing.
Ozan
I try to plau guitar since my 25 and i'm 57 old now. Those last months, i decided to seriously look into the subject and looked for semeone who could help. I met Chester. And i'm very glad about that because I feel i'm on the right way to play what i wish to thanks to his clever pedagogy and inspirating personality.
Patrick
Chester
Still working with Chester after several years (to be honnest I don’t know how many…).
From the beginning I didn’t want a new teacher. No « one more teacher » anymore…
My wish was to find a real coach. If you ask me the question « what difference? ». Simple : a teacher has a student and a teaching plan, a coach has to help a musician to find himself.
That is what Chester is for me; able to understand what is your new « baby step » and how to reach it.
When it was difficult for me to go further, he just understood what was my real concern and not only « play each day 3 hours and everything will be ok ». He detected the real failure which held me back. And he helped me to get over the obstacle. Even Imaginating sometimes brand new exercices in real time to find the way.
I can only thank him because now I feel the progress.
I can only highly recommend Chester. Physically or remotely, no matter, same intensity and efficiency.