San Diego Area Guitar Teachers

Mateo Bernal

Mateo Bernal has been playing guitar and electric bass for 20 years and teaching music for 10 years. His love of making music was sparked when he picked band as his elective in 7th grade, participating in his schools’ band, orchestra, mariachi, jazz and various other ensembles, through to his college years. He studied classical guitar at San Diego State University, and is pursuing his Master’s Degree in Music Education. He has performed, toured and recorded with rock and metal bands in the San Diego area.

He has worked as a music educator with students across a variety of age ranges. His expertise is in electric bass and guitar in a range of styles. Mateo also has experience teaching tuba, trombone, piano and violin to beginner and intermediate level students. In addition, his passion for music history and ethnomusicology informs his approach to teaching his students.

Bucky Reed

Bucky is a guitar and ukulele instructor living in San Diego. He has been playing guitar for over 35 years and has been teaching for decades. He has been playing and teaching ukulele for the last 8 years as well. Bucky is friendly and helpful with students learning their first instrument or who want to improve their stringed instrument skills.

Bucky is comfortable teaching a wide variety of styles and techniques including blues, rock, classical, R&B, country, bluegrass, traditional Irish, old time, and Hawai'ian music. While not playing guitar Bucky enjoys spending time with his wife and two rescued dogs.

Nicholas Omary

Nicholas Omary has been studying and playing electric and classical guitar for over 10 years. His early influences include jazz musicians such as Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, and Django Reinhardt. Omary's musical range is impressive.  He has been consistently learning and playing jazz, rock, metal, and funk for his entire musical career and has also been playing classical music for over 5 years.

Omary graduated with a Bachelors of Music under the instruction of John Schneiderman, a world-renowned guitar and lute player at the University of California, Irvine. He has also studied with prominent jazz musicians and instructors Darek Oles, Kei Akagi and Bobby Rodriguez.

Rachel Foster

Rachael began playing piano at the age of seven and this foundation quickly led her to learn more and more instruments - first clarinet, saxophone and vibraphone, then acoustic and electric guitar, then drum kit and violin. 

In 2010 she was accepted into Berklee College of Music in Boston as a piano major where she furthered her instrumental studies and developed a passion for orchestral composition and film scoring. After graduating in 2012, her work with the Chicago Symphonietta led her to Chicago where she began writing music for short films and ad agencies. In 2016, the sunny weather drew her to San Diego where she currently teaches music to beginners through advanced students and hopes to inspire students to not only have a broad understanding of music but also to create and share their own works.

Sophie Bell

Sophie has been playing guitar for 15 years and has studied many different styles and techniques. She also draws from versatile knowledge of bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, and ukulele. She is passionate about making lessons enjoyable and empowering for students, and helping them find their own unique musical voice. 

David Rich

David has been teaching and performing in the San Diego area for the last eight years and shares a love for teaching and the arts. He taught in various music studios, after school centers and privately in home to a broad range of ages and skill levels. He studied jazz guitar, composition and performance under San Diego jazz native Bob Boss and was mentored by Berklee graduate Daniel Dela Cruz where he learned a wide range of music from blues, rock, funk/soul, jazz and pop to name a few. 

Learning anything can be challenging, so David teaches in a patient, understanding and relatable way to ensure that anyone can achieve their musical goals whether academic or simply just for fun.

Randy Hochuli

Randy Hochuli is a professional guitarist and composer out of Oceanside, CA. An alumnus of New School for Arts in Phoenix, AZ and the Berklee College of Music Guitar Summer Sessions, Randy extensively studied guitar, voice, percussion, music history and music theory. He has been teaching guitar and music theory privately for over ten years.

With private instruction from Randy you will master rhythm, harmony and improvisation. His instruction promotes a strong musical foundation which will ensure success in any of your musical endeavors. He specializes in modern electric guitar techniques including extended-range guitar technique, slap or "thumping" and fingerstyle. He is an expert in many styles of guitar, allowing lessons to focus on any genre of your choice including rock, blues, jazz, metal, pop, EDM, country, folk and hip-hop. 

Caleb Jordan Riley

Caleb Jordan Riley was born March 31st, 1993 and is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and guitar instructor. He was the co-lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Calibrate Me from its formation in 2010 until he left the group in 2015.

Caleb grew up in the countryside of Ramona, California where he embraced both God and music at an early age. When Caleb received his first guitar he began playing at his local church and co-founded Calibrate Me in his high school years. The band created a following in the early-2000s through independent releases and relentless touring, particularly in their home country. They have been featured on America's Got Talent and on the cover of magazines such as Colorado Music Buzz and Westword. The band's biggest achievements include winning 1st place in KTCL 93.3's Big Gig competition (2011) and sharing the stage with bands such as Blink 182, Rise Against, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and others.

In the aftermath of Calibrate Me's breakup in 2015, he began studies at Berklee Music and his career as a DJ specializing in high class events such as weddings, private parties and business parties. In addition to his musical career, Caleb also manages business ventures that he founded such as Sound Society, and enjoys teaching guitar as an instructor with Henderson Academy. Caleb specializes in guitar styles such as Blues, Rock, Worship and atmospheric/alternative. With his enthusiastic personality, he has been known to influence students to discover their own sound. Caleb's dedication and passion for music has taken him many places and he hopes to share what he has learned with the world.

Talia Gali

Talia holds a B.A. in music from Cal State Fullerton where she specialized in voice and also completed piano coursework. She has always had a passion for sharing the gift of music by teaching its basics with songs that her students enjoy. This allows them for self expression.

Lessons are currently being offered in beginning piano, acoustic guitar and voice. Students receive individualized attention adhering to their specific musical goals. Besides her classical training, she also did online marketing in the music business. She increased the online presence of various indie artists, a film and a TV show during her internship at Guru Media Solutions in college.

Damon Yakoubian

Damon began playing guitar at age 10, learning from a variety of teachers as he moved around every few years growing up. While he wasn't a fast learner, he was dedicated and persistent. Learning from different teachers, each with their own perspective and teaching styles gave Damon a deep understanding of music and an ability to teach it to anyone in the most simple and easy to understand ways. Because learning wasn't easy for him in the beginning, Damon is very patient and good at teaching almost any student. 

By the time he reached high school he was excelling in rock/blues based guitar styles. His favorite guitar players were and are Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Jimi Hendrix. Damon's friends in high school were amazed at how well he could play and fellow guitar players would ask him how to play songs and riffs -- this is how Damon got started teaching. He was honored to teach his friends anything he could and his teaching experience expanded and developed as a result. 

Damon continued studying music after high school at San Diego's Miramar and Mesa Colleges and continues to study on an ongoing basis. He's played in many bands throughout the years and has coached a few of his student's bands included in talent competitions over the years. His style of teaching is to make learning guitar and music fun from the very beginning. By incorporating songs his students enjoy his teaching and is not only fun but very effective in keeping them engaged and wanting to learn more -- making learning songs easy and incorporating basic music theory education in the process. Early on he also developed an ability to learn music quickly by ear which he includes in his teaching.

Damon is friendly, patient and passionate about music and teaching. Lessons start with a combination of fun songs and music theory to build a solid foundation from day one - an approach developed and honed over 20 years of teaching to aspiring guitarists of all ages.