Learn your instrument through the music you love.
Whether you're starting from scratch or you've played for years and feel stuck, lessons are built around the music that moves you.
Online worldwide · In person at my Berkeley studio
For players at every stage.
Technique, theory, and feel, always in service of the music.
Songs first
We start with music you love and reverse-engineer the skills inside it. Every exercise exists to serve something you actually want to play.
Fretboard & keyboard fluency
Chord voicings, scale shapes, and patterns that connect the whole instrument, so you can play what you hear, anywhere.
Theory & ear training
Keys, modes, and harmony taught through songs, plus ear work that helps you hear what's happening. No jargon walls.
Rhythm & feel
Timing, groove, and dynamics: the difference between playing the right notes and making people move.
Improvisation & expression
Frameworks for creating in the moment, finding your own voice, and writing songs when that's where you're headed.
The complete musician
Connecting the dots between instruments, songwriting, and production, with a practice system that fits your life.
Who you're learning with.
I'm Mark Reynolds. I've been teaching one to one for more than 18 years and playing for close to three decades. My focus as a teacher is drawing out the musical instincts you already have, then giving you the technique and language to act on them.
My own playing spans classical piano, flamenco and jazz guitar, bass, and jazz and Latin percussion. That mix means harmony, groove, and phrasing get taught as one connected subject rather than separate drills, whatever instrument you play.
My teaching style is calm, structured, patient, and judgment-free. Lessons should challenge you enough to create real growth without making music feel like another source of pressure.
What music coaching can open up.
“Mark's strength is to be able to build up a guitar vocabulary and meet you in the middle. His custom lesson plans are easy to follow and structured in a way that brings most value to you, the student, while highlighting how resourceful and knowledgeable he is as a musician.”
“Mark is an amazing musician with a wealth of knowledge and emphasis on creative expression. Working with him brought my song to life!”
“Mark Reynolds' artistic counsel and music production expertise have helped me move my song sketches out of the shadows and into the light of mature artistic expression. I am forever grateful to call Mark my mentor.”
“Working with Mark is always such a fun and inspiring experience! I decided to work with him because I could hear that he valued and created only the highest quality audio and art. I was very impressed with his depth of knowledge in theory, composition, and skills as a multi-instrumentalist and producer. Mark is devoted and committed to his craft, and he is wildly talented at everything he does. I'd recommend you take the opportunity to hire him if you can!!”
Let's talk about what you want to learn.
Tell me a little about where you are now and what you'd like to be able to do. I'll get back to you and we can find a time for a quick conversation.