WELCOME
Hi and welcome to the Studio. Music is so special. It allows us to connect with others across all boundaries, sharing on a level that we can't even fully conceive.
As an instructor, manager and owner of M.E. Studio, it's been my life long passion to help students discover their creative music potential! My goal isn't just
to instruct, I hope we inspire and encourage our students to go as far as their time, talent and interest will take them. In the process, we strive to make a positive difference in people's lives while building a musical community of greatness!
Inspired students will find the opportunity and encouragement here to perform with other musicians in live situations. Those who have always wanted to learn to play the guitar and who are just looking for a a relaxing past time will find a peaceful, patient environment here.
I've been teaching for over 30 years and I still absolutely love to teach and perform with my guitar (See Events/New for my schedule of performances). I hope that you'll join us and we can help you develop a life long relationship with your guitar
INSTRUCTION
We offer guitar and bass guitar instruction for the beginner through advanced musician in Cambridge, Md and Seaford, De. Individual and group instruction is offered. Although Rock, Blues and Country are our most requested styles, we can teach most styles including Bluegrass, Funk, Metal, Jazz and Classical. Since many students differ in their learning styles we customize our teaching style to match each student. We can teach you to play by ear, by TAB or by reading music and sometimes employ several of these approaches. Master Classes are offered for advanced students who need specific training or knowledge. Band members can come in together to learn the art of putting a song together and how to compliment each other. All students are encouraged to participate in our recitals / jam sessions, usually offered in a public setting once a quarter.
INSTRUCTORS
My four instructors are "hand picked" by me. They are great people and are the best instructors on the Eastern Shore. Each brings a unique talent to our students. All instructors have a minimum of 10 years experience including experience in song-writing, live performances and teaching. Guitar/Bass and vocal Instructors in Cambridge include myself, Rick Delaney, Curt Heavey! In Seaford, De. our guitar/bass Instructor is Dutch Apple (Adam Durham). Glen Wong teaches ukulele in Cambridge.
Instructor Rick Delaney - posing with one of my favorite tikis -teaches after school at the Cambridge CountrySide Christian School in Cambridge on Austin Road.
Instructor/Performer Curt Heavey performing at the Groove City Jazz/Blues Festival held in Cambridge in 2007. The Festival has become an annual event typically held the 2nd Saturday in May.
Instructor/Singer/Songwriter Leslie Benjamin leading a group of students in a play along in Spring 2005 at CreekSide Restaurant in Cambridge.
Former Instructor at Seaford Music Randy Todd. Though Randy is no longer teaching he remains active with many musical activites including gigging with his band BadMojo. Check them out:
Call me today to discuss what you'd like to learn and how we can help you.
410-228-7199 or 443-521-1106
Sincerely,
Mike
Mike's personal guitar journey:
I first became interested in playing guitar when I was 7 years old. My mom found a local teacher. The lessons weren’t fun (I really didn’t want to learn "She’ll be coming Round the Mountain"!) and it was so difficult trying to read music all the while trying to push the strings down! I didn’t last long, maybe 4-5 lessons! Later when I was about 13 years old I decided to try again. I worked for my dad’s plumbing business answering the phone all summer so I could save up enough money to buy an electric guitar. I started taking lessons again from a different teacher. When we got to the F chord, he couldn’t demonstrate how to play it but assured me that if I kept trying I would be able to! Even at 13 years old I was smart enough to know that if he couldn’t play something he was trying to teach me, I needed another teacher! Finally I met a guitarist who was in a popular local rock band and played quite well. I befriended him and practically lived at his house while he taught me how to play some real rock guitar! Within several months he invited me to join the band (LUKE), which I did.
I was two years younger than the other members in LUKE, so when they graduated highschool I knew it would probably be the end of the band and it was. Two of the members went off to college, two formed other local bands and started playing the bar circuit, which left me out. When I graduated from high school I reunited with Tom Malaby and we spent the summer woodsheding at jam sessions sometimes 10 hours a day in a tiny rented house in Drawbridge (about 15 miles down Airey Rd.) with the goal of winning the local Bay Country Festival's Battle of the Bands contest, later that summer. I remember we'd start playing maybe in middle afternoon and not stop until 3-4am! There was no air conditioning and the mosquitos were as big as airplanes! If we were lucky, Tom or Brad Rick (the two renters) would have a cherry pie or some type of sweet around. Other musicians would hear about us and stop by. That's were I met the very talented guitarist Dave Henry (sadly he passed some years back. I miss him and will never forget his passion - he is the one who introduced me to repairman and at the time small guitar builder Paul Reed Smith- Dave was always experimenting with his rig, always searching for something more and he was quite talented. Another interesting story.....in 2000 I was invited to PRS's company party, I got a few minutes to chat with Paul, he was unaware that Dave had passed away and it knocked him back when I told him of Dave's fate. Anyway Paul told me the story of Dave's 53' goldtop Les Paul and how Paul had sold it to him. This guitar was very significant in that Paul used it to build his first pattern / neck jig for his first PRS guitars. He asked if I knew where it was, no one seems to know where it went. A few years later I was talked with Greg Mann who also told me another part of the story.....that Dave had routed out the pickup holes to accommodate larger humbucking pickups, when he proudly displayed it to Paul, Paul was so mad he chased him right out of the shop! All was forgiven over time and many of us did similar things back then.....after all there was no such thing as a vintage market back then! ) who would go on to front the band years later. Mark Gootee came in to play drums, as well as Tom's younger brother Bobby Malaby, Jeff Pritchett picked up the bass guitar. Stephen Spellman would often stop by and blow his sax. You never knew who'd stop in to just listen or sit in with us but my gosh it was a great time. Brad Rick was the best lead guitarist I had heard and I was determined to be as good as he was, so I practice my lead playing sometimes 4-6 hours a day (besides all the jamming we were doing!). When the Battle of the Bands came around I suggested the name Drawbridge (after looking out the front door of the band house and seeing the roadsign ! ) and everyone agreed. We easily won the contest with cover tunes from Deep Purple, Johnny Winter and others I can't remember.
Drawbridge reformed that fall. Brad left for college, as did Jeff. Jimmy Patchett was recruited by Tom to play lead guitar and I was out of a job! Over the next few years that followed I played in quite a few bands, mostly doing weekend bar gigs and spent time teaching, recording and writing originals. In the early 80's I teamed up with a band from Salisbury called BackStreet. This band was the first time I had an opportunity to create seriously good original songs with a talented songwriter from Salisbury. The band consisted of Don Hall (singer, writer and guitarist), Leo Carlin (bass and vocals), Larry Tilghman (drums) and me handling lead/rhythm guitar). We did regular gigs on the Shore and cut an EP (a record with several songs on it, shorter than an album) in Philly. The highlight of our stint was opening for Edgar Winter & Crack the Sky at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center - we changed the name of the band to Donnie & the Sparkplugs at the prompting of a promoter for that gig! It was also an eye-opening event in that I got a real glimse into what it was really like to be a full-time professional traveling musician. I got to meet Edgar Winter and the musicians of Crack the Sky. It started me thinking.................. Edgar had had a long successful career (They Only Come Out At Night" was his biggest commercially successful album with the songs "Freeride" and "Frankenstine" making it to mainstream radio and even appearances on "The Midnight Special" TV Show), a decade earlier and here he was traveling with about 15 other musicians on an old Greyhound bus, pushing 55 years old. Not such a glamous life, I thougth! The guys in Crack the Sky were great musicians as well but they had never but able to cross over to big success, instead always struggling to make a decent living.. I didn't think I'd be happy to live like that for long and decided that perhaps I should settle for something more domesticated!
I settled into family life, concentrating on working hard and trying to make a nice living. All the while I continued to teach guitar to friends in the evenings who would ask. This went on for years. I never advertised or looked for students. They found me! I seemed to always have 6-8 students per week. As the years went by I realized was that besides having a gift for playing the guitar, I had a special talent for teaching others and really enjoyed doing it! After working successfully in corporate America for 24 years, I got caught up in America's downsizing in 2002 and was laid off.
What to do! ??? Perhaps it was time to see if my dream could come true! With a strong Christian faith, a supportive wife of 25 years and living debt free, I decided to try teaching as a full-time occupation. In six months I had 20 students, in another six months I had two other Instructors working with me in Seaford, six months later I added two more Instructors in Cambridge and today we see between 80-100 students per week. I added some limited retail sales and with the help of Rick Delaney started offering repairs and guitar set-ups. Besides teaching I host many events to give guitarist opportunities to perform live, meet other musicians and showcase talent.
God has been good! I really have never felt more satisfied and "in the right place". I expect to continue growing this business to include instruction for other instruments and covering a larger area of the Shore.
My hope is that when I reach a ripe old age I will have made a difference in our community and the lives of those that I have had the opportunity to share my talent and time with.
Cheers,
Mike
Additional info on my first band experience:
The members of LUKE were: Tom Malaby (lead guitar & vocals), Connie Brannock (keyboard & vocals), Freddy Johnson (bass guitar), Ronnie Cannon (drums and vocals) and you're truly on rhythm guitar We played almost every weekend, all over the Eastern Shore. Our band LUKE was very popular locally we frequently played the Christ Church Parish Hall in Cambridge to a packed crowd. We charged $1.50 per person and some nights we'd make $400-$500! Our parents worked the doors, collected money and broke up an occassional fight. In those days there was a lot of competition among bands. Two noteworthy bands were Turkish Revelle and E.S. Grit. The Revelle was a good band with Tate Newland (guitar), Darcy Harding (drums), Bob Snelling (keyboards), Gene Warfield (guitar) and David Marshall on bass. Their main stomping ground was the Neck District Fire Hall. We got gigs there sometimes but we knew we were on their turf so we'd play extra hard to win over their crowd! Many members of this band went on to other bands including Iron Image and other that I have forgotten! E.S. Grit were much older than us, probably 6-10 years. They always had the best equipment and would offer advise. We looked up to these guy. When I first saw them the members were the late Joe Brocado on bass, the late John Johnston on rhythm guitar/keyboards, Bill Handley on drums and Steve Woolston (now playing in Golden Touch) on lead guitar. They were really great, typically playing at the Armory (it was home to the National Guard, it's now the courthouse across from the firehall in Cambridge) and that place would be packed with hundreds of teenagers on a Friday or Saturday night.
LUKE played at the firehall in Galena, Queen Anne High School, St. Michael's Yacht Club, Oxford Yacht Club, various church community centers, Saint's Peter and Paul High School, Cambridge High School, The Crystal Palace (this was like a rock wonderland, all I remember is that it was back near the railroad racks in Salisbury off Rt13 and it had two elevated stages.......one of the coolest gig spots we ever played), Snow Hill Community Center and probably dozens of other places I can't remember! One of my most memorable gigs was at William and Mary College in Virginia. I was probably 15 yrs. old (the parents stayed home but Ronnie Cannon's older brother David and his girlfriend were chaperons) and playing for those "older" college girls......wow thought I'd gone to heaven! We did record two songs (one original) in a Washington DC studio, the "45" record can still be found occassionally at antique/collectable shops. By the way you can also find E.S. Grits album in local antique shops.