About George Schumann

Thanks for letting me tell you about my musical journey!  I got my first guitar when I was 14 and I learned guitar by playing along with the classic rock albums and recordings of the 70’s singer-songwriters.  Thankfully, my parents paid a guitar teacher to come to the house every week and studying the guitar has been a lifetime passion of mine ever since.  Over 40 years later, daily guitar study is still a big part of my life!

I graduated from high school on Long Island, a place saturated in music and the music industry.  I then attended Five Towns College on Long Island where I got a degree in Contemporary Music.  I studied with several Long Island area guitarists including the Great Joe Carbone and Peter Rogine, concentrating in the beautiful chord-melody style.  I also gave in-store guitar and music theory lessons.

In 1984, I studied Jazz Improvisation at The University of Pittsburgh with the great alto saxophonist Nathan Davis and jazz guitarist John Maione.  I then returned to Long Island where I sold guitars for Sam Ash Music and gave in-home guitar lessons.  I was blessed to meet and study with guitar teacher Bernard Addison.  Bernard was a pioneer of the jazz guitar in the 1920s through the 1940’s.  Bernard showed me the beautiful (and now quite rare) style of swing guitar originally popular on the recordings of Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson and many other of Bernard’s contemporaries.

After moving to Columbus, I continued my guitar studies with jazz guitarist Don Hales and fingerstyle guitarist Bill Dutcher.  I have also performed with several rock and blues bands in Columbus and I played Contemporary Christian music, both guitar and bass guitar, with several church worship teams for over 20 years.

Now, I regularly perform at restaurants around Columbus, where I play solo guitar arrangements of jazz and vocal standards from the Great American Songbook, as well as classic and contemporary love songs, and classical Romantic-Era pieces.  I also keep quite busy playing solo guitar for wedding ceremonies, dinners and receptions. 

I have been teaching guitar at my home in Pickerington for over 15 years, and I have been teaching at the Music & Arts store in Reynoldsburg since January of 2015.  My teaching approach is simple:  Learn Guitar while Learning Tunes!  I help the student acquire a large repertoire of popular favorites that gradually progress in complexity.  The student learns about guitar playing and musical principles while also learning a song that the student can perform to show his or her progress.  I have had great success with my method in helping students of all ages and skill levels to play the guitar.  Let me help you progress on your musical journey today!