About Me

I began playing guitar at the age of 15 and purchased my first good guitar — a Martin D-28 — in my last year of High School. At this point, my life began to revolve around practicing and jamming with friends. After high school I took my most-prized possession with me to college.

The music scene at Ohio University in the mid-70s was vibrant. There were lots of musicians and an equally large number of places to perform. I was so captivated by what was going on that the following year I dropped out and began performing in local bars and restaurants. However, the life of a struggling musician in a small college town wasn’t quite as glamorous as I had imagined and after a couple of years I decided to get a real job.

Upon completing a vocational training program for wallpapering on the East coast, I returned to Ohio and within two years, had moved to Palo Alto, California where I set up a home decorating business. Attending to business during the day still left me time to spend my evenings playing guitar in local restaurants and other venues. In the late 80s, I moved back to NW Ohio and enrolled at BGSU, eventually earning my B.A. degree in 1992.

Throughout the 90s I worked in a number of teaching-related jobs and quickly discovered how much I enjoyed helping people grow. I’ve worked as an instructor in adult education at both BGSU and the Whitmer Technical Training Center in Toledo. I’ve also worked as a math tutor in an after-school program called Champions for Children in Port Clinton and have tutored junior high and high school students in math. I learned Tai Chi and have taught classes in Bowling Green, Perrysburg, and Port Clinton.

In 2003, I opened my music instruction business and since then, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching many hundreds of students — both old and young — the joys of singing and playing the guitar. You can see the results of those efforts by viewing the student recital videos here: https://john-bernard.com/toledo-guitar-recitals/