Name: Peter Luha
Instrument(s): Acoustic Guitar, Nylon Guitar, Electric Guitar (6, 7, 8 or more strings), Ukulele, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, Violin, Recorder, Vocal
On Forte I teach: Guitar, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Ukulele (beginner – advanced)
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Brief Background (educational/professional):
Education:
1993 – 1998 Comenius University in Bratislava – Faculty of Education – Music Pedagogy, Classical Guitar
1992 – 1994 Guitar Master Courses, Jazz Workshops – Guitar, Music Composition
1987 – 1991 Public School Of Music / Conservatory – Classical Guitar
1979 – 1987 Public School Of Arts – Violin, Visual Art
Professional highlights include:
- Official endorser: IBANEZ electric guitars (Japan), ORTEGA nylon guitars (Germany), ELIXIR strings (US), G7TH capos (US), K&K SOUND pickups (US), THEBONE travel guitars (China).
- Solo concerts in Finland, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, as well as in Mexico, US and India.
- Collaboration with world-famous duo Igudesman & Joo in Wiener Konzerthaus or Tonhalle Düsseldorf.
Performance at the prog rock festival Progressive Nation at Sea 2014 with Persona Grata; Miami – Bahamas, and in 2015 and 2019 also with the legend of the genre – Dream Theater - 1st place at the International guitar competition Gitariáda 1999 in Prague, and winning the TV singing contest Hviezdy na štart in TV Markíza, Slovakia in 2002.
- Debut solo guitar album Viaje del Alma, nominated for Best Instrumental Album in 2012 at the 12th Independent Music Awards, and also awarded with the Harvest prize in 6th Tais Awards 2013.
- Animation project On The Road with visual artist Lucia Černeková. Excerpts of which were official selections in more than 20 international film festivals around the world.
- Artistic Residences in Spain, France, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and Austria
- Playing music on the streets as a busker after high school and college is a highlight of my life.
- Several years in Academic Singing Choir COMENIUS (also as the main solo singer) with many awards from choir competitions (1993 – 1998).
- Guitar tutor at several music schools and cultural institutions in Bratislava, Slovakia since 1991.
- Popularity on social networks reaches 42,000 fans and 4 million views on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.
Greatest inspiration:
Deep Purple, Beatles, Queen, Whitesnake, Van Halen, Extreme, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Toto, New Grass Revival, Johnny Cash, Freddie Mercury, David Coverdale, John Cowan, Lara Fabian, Michael Kiske, John Farnham, Jorn Lande, Glenn Hughes, Tom Jones, Al diMeola, John McLaughlin, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Morse, Nuno Bettencourt, Gothrie Govan, Gary Moore, John Lee Hooker, Paco de Lucia, Tommy Emmanuel, Victor Wooten, Flecktones, Bireli Lagrene, Rosenberg Trio… this list goes on
Favorite place to perform:
Small clubs for closer contact with the audience as well as large concerts and festivals for the exciting atmosphere.
Performance clip:
Teaching Tech Setup:
I teach via a Microsoft Surface Book 2 laptop with a built-in camera or via a Samsung tablet.
When I go through the laptop, I use a Behringer UMC1820 sound card and capture the voice with a condenser microphone. I have 2 small t.bone CS140s built into my desk for recording, which capture the sound of acoustic and nylon guitars as well. The sound of the electric guitar goes through the Axe-Fx II XL multi-effect directly to the sound card and through Forte.
I have many different types of guitars and other instruments.
What’s great about teaching on Forte?
I like the video options: zooming in, zooming out, and releasing the window so that the student and I can work on a joint document at the same time. It was also only while teaching at Forte that I learned to use Google docs very well.
Tell us a bit about your teaching style:
I am a professional guitarist with more than 30 years of teaching practice and experience.
I teach acoustic and electric guitar, all styles and genres, from beginners to advanced (ages 12 – 100 years).
First, I correct the students’ bad habits, and then teach and motivate them and try to move them towards their guitar goals.
Students will learn guitar basics with me, playing with fingers, pick or thumb pick, various guitar techniques, styles, rhythms, theory, songs, solos, improvisation, etc. in the tempo and difficulty of their choosing. The important thing for me is to motivate and teach, not discourage.
I will also help them with home recording, composing songs, live looping, guitar equipment, or the student’s social media presentation.
Tell us what you like most about your experience as a music educator:
Almost all my students have become my friends. I really like teaching, I always have only enough students and lessons to keep teaching fun and motivate me to improve, while still finding enough time to give concerts, prepare new songs, record, and travel.
I like to see how students enjoy their progress, how they find or start their own music groups, and how they achieve success.
A piece of repertoire I love to teach:
I love to teach anything that my students like. Many times it’s a good challenge for me too, because at the same time I’m getting to know music that I hear for the first time. Nevertheless, I must be able to immediately tell the student what that music is about and how it is played.
A piece of repertoire I love to play:
There is so much good music that I love to play, my repertoire is very wide. From all kinds of genres: classical music (Csardas, Flight of the Bumblebee, Rondo alla Turca..), acoustic fingerstyle (Tommy Emmanuel, own songs..), pop, rock, progressive rock, gypsy jazz, bluegrass, blues, funk..
On my YouTube channel you can already watch almost 300 videos of various genres, solo and various collaborations.
In terms of instrumental music, I am currently preparing, for example, a non-traditional version of “Paganini’s Caprice 24” in cooperation with the 1st concert master of the Slovak Philharmonic, where the violin will be accompanied by a slap guitar.
Fun fact:
I’ve been making my own thumb picks just for myself for 30 years, and I’ve only been playing with them ever since. They allow me to combine many guitar techniques, from classical finger guitar technique, through slap, tapping, contemporary fingerstyle, to all modern guitar techniques.
In the artist’s own words:
“Music for me is probably the best opportunity to express feelings, desires and opinions. Better than words. No matter the musical instrument, nor the genre, I am influenced by every type of music that can express something deeper. In addition to traditional techniques, I also deal with non-traditional techniques. I like to experiment, and so I gradually developed my own way of playing techniques typical for me and my playing. I am interested in the quality of life and philosophy of people and of their being. This needs to be reflected in my way of playing.”