Stropes Editions, Ltd.

Online lessons are available through Stropes Editions, Ltd. Our instructors have the background and training to help you not only understand the material you are working on but also its significance and context. They can take a long glance ahead and guide you in selecting repertoire and technical studies that will help you achieve your goals and realize your ambition as a guitarist. They are well versed in working with the materials published by Stropes Editions, Ltd. and with a broad array of both historical and contemporary repertoire for finger-style guitar. This might be a good time for you to take the plunge! If you have any questions, email john@stropes.com.

John Stropes

John Stropes is a leading authority on fingerstyle guitar. Through the historical research, analysis, transcription, teaching, and performance of fingerstyle guitar, he has brought focus to this style as a significant music. His publishing company, Stropes Editions, Ltd., has set a new standard for written music for the guitar and guitar education. His association with many of the leading artists in this style brings depth and vitality to his work.

President of the Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society, 1985-1996. Artistic Director of the American Finger-Style Guitar Festivals, 1985, 1987 and 1989. Performed and taught at the First Chinese Guitar Artistic Festival in the People’s Republic of China in 1986. Chairman of the Guitar Department, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 1984-1994. Director of Guitar Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, 2004-present. Author of Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence; Leo Kottke/Eight Songs; 20th Century Masters of Finger-Style Guitar; John Fahey’s Guitar Christmas Book; and numerous transcriptions of contemporary works for fingerstyle guitar and related instructional materials.

John’s students have been successful in guitar competitions including the Canadian Guitar Festival Competition; the Walnut Valley Festival International Finger Style Guitar Championship; the Wilson Center International Finger-Style Guitar Competition, and the Kentucky International Home of the Legends Thumb-Picking Championship.

He continues to work in the interest of the continued renaissance of fingerstyle guitar, looking back to document its history and bring the most significant repertoire of the past into the canon, and looking forward to transcribing innovative new compositions and seeing what technology can do for fingerstyle guitar.

Videos of students of John Stropes are available at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarStudentsAtUWM.

To get started with your private lessons, contact John Stropes at 262-994-8710 or john@stropes.com to discuss repertoire and scheduling. $80 per hour, payable in advance using PayPal. Skype name: johnstropes1132

Ben Kammin
  • B.A. in Music, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1999
  • M.M. in Guitar Performance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2010
  • M.M. in Musicology/Ethnomusicology, Northern Arizona University, 2013

As a fingerstyle guitarist, Benjamin Kammin has extensive experience both as a performer and educator. He has immersed himself in the music of Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Billy McLaughlin, John Fahey, and many other significant fingerstyle artists. Working closely with John Stropes, Benjamin’s focus is on education, transcription, and research on the history and performance of fingerstyle guitar. He has been an instructor for the Music of Leo Kottke workshop since 2008. Under the mentorship of Stropes he has done extensive research on the music of Leo Kottke. As part of the requirements for a Master of Music in Musicology/Ethnomusicology at Northern Arizona University he completed his thesis in 2013 titled “The Finger-Style Guitar Music of Leo Kottke: Emerging Methodologies for Research, Transcription, and Pedagogy.” … He has participated in master classes with Billy McLaughlin, Alex de Grassi, Pino Forastiere, and Pierre Bensusan. Benjamin was the first student to graduate from the Master of Music in Finger-Style Guitar Performance program at UWM. He continues to be directly involved in primary research in fingerstyle guitar.

Videos of Benjamin Kammin performing are available at http://www.youtube.com/benjaminkammin.

To get started with your private lessons, contact Benjamin Kammin at ben@stropes.com, or visit http://www.benkammin.com to discuss repertoire and scheduling. $60 per hour, payable in advance using PayPal. Skype name: benkammin

Josh Lane
  • B.A. in Music, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2012
  • Certificate in Rock and Roll Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2012
  • M.M. in Guitar Performance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015

Josh Lane has been working with John Stropes since 2006. He is a performer, researcher, and instructor. As a researcher, Josh has been a lead in the digitization and archiving of the Leo Kottke Archives and the Avant Garde Coffeehouse Archives. He has given numerous scholarly presentations focused on the notation and pedagogy of fingerstyle guitar: “The Music of Leo Kottke: Mining the Archives to Develop Pedagogical Materials,” “Layered Perspectives in Notation for Contemporary Finger-Style Guitar Music,” and “Comparative Analysis of Frequency Spectrums: Creating Enhanced Transcriptions for Finger-Style Guitar.” Josh works to harness contemporary technologies to refocus the conventions of transcription practice and notation and to enable greater explication of idiosyncratic guitar techniques. He strives to create new methodological approaches in fingerstyle guitar instruction.

As an instructor, Josh has been teaching privately since 2010. He has been an instructor for The Music of Leo Kottke workshop since 2009, the UWM chapter of Guitars for Vets, and the music departments at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Madison College. Josh specializes in the music of Leo Kottke, John Fahey, Bert Jansch, and Rev. Gary Davis.

To get started with your private lessons, contact Josh Lane at 414-731-0217 or mckinley.lane@hotmail.com to discuss repertoire and scheduling. $45 per hour, payable in advance using PayPal. Skype name: mckinley.lane

Gabriel Andrews

Gabriel Andrews is an emerging Australian acoustic guitarist, taking first prize in the 2014 Wilson Center International Finger-Style Guitar Competition and opening for Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook in the evening showcase. In 2015, Gabriel completed a Master of Music degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, working as a tutor in Music Department during his studies. In October of the same year, he placed third in the Kentucky International Home of the Legends Thumb-Picking Championship.

In August 2013, Gabriel worked with Italian guitar virtuoso Pino Forastiere as part of his masters program, subsequently traveling to Italy to study with Forastiere in December of 2013 and October of 2018. In addition to UWM workshops presented by leading guitarists Clive Carroll, Mike Dawes, Billy McLaughlin, Alex de Grassi, and Lucas Michailidis, Gabriel has thrived under the principal tutelage and learning philosophy of professor John Stropes, receiving a Chancellor’s Scholarship and Distinguished Graduate Fellowship nomination from the UWM Peck School of the Arts in his first year.

He released his first solo album Pathways at the Blue Mountains Music Festival in Sydney, Australia (2013) before leaving to undertake the M.M. program at UWM. In May 2014, he launched Pathways in the US, performing at the UWM Zelazo Centre for the Performing Arts, promoted by WMSE Milwaukee, Taurus Arts Management, Hausch Design, and the Hudson Business Lounge. In 2015, Gabriel’s composition “Here & Now” made it to the semifinal round of the International Song-Writing Contest Instrumental category.

In 2008, Gabriel graduated with honors from the Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, Australia. Studying under the internationally acclaimed Australian guitarist, Lucas Michailidis, Gabriel was the first contemporary guitarist to enter the Conservatorium’s elite performance stream.

However, it is not in institutions but on the stage that this musician has flourished. Performing since the age of five, his band Flavus made it to the arena stage by age fifteen performing in front of 10,000 people at the Rod Lava Arena in 2001. Whether as a session player for big band rhythm sections, jazz trios, cover bands, or pit orchestras; lead guitarist for original outfits; accompanist for singers; or as a soloist on acoustic guitar; Gabriel is at home on the stage.

Currently, Gabriel is finishing work on The Road to Padthaway, his second full instrumental album, which is scheduled for release in 2020. This album takes all the techniques he has absorbed and blurs the lines between genres to present instrumental acoustic guitar music in a boundless form. 

To this dedicated musician who strives to learn and develop every day, composing and performing are a way of life. With his love of reflection combined with a passion for living, Gabriel hopes his music transcends just the notes, to express deep emotion, and encourage in listeners self-reflection and a desire to live a fulfilling life.

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To get started with your private lessons, contact Gabriel Andrews at 414-204-0675 or g.andrews@vibraphonics.com.au to discuss repertoire and scheduling. $60 per hour, payable in advance using PayPal.