Guitar Teachers

To register for lessons with any of our guitar teachers, please click here. To inquire, please email us here. We are excited to hear from you.

 

Evan Fox

Evan Fox teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, drums, air guitar, and the BYOB adult guitar class. He is a graduate of McNally Smith College of Music and has over 2 decades of experience teaching music professionally. Before joining Sarah Jane's, he taught at Schmitt Music in Roseville. His teaching style is to customize the lesson to the individual.  He has performed in numerous local acts throughout the years and can currently be seen playing with Al Church, Private Oates, 120 Minutes, Hello Blue, or as a solo act as Liberyachtchi. He has appeared/performed in such places as The Current, Radio K, City Pages, First Avenue, REV 105, KFAI, KARE 11, Fox 9, Target Field, Pulse of the Twin Cities, and once in a Pizza Hut parking lot.  When not teaching or performing, Evan enjoys sandwiches, hot tubs, mini golf, and houseboats.  Preferably all at the same time. 

  • Evan currently teaches on Mondays through Thursdays

  • Lessons with Evan start at $30 for 30 minutes 

    *Air guitar - $75 for 30 minutes

J Lenz

J Lenz has been playing and teaching music professionally in the twin cities for over twenty years. He has performed across the U.S. and Europe with his string band Pert Near Sandstone, and also plays a variety of string and brass instruments in many other regional music projects. J is an accomplished songwriter. He studied music composition at UW Oshkosh, UW Eau Claire, and the U of M. He balances practical methods and personal experience with a variety of music styles to cater lessons around each individual student. J has a passion for teaching and focuses on making his music lessons enlightening and fun.

J teaches all styles of guitar, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, and beginner bass.

  • J currently teaches on Mondays and Tuesdays

  • J also teaches trombone, trumpet, tuba, euphonium/baritone, and French horn

  • Lessons with J start at $33 for 30 minutes

Steve McPherson
he/him

Steve McPherson has been playing guitar for more than 30 years across a wide range of styles. He grew up in Massachusetts, where he started the blues band Catfish Blue in high school, which opened for artists including Delbert McClinton, Pinetop Perkins, and Duke Robillard. In Minnesota, he’s been a member of hip-hop group Heiruspecs, instrumental prog-metal band Brutal Becomings, singer/songwriter Matt Latterell’s band, and ambient improvisational band Big Trouble, often performing with rapper Crescent Moon. Additionally, he has participated with bands backing up Atmosphere, Dessa, and P.O.S., plus once he even performed “Puff the Magic Dragon” with Peter Yarrow. 

He’s played venues from Paris to Los Angeles, and in front of 3,000 people, and also zero people. Steve holds a BA in Music from Wesleyan University, where he studied jazz arranging and guitar, and he led the Composition Ensemble at McNally Smith College of Music for five years, helping songwriters bring their work to life with a full band. As a teacher, Steve has always focused on meeting students where they are and taking them where they want to go, maybe with a couple nudges off the beaten path along the way. 

  • Steve currently teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays

  • Lessons with Steve start at $30 for 30 minutes

Chellie Brown - Ukulele

Chellie was hooked on singing ever since she joined the church junior choir in 3rd grade.  Chellie is the owner of Wee Bop - an early childhood music program that has been operating at several locations around the Twin Cities since it was established in 2005.  She got certified to teach Musikgarten music classes but quickly moved toward writing her own curricula that includes music that both children and parents will enjoy.  

She got her BA in Theatre from the University of Northern Iowa (where she did many musicals and plays) and studied jazz at Sydney Australia’s beautiful Music Conservatorium while living in Sydney for two years. She picked up the ukulele in the past few years to play in Wee Bop classes and found it so fun that she carried it over to the small acoustic combos she sings in.

  • Chellie currently teaches private ukulele on Wednesdays and Thursdays

  • Chellie also teaches a Parent-Child ukulele group class on Saturdays throughout the year

  • Lessons with Chellie start at $32 for 30 minutes

Tzipporah Johnson

she/they

Tzipporah is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and educator with over 8 years of teaching experience.  She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a dual major in classical guitar performance and global studies with an emphasis in Middle Eastern history and politics in 2015.  They have since become a regular performer in the Twin cities folk and Jewish music scenes.  Tzipporah has been involved with multiple organizations focused on uplifting and empowering people through music such as Hopewell Music Cooperative North and She Rock She Rock.  In 2019 her artistry propelled her to the semi-final round of Sun and Sky Entertainment's "Celebration of Music" competition and talent search (back then they had not yet reclaimed their Hebrew name).  She released her first EP, "Ain't No Power" under her Hebrew name in 2020 shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their first full length album, "Tales of the Diaspora," was released in 2023. Tzipporah believes in the healing power of music and its ability to foster positive change on scales both large and small.  Her teaching style, while rooted in classical underpinnings, draws from a variety of sources in order to suit the needs and tastes of each individual student. 

  • Tzipporah teaches guitar and ukulele on Thursdays and Fridays

  • Lessons with Tzipporah start at $30 for 30 minutes