I have never sat closer to a better guitar player in my life. At my first lesson, I told Jerry that I wanted to play like this person or that person. After that lesson, the only person I wanted to play like was Jerry. I used to stop him and say, “show me how to play that lick!”, or “what made you decide to play that.” He would always remind me to take it slow, yet practice more.
When I was his student I practiced around 6-8 hours a day, everyday, for years. Now 20 years later, I am pretty much able to do/play whatever I want with the instrument, controlling sound with emotion.
Jerry really takes his students to the next level. He explains more than just theory and licks, and slowly lets you into his approach on music, visualizing the fret board, playing with dynamics, etc. One of the best pieces of advice jerry gave me was to learn the opposites. I would ask, “should i finger pick this or flat pick it? Should I use economy picking or alternate? Should I think theoretically, play licks, or just play whatever comes out.” His reply was, learn them all. so very true.