Meet Musician and Teacher: Ron Dunn

I learned my first guitar tune at age 9 - the bass-line to Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line,” taught to me by my father. From that point, I became an avid self-taught guitarist, learning the latest rock songs, and wearing out vinyl records as I worked out the lead guitar parts.

I took up formal music training and study of the guitar in the early 1980s; As I pursued my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music and Ethnomusicology, I was fortunate to study with some of the best classical guitarists and teachers in the country - Pepe Romero, Scott Tennant, Randy Pile, Bruce Holzman, and others. At about the same time, I started meditation in the Zen tradition, and this mindfulness practice has informed both my own music study, and my role as a teacher.

I have been teaching guitar since the late 1980s, and from 2001 until 2022 was the Director of Guitar Activities and World Music at De Anza college. My decades of classroom and private teaching experience have helped me to develop an approach that is built on kindness, patience, gentle encouragement, and a strong desire for students to learn the technical and musicianship tools that will serve them for a lifetime, regardless of the style of music, or age. I am especially sensitive to working with performance anxiety, which affects many people. While many of my students have themselves become professional players and teachers, graduating from major universities and conservatories, many others have picked up the guitar simply to be able to express their musical selves confidently.

In addition to my life as an educator, I have been active as a performer, and enjoy playing both solo and in ensembles.