Pete Smyser - Guitar Lessons & Live Music Performance

There's not much new I can add to the numerous well-deserved terrific comments about having Pete Smyser play guitar at your event. Just this: Pete played at my special birthday party two days ago, and over the last couple of days my phone has been constantly ringing with glowing comments about Pete's super playing, his interpretations of a wide variety of songs from long ago to contemporary, his tone and his overall top-level professional performance. Preparing for the event he was responsive to communications and very pleasantly clear and forthcoming in explaining details of his work. I asked Pete to play mostly jazz standards and he owned them! Thank you Pete!! See ya next time.

I have enjoyed being one of Pete's guitar students as well as attending many live music performances. As a teacher, Pete taught me how to read music and introduced me to many techniques to enhance my playing . He is patient and kind, knowledgeable and professional. Anyone would be privileged to be under his tutelage.
Pete is a phenomenal guitar player who commands the room with his fun and entertaining performances. If you have the opportunity, Pete's performances are not to be missed!

Pete and Ted performed at my grandfather's 100th birthday party and were the hit of the party! They did such an excellent job entertaining guests and playing any requested songs! Their music was perfect for any age guests from the seniors to the toddlers who were dancing to the music too. They went above and beyond to provide a special experience for everyone present! Thanks Pete and Ted!

It was a pleasure having Pete perform. His communication and demeanor made for a smooth, simple process from beginning to end. His repertoire is extensive and he knew exactly how to create the perfect ambiance for our private party. Pete is a master at his craft and a true professional. Highly recommend.

Mr. Pete's talents far exceeded all expectation for our event! His professionalism, performance comfort and expression of music with his guitar is absolutely superb! Pete maintained regular contact, prior to event to assure any changes to our preference of music as well as kindly answering any questions we had. He was more than exceptional, professional and knowledgeable to work with. Bar none Pete's talents are nothing short of extraordinary as an accomplished musician! We can not thank him enough for making our event truly an unforgettable day! We highly recommend Pete Smyser!

Megan S. • November 17, 2017
The perfect wedding music
We couldn’t have imagined a better musician to play at our wedding! Pete was professional, extremely responsive and an amazing and personal touch to our wedding. He’s an incredibly talented artist. All the guests enjoyed his 7 string guitar and style of play which provided the perfect musical ambiance for the evening!! We can’t thank you enough Pete!!

Hired as:
Classical Guitarist
Pete Smyser - solo guitar, duos and ensembles
Response from Pete Smyser - solo guitar, duos and ensembles:

Thank you Megan! Providing music for your intimate wedding was an honor & I'm so glad to hear that you and your guests enjoyed the music! -Pete

Eric E. • February 26, 2018
Perfect choice for our 30-person corporate event! Bravo.
Peter played a perfect selection of contemporary hits finger style. He was professional and communicative throughout the process. His pricing was great and, most importantly, the senior management of my firm loved him. The music a great accompaniment to our event. I highly recommend Pete and will be using him again.

Pete did an amazing job performing our ceremony and cocktail hour, and we would wholeheartedly recommend him!

We selected Pete, because we thought his musical style was unique compared to the other musicians we considered. His songs emphasize a fingerstyle type of playing which we thought sounded beautiful, and kept finding ourselves really drawn to.

Prior to the ceremony, we appreciated our communications with Pete. He was thorough, informative, and very helpful in helping us understand how to organize our musical selections throughout the prelude, processional, and recessional, in addition to the cocktail hour. The musical clips on his website were helpful, but we were leaning towards a couple songs that didn't include audio clips, so he was kind enough to record and send us a couple ad hoc samples to help give us a better idea of how the songs would sound (we ended up choosing those songs, "Iris" and "Sweet Child of Mine" for our processional and recessional).

On the day of, he was punctual, actually being the first vendor to arrive, and his performance was outstanding. The ceremony songs were just as we imagined, and although we missed a lot of our cocktail hour, we really enjoyed the few songs we got a chance to hear. We received compliments from multiple guests on Pete's performance, and were thrilled we were able to incorporate his music into our festivities. Thank you Pete!

Pete played for our son's wedding and reception. From start to finish he was a true professional. He allowed us to choose from such an extensive list of repertoire well in advance of our event. The family was from Brazil and he even had pieces to accommodate them and make them feel completely at home. Well done, Pete! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful gifts with our family. We are so thankful for you and the music that you soulfully shared with us at this special event.

I don't have adequate words to express what a great experience our family had with Pete and saxophonist, Ted Lis. They played one evening for a small gathering of family and friends at the apartment of my elderly parents, who adore music but are unable to get out for it. The music was lovely, but just as importantly, Pete and Ted really connected with my folks. They are kind, authentic, caring and they saw to it that my parents felt very special. It's now been several weeks since what my mom calls her "musical soiree", but my folks talk about it all the time and re-live the happy memories. It was a pleasure to correspond with Pete and making the arrangements was a breeze -- he is responsive and easy to work with. Everything about our evening with Pete and Ted was magical and meaningful.

Pete did a fabulous job playing the ceremony and cocktail hour of our wedding! He is extremely professional and knows his craft. My wife and I provided minimal instruction regarding the music selection and were not disappointed. The combination of Jazz standards and Latin classical charts were exactly the flavors needed to elevate our special day.

Highly recommend!

After I retired, I decided that I wanted to learn to play jazz guitar. Since I had never played any instrument and couldn’t read music, I had no idea what an ambitious goal that was. A friend invited me to join him to hear Pete perform. Pete’s playing was remarkable, so I asked him if he taught beginning students. That was some years ago. I am still a long way from my goal, but I am really pleased with the progress that I have made. Pete is a very organized teacher, and while he could obviously do master classes for guitarists at the highest level of both jazz and classical playing, he has been extremely patient with me as a beginner. It is bit of a ride to his studio from my home in Philadelphia, but it is more than worthwhile for the quality of instruction.

I took Guitar lessons with Pete for over 1.5 years as a beginning adult learner. It was an incredible experience that moved at a good pace, while balancing technique and songs. Pete was very flexible and built an excellent program for us. I am very sad to be moving away. I would recommend Pete as a teacher to anyone looking to learn, regardless of skill level.

Pete is the very best music teacher I've ever had. He taught me jazz guitar so many years ago and, to this day, I keep improving by going back to the well-structured lessons he wrote for me back then. Also, I love his original compositions, and I was fortunate that he shared how to play those tunes as well (still have a tape recorder where I played his early tapes!). Pete's influence on my guitar playing goes beyond helping me to develop good technique, but also by getting me to appreciate the music of the greatest jazz players. And to top it all, going to his gigs has been always inspirational to me. Just watching his walking-base playing on his seven-string guitar, for example, is something to be treasured if you appreciate jazz or any guitar style. Therefore, Pete is a great teacher, an accomplished music composer, a consummate jazz-guitar performer, and just a wonderful person to get to know. I'll be always grateful for having had the fortune to learn guitar and jazz with Pete. Juan G.

Wow! What a beautiful touch to our cocktail hour to have Pete Smyser’s excellent talent on the guitar! He wasn’t too loud or too soft, just the perfect balance for lovely background music. Just having the guitar playing without vocals was perfect because it didn’t conflict with the voices of the crowd. Highly, highly recommend snd would most definitely hire him again for another special event!

We had an unbelievably great experience with Pete & Ted! We hired them for my Dad's 100th birthday party at our house and they were a hit! Everyone enjoyed their awesome music, with something for everyone, including not only our 'senior' guests, but also our grandkids!

Pete's music is exceptional and added the perfect touch to our wedding ceremony. He is the consummate professional from the very first engagement all through the final performance. We couldn't be any more thrilled to have found him and have him part of our special day!

I studied jazz guitar with Pete for about a year and a half. I was mostly self taught and had been playing for about 10 years and the amount of progress I made in my time with Pete astounds even me. Part of that is of course my hard work, but Petes approach to teaching made it possible. He said something to me in a lesson once along the lines of "a teachers role is to demystify, not to make things more complicated" and that is certainly true of him as a teacher. And he is a heck of a nice guy to boot!

I highly recommend Pete if you are serious about learning jazz or classical guitar. Pricing is fair, scheduling is flexible and the lessons are enjoyable.

Pete Smyser is a world class jazz guitar performer, educator and advocate for the arts. I studied with Pete personally for more than five years, in which he helped me advance my guitar proficiency significantly. I have also worked with Pete in arranging and coordinating concerts at a variety of venues and he is the consummate professional. I highly recommend his services, whether as a performer, educator, or musical event coordinator.

My family hired Pete for a private party which turned out to be a great idea. He was timely and comprehensive in his pre-gig communications, offered us lots of appropriate music selections, and learned a special piece we requested. Pete continued to communicate up until the date of the event and arrived to perform with class and style, exactly as we had planned. I recommend Pete very highly for any event!

It is hard to find time to practice with all the other directions a family life can pull you in. I have been taking lessons from Pete off and on now since 2003. Sometimes more off than on. He is understanding, patient, and has a method of teaching that keeps you on track through the hard times, the foggy times, and the sunny days. So whether you want to be a professional musician or just a good campground picker he can help. He has helped me find a voice of my own on the instrument and given me the tools to write some really good songs. I highly recommend anyone with even a minor interest in taking guitar lessons to contact Pete. He will expand your horizon's.