Evansville music store owner offering free guitar lessons

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Logan Dyer has built his life around music. Now he wants to pass that expertise -- and passion -- on to the rest of the city.

Dyer, the owner of Music First on North First Avenue, will offer free guitar lessons at the North Park branch of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library for anyone 15 and older. He began giving free lessons at the Franklin St. Bazaar in 2013.

"I didn't want it just to be three people hanging," Dyer said. There were actually some more people that were interested, and we said that 15 has to be it."

The idea for free public classes came from Dyer's mother, who works at the library. The idea launched during Every Chord Counts, an attempt in Evansville partly organized by Dyer in 2013 to set the world record for the largest guitar ensemble. More than 300 people showed at the event on West Franklin Street, including the bands Calabash and Honey Vines.

Dyer said he does the classes for the future of the Evansville music scene.

"A lot more people have guitars already and don't know how to play them," he said. "It's not something provided through the school corporation. Until you get to the college level, there aren't any guitar lessons."

He began buying and selling instruments while in his high school band. Dyer played saxophone for the band and quickly realized he could make money by buying and selling instruments to his bandmates.

After graduating high school, he went to Southeast Minnesota State to study instrument repair and learned how to play flute, clarinet, trumpet and banjo.

In 2006, after one semester, Dyer found out he was going to be a father of twin daughters and came back to Evansville. The business he runs and lessons he gives are all for his daughters.

"I kind of wish somebody did this before I started playing guitar. The more people in town that play the better players there are for me to play with," Dyer said.

With the growth and age range of his students, Dyer is considering breaking the class into three different age groups: one for kids, one for everyone and one for seniors. You must be 15 years old, to participate in the public lessons, but Dyer has taught private lessons for kids as young as 10.

More lessons are approved for next year at the Red Bank branch in the spring, the West branch in the summer and the North Park branch during the fall.

"I think it's really neat to see those lightbulb 'ah ha' moments. When people are finally playing stuff they recognize that they can play for their friends and family," Dyer said. "That's a neat part of it for me."

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Source: Evansville Courier and Press, http://bit.ly/2fPTaJm

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com