Graduate student at the Master program at Queens College with extensive performance and teaching experiences teaches guitar for all levels and skills.

Learn more about Javier

• When did you first develop a passion for music and your favorite instrument?

  I started playing the guitar when I was 10 years old inspired by rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. By the time I was 13 I discovered Wes Montgomery and from that moment on I started studying Jazz in depth with different tutors and institutions.

• Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  I love jazz so albums such as "Blue Train" by John Coltrane or "The Next Step" by Kurt Rosenwinkel are albums that I am constantly listening to. I also love other types of music so here are some other albums that I listen often:
  "A Voz e o Violao" Djavan
  "Welcome to Detroit" Jay Dee/J Dilla
  "Led Zeppelin II" Led Zeppelin
  "Baduizm" Erykah Badu
  "EL DISKO" CA7RIEL

• Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  Since I have been studying music for seventeen years I have a lot of different things to study for a student. One of them would be how to get more deeply into harmony understanding by a series of methodical exercises that will not only make you understand the harmony in theory but will show you how to apply it to your playing in your instrument and in your song writing.

• What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  The trumpet, I played it while I was in my last year of high school and I can say from experience it is the most unforgiving instrument there is. You have to build a ton of muscle in your mouth in order to be able to play with the right technique and that process is painfully slow. I played for a year every day and was able to play for 1 hour straight or 2 hours with pauses.

• What are your keys to success?

  In my opinion the only key to success is having consistency and creativity when faced with a challenge.

• Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favorite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  I would love to meet Kenny Garret, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. I have heard their music and I love how they play and how they conceive music. Also, they are people with a long career and I think being a younger musician it would be nice to be able to absorb some of their wisdom and their experiences.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  When I was 13 years old I had my first guitar teacher in Argentina, Pablo Bobrowicky. He was the sweetest and most encouraging teacher I ever had. One of the things he told me in one of our first lessons was that I should try absorbing as much information as I could in Argentina going to the "Manuel De Falla" conservatory to do my bachelor and after that to go to study to New York. A year after starting classes with him, he passed away from cancer. After that I did everything he told me, I auditioned for the "Manuel de Falla" and entered to the program, finished it and I just finished my Master In Jazz Performance at Queens College. The way he taught and treated me with love and trust in me was the thing that helped me get to the point where I am now and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

• What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  I studied music with passion and dedication for years, and in that journey I learned a lot of techniques that I can teach that will help the student not only learn what he wants to learn, but also help him/her have the tools so in the future he/she will not need me and will be able to explore for himself/herself.