AJ McKinley
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and educator with 20+ years in the Bay Area music scene
Bio
AJ McKinley is a multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, pianist, songwriter, composer, producer, and educator with more than 20 years of experience performing, recording, and creating music in the Bay Area. Based in Oakland, AJ brings a wide-ranging professional background to his lessons and loves helping students explore guitar, piano, songwriting, music production, improvisation, and performance through the music they love.
AJ began playing guitar and piano in his youth before studying formally at UC Santa Cruz, where he earned a BA in Music while studying classical, jazz, and electronic music. At the same time, he immersed himself in punk, psychedelic, and indie rock – an eclectic musical background that continues to shape the way he plays, writes, produces, and teaches.
After college, AJ became an active part of the Bay Area music scene, founding the genre-bending orchestral rock band Battlehooch and touring throughout the United States and Europe. He has also performed and collaborated with artists including Con Brio, Goodnight Texas, Kendra McKinley, King Dream, The Little Lies, and Animal Prince, often contributing to songwriting, arranging, and production.
AJ’s creative work extends beyond the stage and recording studio. He has composed music for popular podcasts, commercials, video games, and other media.
As an educator, AJ has taught private music lessons, bands, and group classes. His broad experience allows students to explore not only how to play an instrument, but also how to write songs, improvise, perform with others, record their ideas, and understand how music comes together.
AJ’s teaching style is practical, creative, and centered around each student’s interests and goals. His specialty is helping students find clear, intuitive ways to make progress toward the music they actually want to create. Whether picking up an instrument for the first time or developing more advanced skills in guitar, piano, songwriting, or music production, AJ believes the most important ingredients are curiosity, creativity, and having fun making music.
Schedule Lessons
STEP 1
BOOK
Choose your lesson from the list and pick a good day and time. You can even schedule recurring or multiple lessons and sync lesson times with your Google, iOS or Outlook calendar. Want to get some lessons for a friend or loved one? Private music lesson gift certificates are available here.
STEP 2
PAY
We accept all major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal. You can choose to pay as you go, buy multiple lessons in advance, or set up autopay – whichever works best.
STEP 3
PLAY
We’ll text you a couple of days before your lesson to remind you that it’s almost music time.
On lesson day, come to our studio in Lafayette or login to your remote music lessons from wherever. Your instructor will meet you right on time so you can dive into music right away. Before your lesson is up, we’ll make sure you have a handle on your practicing assignments and double check that you have everything you need to practice at home.
Have questions about anything? We’re here to help! Hit us up and we’ll figure it out together.
Reviews
We are the highest rated music studio in the Bay Area and maintain a 5-star rating on Yelp, Facebook, Google and Thumbtack. Check out what our students have to say about their experience at ModernTone.
Gift Certificates
Looking for a unique music gift that the musician in your life will love? Get them lessons with a professional session player! Gift certificates are available for all types of music lessons and are great for both current players and first timers.
More Info
ModernTone is located in the heart of downtown Lafayette at 1018-B Almanor Ln, Lafayette, CA 94549. We have a private parking lot and street parking is easy and plentiful. The studio’s location is right off the freeway so getting here from Walnut Creek, Orinda, Moraga, Martinez, Danville, San Ramon, Pleasant Hill and Concord is a fast and simple.
Lessons are $100 for a full hour and $60 for half-hour sessions. We recommend weekly lessons, but you are free to set the lesson frequency as you wish. We also offer monthly lesson plans designed for committed students who take lessons regularly. We respectfully request at least 24 hours notice for cancellations. No-shows and lessons cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.
- We believe in pushing our students to their full potential, but doing so in a positive, nurturing and encouraging way
- We believe that matching students with the right instructors help to form a better human connection between them and leads to better, happier students
- We believe that music should be learned in a soulful, inspiring, and comfortable environment, using hi-end professional gear.
Our teaching and recording studios have been built from the ground up with acoustics and soundproofing in mind. We designed the spaces to be ideal for music teaching and recording. We handpick all of our amps, instruments, and accessories, and pride ourselves with using high-quality equipment that is made in the USA.
Don’t take our word for it – read what our students have to say:
Let's Talk
Drop us a line and let us know what you are thinking. We typically respond in minutes, but it can take up to 24 hours when things are super busy.
