Monte Pittman taught Madonna and Guy Ritchie how to play guitar. He lent his expertise to metal pioneers Prong and most recently to Adam Lambert on his Glam Nation tour. This past Thursday, Pittman went back to school, this time to give a special guitar lesson to some low-income students that participate in the Little Kids Rock program – a charity of which Pittman sits on the honorary board of directors.
Little Kids Rock (LKR), a leading nonprofit provider of free musical instruments and teacher trainings to US public schools, invited Pittman to Belvedere Middle School in East Los Angeles to lend his expertise to tomorrow’s stars. The visit came amidst unprecedented school budget cuts forcing public school music program closures in California and nationwide.
"One of the greatest gifts of being a musician is the ability to help others by what you have been blessed with," Pittman says.
The budding rockers performed Madonna’s "Crazy For You" for Pittman, who joined in on the fun. Pittman demonstrated some alternate picking techniques and answered all of the students’ questions about the music industry, career choices in the field, his background as a musician and his performances with everyone from pop icons to heavy metal bands. They then jammed on a few more tunes together, including the title track of Pittman's latest album, "The Deepest Dark."
"I'm very happy to be able to help the Little Kids Rock organization," Pittman says. "I had a great time sitting in with the class at Belvedere Middle School. They have such a great group of kids and teachers there. Other schools should take note. These kids are so gifted and loved and it shows by the talent and progress they demonstrated."
Pittman capped off the visit by signing some photos and guitar picks for the kids. The kids had an unexpected surprise for their celebrity visitor, though – an acoustic guitar that the whole class autographed for their newest teacher.
Since joining Little Kids Rock’s Honorary Board of Directors in August 2010, he has helped raise more than $7,000 to restore and revitalize music education in schools nationwide through a donation page and by painting a guitar for a custom guitar auction.
For Pittman, it was a pleasure to give back by doing what he does best – teach guitar.
Great article, Monte is a class act musician who can go from Madonna pop to Prong metal, and it's great to see music being brought to kids in school. It's a shame art and music are so often the first budgets cut.
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