Toshi Imabayashi

With over 25+ years of playing guitar, I've performed as a lead guitarist in a rock/punk band for 3 years in the Middle East where we performed at local venues and one festival at AUB, with a punk/metal band for 1 year performing in Canada, with an experimental Hip-hop collective for 5 years and as a DJ/Guitar duo for 2 years playing EDM from House to Dubstep.

Throughout those years, I've also performed as a solo act performing country at the Hard Rock Cafe in Beirut, Lebanon, as a street musician in Montreal, Canada playing classic rock for 2 years, and most recently at private events in Japan where I create improvised, continuous 40 minute Organic House sets only using the guitar and a looper.

Beyond performing music, I write songs and have done session work, most recently releasing a prog rock/electronic instrumental "Sashiburi" which I produced, recorded and mixed/mastered. As a session guitarist, I've worked on several tracks such as "Pain" by L.Teez [Hip-hop], "a silent fire" by NAZ.IM [Hip-hop], "5 Seconds of Jazz" [Hip-hop] by Always Skilled, co-wrote "These Vile Ghouls" by The Occult [Rock/Metal].

Until recently, my focus hasn't been on teaching guitar, but there have been occasions over the years where I've been asked to teach, and have taught 7 students over the years (2010/2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2023, 2026). They've spanned a range of levels, from someone with no musical or guitar knowledge to someone who knew simple scales but wanted to be able to do blues improvization.

My music education spans 8 years of violin, 7 years of trumpet within a symphonic band (middle/high school), 3 music theory courses in university, 25+ years self-teaching guitar, and I continue to challenge myself to grow as a guitarist and producer.

While music has always been my passion, I've also spent roughly a decade in the tech industry, working with executives and clients to help create systems and products. Through those experiences, I've refined my communication and interpersonal skills to complement my decades of playing guitar and passion for sharing my knowledge and experience. 

I'm a self-taught guitarist (25+ years), professional, a great communicator and am passionate about guitar. Being self-taught, I understand that not all students learn in the same way, while recognizing the value of having a personalized structure for learning. I believe that curiosity is the greatest driver for learning, and that's why I shape my lessons around your interests, goals and personal style of learning. 

These lessons are for:
1) Beginners who want to learn the basics of playing guitar;
2) Intermediate guitarists who want to expand their skills and overcome plateaus;
3) Guitarists of all levels who want to become better at improvisation (*I do not do jazz improvisation)
*If there's anything else specifically that you'd like to learn, please reach out and I'll see if it's something that I might be able to help with!

A typical lesson starts by briefly going over the focus for the lesson and how we're going to approach it. 

This might be based on: 
- A longer term goal such as learning how to play a particular song or technique; 
- Something that you're curious about and want to explore in more depth; 
- Improving upon an area that you're currently struggling with.

While the main chunk of the lesson itself may be different and tailored to your preferred learning style, the goal is to always walk away with a new learning each time, as well as things that you can do to practice and improve in that particular area until the next time.