Dick Gordon Jr., left, gives a music lesson to Dr. Jim Wolfe. Gordon, who holds a psychology
degree, says teaching guitar is a labor of love for him. The instrument, he believes, can
expose a person's inner roadblocks.
JOE IVERSON / Tulsa World
To do what Dick Gordon Jr. does for a living, a person needs a psychology degree and 25
years of music theory. Gordon, 48, has both.
Gordon has orchestrated more than 80,000 guitar lessons, spanning a private-
teaching career that began around 1974. His students include doctors, old hippies and young
people, who often attend college as music majors or start bands and tour the state.
His instruction method, which includes ``firing'' pupils who won't practice between
lessons, is not for everyone. He can be as demanding as a drill sergeant or meditative as a
monk. Students sticking with him learn to be good guitar players. All new clients get his
five-minute speech on what is expected of them.
``If your goal is to learn a couple of songs to impress friends then you need to get
someone else,'' said Gordon, who sports a gray beard and brown ponytail. ``But if you want to
commit to learning theory and move into the creative realm, then we can talk.''
Gordon's life labor is the guitar. He is convinced the instrument can expose a person's
inner roadblocks and feelings of low self-esteem, if such feelings exist. Even gifted
musicians, who can tickle sizzling guitar licks from the instrument, encounter doubt, he said.
When self-distrust
rears its head in stuttering fingers or murmured cursing, Gordon is
there with his psychology degree to talk it out.
``I believe I can take anyone with or without talent to a level of playing they may not
believe possible,'' he said. ``If, and this is a big if, they will do what I say and believe
in themselves.''
Learning to believe in oneself is something Gordon can speak to. After high school and the
breakup of his band, he tried to ignore the guitar and start a new life. He fled to the U.S.
Navy and to psychotherapy only to find the main chord of his life along the way. He realized
that guitar, self-examination and mentoring often transforms the word ``can't'' into ``can.''
``I guess you could say I had an overdependence on the guitar in high school,'' said Gordon,
a Memorial High School grad. ``I felt pretty worthless graduating with a 1.4 grade-point
average. I made a decision to leave the guitar but it returned to me.''
The instrument that once limited his world now produced a generous arrangement of friends
first met as students.
``There's a joke among Dick's students,'' said bassist student Dr. Jim Wolfe. ``We say Dick
counsels people full-
time and teaches guitar on the side.''
Wolfe is an emergency room physician at St. Francis Hospital. He said Gordon's insights
improved his self-
confidence. ``I'm more assertive in my interactions at work and I give Dick Gordon Jr. credit
for that,'' Wolfe said.
Not all of Gordon's students need his mentoring skills to remove inner roadblocks, but most
benefit from his methodical approach to music theory. Veteran pupils accept his humanness and
are often struck by his penetrating observations. ``One time we were in the middle of a lesson
and Dick looked me in the eye and said `You don't like yourself,' '' said longtime student
Larry Brown. ``It embarrassed me. I wanted to crawl away, but he was right.''
Brown, a construction worker with a singing voice like butter, said Gordon helped him
recognize low self-esteem he had carried since childhood. ``Dick tells me he loves me and I
believe him.''
Songwriter David Clupper said Gordon is a ``change agent,'' dedicated to progress. Like
Brown, Clupper said he has struggled with low self-
esteem and with finishing projects. Clupper is now a serious songwriter, who is co-
authoring a play about the conflicts between religion and spirituality.
``Before I met Dick, I knew a couple of songs I used to get attention at parties,'' Clupper
said. ``He helped me face my fears. He showed me that I could do far more than I thought.''
Gordon is arguably one of the top three guitar instructors in eastern Oklahoma. His
teaching greatness probably has been overshadowed by his father, Dick Gordon Sr., who is known
across the nation for his guitar smarts.
Even though father and son live next door to each other, their teaching styles are as
different as a sharp and a flat.
``I crave what I do for a living,'' Gordon said. ``I get to be a part of personal change.
There's no better job in the world.''
