Scotty West has been playing music all his life.  His mother was a symphony violinist who started him on piano when he was 6.  Later he took sax and clarinet lessons.  He began to play guitar in 1964 when The Beatles changed the face of popular music forever.  Not only did he enjoy PLAYING music, but Scotty also had a deep natural curiosity about how music actually worked.  From that early age he knew he wanted to compose his own music and learn to improvise ... but these things were not generally taught in the school music departments or private lessons of the day.

Like a lot of folks, Scotty struggled for years ... trying to piece it all together himself from watching other players, learning from friends and reading guitar books and magazines.  He learned a lot and was considered to be a good player ... but he could tell that there were still large gaps in his knowlege that prevented him from seeing the whole picture.

Shortly after moving to Cape Cod in 1976, Scotty shared a house with an astounding young musician named Dan May and began taking lessons from him.  Dan had a Masters Degree in composition and knew most everything about music theory and ear training and was very good at explaining it clearly and logically.  With his help, Scotty's command of the musical language just exploded.  He was finally on his way.  

Scotty was also privileged to study improvisation and ear training with the legendary Jazz violinist Dick Wetmore.  They became great friends and worked on many projects together.  Dick helped Scotty form The Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod ... the group he writes for and performs with to this day.  Scotty also studied guitar, music theory and studio production with John Todd, Dave Tegelaar, Richard Brookens and the Cape Cod Conservatory.  He went on to get a B.F.A. from the University of Hartford where he studied at the famous Hartt School of Music.

Scotty began teaching music himself in 1984.  He found he enjoyed it and was quite good at it.  He set about constructing a unique program that avoided the problems he saw inherent in lesson methods he had experienced as a child and young adult.  He felt that music concepts were often explained in the WRONG ORDER giving students a scattered and fragmented vision of music theory.  Working with literally thousands of private students, he began to develop his MUSIC AS LANGUAGE approach ... a graduated and integrated curriculum where each concept flows into the next providing a wholistic understanding of the art of music.

In 2001 ... after 9 years of work ... Scotty introduced the Absolutely Understand Guitar Video Home Study Program consisting of 32 hours of DVD guitar, music theory and ear training instruction.  It is exactly the same program he teaches in his private lessons and it became an immediate success.  Thousand of units have been sold world wide through guitar magazine ads and the website.

Scotty continues to teach guitar, keyboards, bass, music theory and ear training at his private studio in Hyannis, Massachusetts on scenic Cape Cod.  He continues as music director of The Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod ... a unique sextet playing an all-original blend of Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical and Ethnic influences.