Learn your instrument. Build your career.
Private music lessons for all ages in Athens — guitar, bass, piano, singing, drums, and more — in a working recording studio. And when you're ready for more than lessons: the part nobody teaches musicians. How to form the band, record it properly, price your work, keep your books, and run the whole thing like the business it is.
Talent is the easy half
Most musicians who don't make it aren't the ones who couldn't play. They're the ones who never learned the other half — what to charge, how to split the money, who owns the recording, how to get the room full, which paperwork matters. Nobody taught them, because music schools teach music and nothing else.
Aristotle's Lyceum sat on the edge of ancient Athens, and students there studied logic and politics in the same afternoon as poetry and music. The point was never to collect hobbies. It was that the halves make each other sharper — a good ear reads a room, and a clear head keeps the art alive long enough to matter.
So that's how this works, in Athens, Georgia. Come for the instrument; that's the real front door and it's most of what we do. Then, when you're ready, the rest: writing, recording, forming the band, pricing the work, keeping the books, and using AI so one person can do what used to take five. You build the artform and the career at the same time, and you own both.
Working musicians, not a franchise
Two teachers, both playing and both based at Rabbit Hole Studios. You'll know exactly who is sitting across from you before you book.
Nick Bradfield
Founder · music, business & AI
Musician and songwriter, and for about ten years I've run Rabbit Hole Studios — five of those at other spots around Athens, the last five at 1001 Winterville Rd.
I also run a few other businesses around town and build the AI systems that handle their bookkeeping, marketing and scheduling. That's usually the part people don't expect from someone who teaches guitar — and it's exactly the part most musicians never get taught.
Guitar, piano, voice, drums, sax, clarinet, erhu, flute, theory, songwriting & production — plus the business, bookkeeping and AI track.
Sean T. Conlon
Guitar, bass, theory & songwriting
Guitar, bass, music theory and songwriting.
How a player becomes a working artist
Nobody has to do all of this, and most people stop at the first step — that's completely fine. But it's here when you want it, and it's the reason this isn't just a lesson shop.
Play
Weekly private lessons on your instrument. This is the foundation and it never stops being the point.
Write
Turn playing into songs of your own — structure, lyrics, arrangement, and finishing things instead of collecting half-ideas.
Record
Track it properly in a working studio, then mix and master it so it stands next to anything else on the playlist.
Form the band
Find the players, learn to rehearse so it counts, and agree who owns what before there's money to argue about.
Build the business
Pricing, bookings, marketing, books and taxes, and AI tools that let one artist run an operation. You sign your own deals — we just make sure you know what you're signing.
The heart of the studio
A music school's range with a private teacher's attention. Lessons for kids, teens, and adults — at the studio, at your home, or on Zoom.
Guitar
Acoustic or electric, beginner to gigging. Chords, rhythm, lead, and the songs you actually want to play.
Learn moreBass
Lock in with the drummer, learn what the song needs, and become the player every band wants to keep.
Learn morePiano & Keys
From your first chords to playing with both hands, reading charts, and writing on the keys.
Learn moreSinging & Voice
Breath, pitch, tone, and confidence — singing that sounds like you, only better.
Learn moreDrums
Rudiments, groove, and rock-solid time — then fills, styles, and playing along to real songs.
Learn moreSaxophone
Alto or tenor. Tone, reading, and the jazz, blues, pop, and funk lines that make people turn around.
Learn moreClarinet
A clean sound, a comfortable embouchure, and getting over the break — beginner or returning player.
Learn moreErhu (Chinese Violin)
The two-string Chinese fiddle: bowing, intonation without frets, and its singing, voice-like tone.
Learn moreNative American-Style Flute
One of the most welcoming instruments there is: breath, finger holes, and melodies you can play in your first lesson.
Learn moreMusic Theory & Ear Training
Why songs work: chords, scales, rhythm, and hearing what's going on — for any instrument.
Learn moreSongwriting & Production
Write the song, then record and produce it — taught in a working recording studio.
Learn moreGroup Classes & Camps
Semi-private lessons, adult group classes, and school-break camps at the studio.
Learn moreRecord, mix, master — and listen
A working recording studio in Athens, for your songs and for sound baths.
The business of being an artist
This is the half that decides whether the music pays. Pricing, bookings, marketing, bookkeeping, structure, and AI that does the admin — taught by Nick, who runs several real businesses and builds the systems that run them. Useful whether you're a musician or just someone with an idea.
Business & Entrepreneurship
Pricing, marketing, money, and systems — from someone running several real businesses.
Learn moreBookkeeping & QuickBooks
Set up your books, learn QuickBooks Online, and finally know your real numbers.
Learn moreStart-up Consultations
Test the idea, pick a structure, build the plan and the numbers — before you spend real money.
Learn moreAI Skills
Use AI tools well — for work, school, business, and creative projects. Practical, not hype.
Learn moreSkills that connect to each other
Aristotle's Lyceum in ancient Athens taught music, rhetoric, politics, and science under one roof. This one teaches music, business, and AI — in Athens, Georgia.
Taught by practitioners
Working musicians who still play — and, on the business track, someone who actually runs the companies he teaches you to run. You learn from the doing, not the textbook.
A real recording studio
In-person lessons happen at Rabbit Hole Studios, so recording and hearing yourself back is part of learning.
Your goals, one-on-one
No group classes and no fixed syllabus. Every lesson is built around what you want to be able to do.
You keep what you build
We teach the business and help you build the songs, the recordings and the band. You own the masters, the name and the deals — we don't take a cut of your career.
How it works
Tell us what you want
Send the short form: what you'd like to learn, where you're starting from, and studio, home, or Zoom.
Get times & rates
You'll hear back with open lesson times and current rates for the format you picked.
Take your first lesson
At Rabbit Hole Studios, at your place within 50 miles, or live on Zoom.
Keep going
A steady weekly rhythm is where real progress happens — and where the next skill opens up.
At the studio, at home, or on Zoom
At Rabbit Hole Studios
One-on-one lessons in a working recording studio in Athens, with microphones and playback on hand.
1001 Winterville RdAthens, GA 30605
At your home
Lessons come to you anywhere within 50 miles of Athens — the practical choice for drums and piano, where the instrument stays put.
Within 50 miles of AthensLive on Zoom
The same private lesson from anywhere, on Zoom in its musician mode — full-range audio with the usual call filtering switched off, so held notes come through the way they were played.
How online lessons work →