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For guitar instructor Jonathan Carpenter, picking up a guitar after time away feels like putting on a favorite jacket you forgot about.
“You forget how good it fits,” he said. “It feels like a part of me. It feels like home.”
That sense of “home” has followed him through every stage of life—early performances, cross-country tours, and now, teaching at Old Town Artisan Studios (OTAS).
Jonathan began playing guitar at 12, inspired by his older brothers and their ’90s punk and alternative rock. The first song he learned was Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.”
“There’s something that clicks when you finally get a riff right,” he said. “That feeling—it hooks you.”
Music filled his home. His father, a band musician, often played harmonica while waiting to pick him up from school. “Looking back, it was just normal. Music was in everything,” he said.
His first performance came in seventh grade. Though a trumpet player in band, he asked to perform on guitar instead. With permission, he and his friends took the stage with amplifiers, drums, and Metallica. “It was chaos,” he said. “But it felt amazing.”
At 19, Jonathan spent eight weeks touring the country with his brother and bandmates.
“We had no money. We slept in vans. Sometimes we didn’t know where we’d stay,” he said. “But people took us in and fed us. It changed how I saw generosity.” Now, he welcomes anyone into his home who needs a place to sleep. And though he once chased the high of touring, he values a more grounded life.
Like many musicians, Jonathan stepped away from guitar at times, but each return felt natural. “There’s comfort in it, but also frustration,” he said. “The real joy comes from learning something new again.”
That insight now shapes how he teaches. Jonathan joined OTAS in January 2026 as an instructor and handyman, finding renewed purpose in teaching.
He shared that what he loves most about it is the moment it clicks for students.
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