Bass Teachers

Jen Wood grew up in Seattle and was raised by two moms in a blended family where music was always in the forefront. At the young age of 15 she formed the band Tattle Tale with Madigan Shive (Bonfire Madigan) during the era of the Riot Grrrl movement. Wood’s musical journey took off quickly and she continued on as a solo artist and guest vocalist. Wood has released 5 full length albums and a slough of EP’s on various indie record labels and most recently released an album with her dance pop project called GEMZ and an independently released EP with her other project called SYNERTIA.

Known widely for her collaborations with The Postal Service (“Nothing Better” and “Such Great Heights”) and her featured work on Netflix’s Carole & Tuesday, Jen finds the light in the shadow and shares it with a rare vulnerability.   

Jen currently lives in California and teaches online lessons in Voice, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele and Original Songwriting.

Luke Ragnar Houglum is a versatile musician and veteran of the Seattle music scene, bringing an eclectic background in bass, guitar, piano, trombone, voice, and musical theater—along with extensive professional experience in live performance, studio recording, event production, and music directing.

Luke is a member of popular Seattle rock band Smokey Brights, who have been performing for more than a decade. Together the band has toured extensively around the United States and Europe. With Luke on bass and harmony vocals, the band has developed sought-after, signature high-energy live shows, compelling and catchy songwriting, and a dynamic, expansive sound. 

Beyond performing and recording music, he serves as Music Director for Artist Home’s Annual New Year’s Eve Party (for a dozen years and counting!), regularly stage manages for NW Folklife, Seattle’s Waterfront Park, Nordstrom, and Google, and has served in a variety of event production roles for organizations such as Bumbershoot, Seattle PrideFest, Capitol Hill Block Party, Cascade PBS, Geekwire, NW Tea Festival, and the Downtown Seattle Association. 

As an educator, Luke combines song-focused learning with strong technical foundations, equipping students of all ages and abilities with the tools they need for a lifetime of music-making. Passionate about expanding access to the arts, he is committed to fostering an encouraging, exploratory environment where learners of all backgrounds can build skills, repertoire, confidence, and self-expression. 

Dan is a multi-instrumentalist from New York City. He relocated to the Seattle area back in 2016 to raise his 2 children in his wife’s hometown. Dan started playing guitar when he was 12 years old, eager to start a punk band with friends. While his earlier years as a musician involved mostly stringed instruments (Guitar, Bass, Ukelele), Dan has spent the last 14 years focusing solely on drums. He has played in bands consistently in the NYC local/DIY scene, hosted Open Mics, and has toured around the Northeast as well. Currently Dan is drumming in the Seattle-based 2-piece “Garage Folk” band BIRD BONES. 

Having spent the last 20+ years working in the culinary field, Dan has now shifted his focus/career and is devoting his time to music education and live performance. 

Dan’s goal as a teacher is to inspire and cultivate a passion for music with his students. He firmly believes that learning music should be a fun, engaging, and encouraging experience. As a parent he understands the needs of young learners and the importance of creating a safe and supportive learning environment.

Bjørn started writing music and performing with bands when they were 15 at local teen centers and all age venues, largely thanks to the Vera Project. After high school they interned at a local recording studio (fastback recording studios) and have been pursuing music ever since.

They perform in the pnw monthly with several groups, toured the west coast with Catch Rabbit, and to date have composed for films that have gone on to be shown at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, the Film Academy Museum in LA, and the Smithsonian Museum of the American Latino in DC.

Bjørn also spent 5 years working as a paraeducator and deeply values making music education accessible to all neurotypes and learning styles.

Stephanie is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who lives in West Seattle. Stephanie began studying classical and playing piano in elementary school and started playing guitar in college, when she also began busking and playing in bands. She is active in the Seattle music scene with her band Overripe, playing indie rock music infused with emo and grunge influence. Her writing approach is based around considering the whole band, with guitar and bass working together to establish harmonic movement while leaving space for lyricism. In addition to her musical experience, Stephanie’s background includes extensive study of geophysics, which was the focus of her undergraduate and graduate education. Her scientific experience manifests in her love of effects and production, and she is endlessly fascinated by how mathematical tools like filtering are integral to scientific data analysis and music production.

Stephanie teaches guitar, music production in logic, piano, and bass. Her approach emphasizes melodic thinking that follows the ear, with music theory acting as an important tool to communicate and describe music but not as a template or rulebook. She believes that jamming is an integral part of learning to play music, and that becoming comfortable with improvisation and exploration helps form the basis of successfully playing with other musicians. In her teaching, she aims to help students grow as musicians and achieve their goals, whether they be on the stage or in the studio, while always centering whichever aspects of music bring a particular student joy. Stephanie is particularly enthusiastic to teach students who want to express themselves by writing their own music.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @stephstrums

Matthew Crissey is a multi-instrumentalist and engineer from Kent with the bass being his primary instrument. He has always loved music, with one of his earliest memories plucking a guitar which he had assembled from a tissue box, paper towel tube, and a rubber band as a young child. Music would go on to become Matthew’s most fierce passion and primary focus in education. He first picked up the bass around 2012 and adopted it as his main instrument while continuing to explore interests in other instruments such as guitar and piano.

Later, Matthew would study music at the University of Washington, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Music in Jazz Studies in 2022. He currently teaches and remains active as an on-call musician in the Puget Sound area, also exploring personal-creative endeavors from his home studio in Renton. There, he is in the late stages of production of a solo bass album featuring his writing, arranging, playing, recording and production techniques, and a few ensemble explorations, which he is excited to release. Matthew also can be found taking the stage with Seattle-based jazz-rock-pop group The Outtatowners.

Matthew’s teaching philosophy is one of holistic perspective; he believes that, while we train students to be instrumentalists, we first aspire to develop musicians, and before that, to cultivate artists. We as musicians strive to bring out our most creative selves, and that purpose should at no point be obscured by strict method or technique. Matthew’s approach is student-based, where the direction of instruction is determined by the interests and desires of the student.

Away from the studio and the stage, Matthew enjoys time spent practicing and competing as an amateur disc golfer, as well as more leisurely activities, such as playing old Pokemon games and hanging out with his cat Tiberius.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @matthew-crissey

Ricky Hoyos was born in Seattle, but moved to Naples, Florida at a young age. Ricky started playing music at the age of 14, inspired equally by Metallica and his cousin’s local band Vega Under Fire. Music education opened his mind to all different genres, with a particular emphasis on classic rock and metal, as he took drum and guitar lessons, joined his school drumline, and attended any music-based after school programs he could find.

After graduating high school, he sought any chance to perform around Naples, particularly as a guitarist. He played in cover bands, and worked as the lead guitarist at multiple churches. When he began teaching guitar and drums at the YMCA, he discovered that his passion for music extended to a passion for teaching music to others.

Ricky enjoys teaching basic theory, technique, songwriting, and tips and tricks he likes to do on his instrument. He strongly believes in the importance of keeping lessons engaging and fun, so that students are inspired to continue playing their instrument.

In 2018, Ricky moved back to Seattle to pursue his dream of being part of the historic local music scene. In 2019, he formed a band called Tio Nacho’s House, and the band released their first EP “Here’s to You” in 2022. He and the band play venues all around Seattle, and he’s so excited to fill his life with music through playing live, recording, and teaching the next generation of musicians here at Mode.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @Ricky-Hoyos

Kevin Murphy picked up the guitar when he was 10 years old. At the age of 14, he formed his first band and performed around Seattle opening for established local bands, including Mudhoney. In 2006, Kevin formed the rock/folk band The Moondoggies which led to 4 full length albums on Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art. The Moondoggies have toured and performed alongside bands such as The Lumineers, The Cave Singers, The Head and The Heart, Blitzen Trapper and Dawes. Kevin has also shared the stage with legendary artists Robbie Robertson, CSNY, Brandi Carlile, Dave Mathews, and more.

Kevin’s teaching philosophy is based on learning the instrument in a fun, creative and personalized way connecting to each individual student and their own mode of expression. He believes there are songs to be learned and songs to be written. Kevin’s goal is to ignite a fire in one’s self expression and a confidence in playing that will remain with them during their whole life, whether it’s onstage or in their living room. He feels music is incredibly valuable to communicate the feelings we can’t always put into words and that it has the ability to rewire our brains for the better, especially in the minds of young students. Kevin is the father to two wonderful young girls, Sonnie and Zuma.

Brian is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who grew up in Seattle. He has been playing drums since he was 8, and learned from legends including Michael Shrieve and Jerry Garcia. He has been touring for a dozen years with bands including Isenordal, Impulse Noise, Endorphins Lost, Wilt, and Asymmetric Warfare, among others. Brian volunteers at local all-ages DIY venues and loves encouraging and empowering young people to build their own joy, freedom, and culture through the egalitarian DIY approach that has always been so important to him. He is fun-loving, non-judgmental, and has worked with students from the ages of 4 to 64.

A lesson with Brian usually focuses on a song (or some parts of it) that the student has identified or expressed interest in. Brian loves the opportunity to help students connect not only with what an artist played but also the music theory and culture that informs how and why they played it that way. During lessons, he often makes quick observations about the theoretical structure or cultural tradition of the song so his students are able to naturally pick up important music theory concepts from multiple different examples without feeling lectured. Brian has great success relating to and working with students who have attention disorders or learning disabilities.

Brian has a broad taste in music ‒ he likes everything from Brutal Deathgrind to Funeral Doom. Sometimes he even listens to music that isn't some obscure subgenre of heavy metal! Actually, Brian loves all kinds of music and is happy and able to dive into any style students are interested in. Some of his favorite styles include post-punk, black metal, '70s jazz fusion/prog, and modern opera.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @Brian-Spenser / Paypal brian.spenser@gmail.com

Brandon has been a working musician, producer, and engineer in the Seattle/Tacoma area for the past decade. He regularly plays in and around the Seattle area and sometimes tours in other countries. Brandon frequently collaborates with many professional musicians in the area. Recently, he's played bass with prog-rock band Bone Cave Ballet and alt-rock band Starry-Eyed Samurai, and drums with both new-wavers Trick Candles and pop-fusion band Nitrogen Lion Society.

Brandon believes that consistency, versatility, and attitude are the traits that make great musicians. With his interactive-guidance teaching approach, the student controls the pacing of each lesson, which alleviates classroom anxiety and helps the lesson material become more comprehensible. With a heavy emphasis on creativity and technique, Brandon will improve their understanding of rhythm and the ability to perform in many styles of music by sharing his 20+ years of composition and performance experience.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @Ezekiel-Lords

Ricky brings together his background as a tutor and paraeducator with his lifetime experience in music for an individualized approach to music education that focuses on memory, fluency, and music appreciation. As a working musician, he has spent time developing his skill by adapting and learning a variety of styles on piano and guitar.

In piano, he specializes in theory, memorization, performance, and improvisation has a deep knowledge of classical style, and teaches popular Baroque and Romantic repertoire. Ricky also teaches Blues, R&B, and Rock & Roll styles, and in general, encourages his students to explore a diverse range of music.

In guitar/uke/bass, Ricky enjoys teaching fingerpicking style, improvisation, and basic theory. He also teaches students who want to learn to sing, play and write their own music. He specializes in combining rhythmic and lyrical styles and teaches techniques on how to effectively memorize lyrics and changes in songs.

Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @rickytimesricky / Paypal ermarchantc@gmail.com