Jeff McKee instructs Joshua Baca, 9, left and Nicolas Van Ert, 8, as they practice their classical guitar scales at Allegro's Tucson location.

Photos by David Sanders / Arizona Daily Star

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GREEN VALLEY — Sahuarita and Green Valley parents with kids who dream of becoming the next George Harrison or Melissa Etheridge no longer need to drive far for guitar lessons.

Allegro, a guitar company based in Tucson, has opened a new studio in the Green Valley Mall with after-school classes for students 5 and older.

"Sahuarita is a growing city down there, and it's a long drive from Tucson,'' said Jeff McKee, who co-owns the company with fellow guitarist Joshua Brown.

"It's nice to offer all those kids an after-school musical activity."

McKee said they decided to look into the new studio after a couple of their students moved to Sahuarita from Tucson. He said their parents were still driving to Allegro's Tucson studio at 4641 N. First Ave.

"That's driving 45 minutes for a half-hour guitar lesson,'' he said, adding there were also a number of retirees commuting from Green Valley and Sahuarita for lessons in Tucson.

The new studio opened recently and lessons are being taught by two teachers other than McKee and Brown.

One is Paige Jackson, who has been playing guitar for a long time and teaches at Pima Community College, McKee said.

The other is Green Valley resident Ken Garver, a retired science teacher with a passion for guitars. Garver began playing in the early 1960s.

"I started out on folk songs and then branched into classical,'' he said.

Garver became an Allegro student when he moved here from California two years ago. He began teaching students at Allegro's Tucson studio and will now teach in Green Valley.

"I just like watching them grow and learn how to play and feel that accomplishment,'' he said. "It's a lifelong process. The more you learn, the more there is to learn."

The guitar is a good instrument to play, he said, because you don't need accompaniment for it to sound good.

"You don't need an orchestra,'' he said. "And it's very portable."

Like Garver, McKee said he most enjoys seeing young students learn about music.

"It's pretty rewarding seeing an 8-year-old sitting there playing music and reading music,'' he said.

Green Valley resident Donna Rheingold was "thrilled" when she learned Allegro was opening a Green Valley studio. Rheingold's daughter, Charlotte, had been taking lessons from a University of Arizona student, but her teacher moved away. Now she's signed up with Allegro.

"There's never been choices of what the kids can do here. It's always been Tucson, Tucson, Tucson,'' Donna Rheingold said.

"That's why this is so great."

Allegro students learn to read music and play on nylon string, acoustic guitars, McKee said.

Lessons at the new studio are available by appointment from 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays and are held in Suite 30A at the Green Valley Mall, 101 S. La Cañada Drive.

Lessons are $65 a month for one half-hour group lesson per week with no more than four students, or $85 a month for a private half-hour lesson once a week. The first lesson is free.

McKee said they also have a retail shop at each of their studios where they sell guitars and guitar accessories such as metronomes, tuners and music stands.

McKee said they are looking into opening up an East Side studio in January as well as one in Oro Valley.