Courtesy of the student senate, free guitar lessons are held every Tuesday at 9 p.m. in Room 316 of the Shepherd Union Building. The classes are aimed toward beginners, but people of every skill level

can attend. David Wilson, a sophomore majoring in international economics and the traditional student senator, teaches the class.

“I play in a band locally, and people always came up to me and asked if I do lessons, if I teach lessons,” Wilson said. “Two or three weeks ago, I put out an ad on Facebook on who wanted lessons, and I got a good response from it. I was going to charge $10 a lesson for 45 minutes, and I was like, ‘If I don’t charge and just make it free, it can take a lot of pressure off from me.’ So I told everyone I would do one free lesson, and it goes about 30-45 minutes.”

The lessons are under the senate name Weber Gives Back. Wilson told the idea to the legislative vice president, who thought it was a good idea, so the senate ran with it.

“I’ll teach basically how to teach yourself guitar and how to read music, how to play the chords,” Wilson said. “I think if people can just understand the basics and learn how to read music, they can kind of take it on their own past that.”

By the end of the semester, according to Wilson, a student who attends the lessons can expect to be able to read music, play the basic chords, understand a little of music theory and read songs.

“We are just doing the basics, kind of like a progressive lesson schedule,” Wilson said. “That was it. A lot of friends wanted lessons. Everyone’s like, ‘I got a guitar and have always wanted to play’, so I’m giving back a little bit.”

Logan Toupin, a senior studying criminal justice, said he has his reasons for wanting to learn guitar.

“I would like to learn how to play the guitar so I can play it for the girls, because girls like guitar,” Toupin said. “I try to do as much as I can, so I figured guitar would become one of those hobbies I could do with all my time and night until I get the ladies. . . . I get sick of just doing the usual — Instagram, Facebook, Gmail, kind of little triangle-type circle thing that I just rotate through my phone. I do my little cycle of phone stuff and I’m like, you know what, I want to pick up a new hobby. It will break up the day and give me something else to look forward to.”

This is the second week the classes have been held, so it’s not too late for students to join. Students only need to bring a guitar and a pick.

“First reason (I wanted to learn): we have a guitar in our house, but I have no idea how to use it, how to play it,” said Kelsey Spaulding, an interior design and technical sales major. “My sister tried to teach me once, and that lasted four weeks. It was kind of like a crash-course failure. The second reason was because I know David, and I just wanted to come support him, and what better other reason than No. 3: It’s on my bucket list to learn guitar. It’s just a fun thing to learn. No time better than the present.”